# cherry shrimp combatibility



## charking (Aug 12, 2009)

hi i was thinking of getting some cherry or ghost shrimp to put in my 55g planted tank.. but i just wondered if they would be ok with a siamese fighter (at my friends shop he has a ct with some cherry shrimp) & guppies, platies the odd live bearers.. i'm guessing sailfin mollies would be out of the question as they get biggggg and will probs eat them? i heard they eat algae too? what else do they eat? thanks. 


ps if the betta is a problem i could always get him a tank of his own


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

they arent reliable alage eaters, though they will feed on it from time to time or in small amounts

they will eat insects with soft shells and flake food (they ignore most other fish food in my experience)


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

When it comes to keeping fish and shrimp together you really have to be carefull, many fish will view shrimp as a snack, and many shrimp can be expensive to buy 

As far as ive heard guppies and bettas are ok to keep shrimp with (im actualy planning to pick up a few shrimp for my 20 gallon which has guppies), seeing as you would just be getting shrimp for the first time (am I correct in assuming that?) I would recomend ghost shrimp, as they are easily the least expensive of all the shrimp out there.

This is because they are often sold as feeders, now theres some good things and some bad things which ill list out to you now so you know what your getting into 

*The Good*
- Ghost shrimp are sold as feeders so they should have a very low purchase price, if your paying as much for them as you would an average fish, your being overcharged, or they arent ghost shrimp (there are a few types of shrimp which look a tad bit like ghosts but arent, zebra shrimp and amano shrimp come to mind)
- Ghost shrimp are some of the hardiest shrimp you will find, and they breed readily, which is good if you like breeding fish, and if you dont you can always feed them to some of your bigger fish , just dont release them into the wild (I'm sure you wouldnt, I just had to say that anyways).
- Shrimp are cleaners and will polish off any extra food they find in the tank, though if you look at them and notice their stomachs are consistantly empty you may want to concider picking them up a live plant.
- Like most invertebrates there are very few diseases which affect them.

*The Bad*
- Due to the fact that ghost shrimp are sold as feeders they often have a moderately high mortality rate when you first get them. This can be discouraging if you dont know about it when it starts happening (I purchased 6 and had 2 die within a week). Dont worry that much though, as they are a cheap and inexpensive pet to purchase and keep.


*Things you may like to know*
- Ghost shrimp purportedly eat anything, though I have only really had any luck with feeding mine flake food, they do absolutely love live or dead insects such as mosquitoes, fishflies, and butterflies (I found the butterfly dead). The general rule of thumb with insects is that they have to have a soft exoskeleton, or else the ghost shrimp wont be able to get to the parts they want to eat.
- If you do decide to feed them insects you may want to either A) devise a way to keep them at the bottom of the tank where the shrimp will find them, or B) put a drop of garlic extract (rubbing them with fresh garlic works too) on the insect, as garlic brings shrimps running with their dinnerplates (though it likely will attract your other fish as well, and they wont eat the garlic itself if you put it in)
- Ghost shrimp are transparent and as a result can be hard to see, though when they die they turn a reddish cream color, so dont worry about whether or not youve lost any and cant find the body, they stick out like a sore thumb when they do die.
- In nature ghost shrimp are very much so near the bottom of the foodchain, as a result they will really enjoy some plant cover, or a cave or two to hide in. Like most stealthy fish you will actualy see them more when they do have places to hide. Ive noticed that without cover they tend to just sit stock still.
- Like all invertebrates you can purchase ghost shrimp shed their exoskeleton from time to time, so if you ever see the transparent shell of a shrimp in your tank, dont worry it just means one has decided he/she needs a new wardrobe. Dont remove the shell from the tank either, they need to eat it in order to gain essential nutrients and calcium for their next shell.
- When shrimp have molted they are very vulnerable to predators, so they will attempt to hide much of the time, It is for this reason that I recomend at least getting them one hiding place.

