# mid sized fish compatible with shrimp



## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

Hello all. 

I am wokring up a stocking plan for a 35 galon tank (36 x 12 footprint). It is cycling (kick started with old filter media), and has ben planted up fairly wel, mostly hygro I got cheap, and an anubias and a good sized ozelot sword. Plus rocks and driftwood ground cover. 

I really like shrimp. I plan to get some red cherries, and maybe ghost shrimp, and/or amano, or some of the yellows Igor is selling. But a 35 gallon tank is not a shrimp tak, so I need to stock it with fish. 

Mostly I'll use smaller varieties of fish. I want kuhli loaches, and maybe cardinal tetras. But are there any good size "centerpeice" fish around 4 to 6 inches, I can get, which will not devastate my shrimp population? 

FYI: my ph is around 6.5, water is pretty hard. I have an oversize HOB filter so the water has some current in it. 

Thanks for any ideas and/or suggestions!


----------



## Bigdaddyo (Jan 23, 2010)

If you stock Cardinal tetras they will devistate yiour shrimp population let alone a 4-6 inch fish. Any fish you put in with shrimp will eat babies. If a fish can get something in it's mouth it will eat it. The only fish that comes to mind that is small but will still eat the babies is Danio's. I'm not familiar with all species but Celestial Pearls are small, about an inch full grown. I suggest moss as a neccessity for hiding places for young shrimp.


----------



## zfarsh (Apr 7, 2011)

Firstly, i think i would recomend to choose between ghost shrimp and red chery shrimp, not both (ghost shrimp can eat cherry), and get the Amanos as well, but only if:

You have a very Planted Aquarium with alot of hiding spots where the larger size fish cant get into, and where the small size fish wont want to go or care about the shrimps. (i personnaly have well placed driftwood at the corner where i can see inside, and where most fish would not want to or could go into). Note that the Ghost shrimp does not eat alga, but is larger, whilst the chery shimp does eat everything, algua included.

Fish that are "relatively" safe from my experience in that planted setup with the red chery shrimps:

1x Bristlenose Pleco (can get up to 5")
1x female real SAE fish (up to 5"), 
Corydoras Catfish (any type you want, they are up to 3" max (or smaller) depending on kind, and there are dwarf kinds too which are even safer, though i think you shouldnt have problems with this at all, need to be in groups of 6 min, or more), 
2-3 x Otto Catfish (2", only recognise safe fish with shrimps, but i dont recommend it for newbs, they are difficult at begining, and you need a very establied tank and alot of reserch), 
6-10x White Cloud Moutain Minnows (~1.5", need to be in groups)

If you have experience and a larger tank, you can even do like me and have fancy goldfish too, but you need well planted tank with lotsa hidding spot, and your numbers willl grow regardless.

Now on the yellow and red shrimps, carefull as they interbreed, and when they do, the babies may look like the natural color and lose the yellow and red completely. If you dont mind this, then go ahead.

Just be aware that your tank is relatively small, so you dont want to have too many large fish anyways, and you should be carefull with the bioload.

I would honestly recomend having a second 10 gallon tank, and you put your yellow or blue or fancy shrimps there (your nicest shrimp), along with small "safe" fish only if have to have to (but there is always a risk and that really only maters if you have expensive shrimps like CRS ), like dwarf cories. 

Oh, and carefull not to overstock, and your ph may be low for certain fish, but ok for most shrimps.

Good Luck.


----------



## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

I was hoping to have one mid sized fish, and the rest of the stock be smaller type. I am being careful about stocking levels. I have a lot of filtration and am using an online stocking calculators (Aqadvisor, which actually calculates bases on bioload). 

It is good to know ghosts will ear RCS. I'll be sure not to mix them. 

I think what I may do is get a bunch of ghost and/or amano shrimp for my larger tank (35 gallongs). I also have a 10 gallon which has neon tetras and a very relaxed betta. I'll keep the RCS there, so far the betta has shown no interest in shrimpies. It is also planted so I think they will be fine. 

For the 35, I may add a blue gourami. A new fish will be a small juvenile, to small to threaten the shrimp. Then as he grows, I have heard they will ignore shrimp if they grew up in the tank with them. Plus that tank is well planted (and will have more yet before I am done) as well as rocks and a decent sized piece of hole filled driftwood.


----------



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I'd argue that Ghost shrimp do, in fact, eat algae. They seem to prefer the same type as Oto cats and Cherry shrimp do, but awhile ago I had a mat of hair algae to deal with. I chopped it up very finely and all the shrimp have been eating that too. 

I've had Ghosts since the start, and while they are very cosmopolitan eaters, algae is most surely on their list. I find Nerite snails are possibly the most effective at cleaning algae off most surfaces, including plant's leaves, but even the MTS snails will swarm over and quickly consume the algae off the rocks I put in especially for my shrimp and the Otos.

I keep an assortment of rocks in a big jar that has algae in it and grow the algae on the rocks specifically to please the Otos and shrimp, but the darn snails often get to it first. The Ghosts feed off the rocks too. Considering how long it takes to get a decent growth of algae on a rock, it's truly disturbing how fast a rock will be completely denuded of algae.

And while I know Ghost shrimp