Alright thats pretty much everything I can think of offhand regarding ghost shrimp, if you have any questions regarding them or other shrimp just toss me a tell 


theres also a very exemplary thread on the forum regarding ghost shrimp breeding, you can find it here; http://www.fishforums.com/forum/inv...ding-ghost-shrimp-palaeomonetes-patulous.html


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## G-NOME (Jul 7, 2010)

I had ghost shrimp. They were awesome until each day they were missing 1 by 1. Turns out my banjo cat always had a little late night snack lol


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

lol yeah lots of fish will do that, its why you have to be carefull with what you keep them with unless you dont care about the shrimp.


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## 3617 (Jun 21, 2010)

i was thinking of getting a few ghost shrimps in my tank but i don't know if they would get along with 4 giant danios and one pleco


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## G-NOME (Jul 7, 2010)

3617 said:


> i was thinking of getting a few ghost shrimps in my tank but i don't know if they would get along with 4 giant danios and one pleco


i had giant danios. They tended to pick on everything


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## charking (Aug 12, 2009)

i bought some amano shrimp today and they really upset my "peaceful" fighter.. he'd been living really happily the past week and a half with some guppies and once these guys went in he decided he'd try eat them.. and then after that he turnt on my guppies :| he wont eat anything except baby brine and hasnt done since the day i got him.. hes now in a tank to himself & has been flaring at his own reflection all night :| hes gone mental lol. he even tried to attack the fish in my other tank and they're gourami's :| he seems happy in his little tank though..


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

lol, sounds like puberty. A lot of "peaceful" fish suddenly aren't.


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## Mikaila31 (Nov 29, 2009)

cherry shrimp eat just about anything. Flake food is actually the last thing I would ever feed. I feed the fish Hikari and Ken's food, always pellets or waffers. Shrimp are not picky, mine just eat what is left over from the fish. And from my experience cherry shrimp are very hardy shrimp. 

With enough plant cover they would be fine with those fish, as long as your betta doesn't hunt them down(trust me some fish do this). I would not expect any shrimplets to survive. I keep and breed cherries with fish and have never had a shrimp only tank. However it does take the proper selection and enough plant cover to allow for a high survival rate. A single fish species can destroy a shrimp colony. My 55gal is entirely shrimp free thanks to two angle fish. My 6 panda garras share a 15 gal with well over 60 shrimp.


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## charking (Aug 12, 2009)

my shrimp are just scaling the glass, gravel and plants & filter atm. they seem quite happy i dropped them in some algae pellets but they hant touched them to what i can see having a hard job finding all 6 this morn tho :/ lol. my fighter will most definately hunt them down.. he hunts done bbs i put in with him and he does that for hourrrss


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## charking (Aug 12, 2009)

& as for the physco siamese fighter fish i'm certain hes not captive!!! hes crazy.. he has plastic grass in his tank and he hides in it & then all of a sudden he will bolt out at his reflection and flare up.. i've never had a betta like it :| he even hates food.. he flares at it and then rips it up.. PHYSCOOOO


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

lol hes gone mad 

Mikaila the reason I recomended flake food for ghosts is because that is the only food I have had any success feeding them, ive tried a number of other types of fish food including pellets and they just ignored it. Though from what ive heard this is unusual for ghosts.


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## Plakat_bettas (Jul 5, 2010)

my boyfriend has 3 female Cherry red shrimp with his betta... the betta flared at them a bit and picked at them a bit then decided they were not important and now he leaves them alone.... same with the snails in the tank the betta bit it once and then decided to leave it..... 

They get betta pellets (the shrimp) just what the betta doesnt eat and they are fine.....

Almano Shrimp get quite large dont they????


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## G-NOME (Jul 7, 2010)

Corwin said:


> lol hes gone mad
> 
> Mikaila the reason I recomended flake food for ghosts is because that is the only food I have had any success feeding them, ive tried a number of other types of fish food including pellets and they just ignored it. Though from what ive heard this is unusual for ghosts.


the only thing my ghosts ever ate were flakes, they wouldn't go near anything else.


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## charking (Aug 12, 2009)

yeah the amano shrimp are the bigger population of shrimp.. reach about 1.2/2 inches they said, they are so funny  i'm pretty sure i have one cherry though, its smaller but still as cheeky


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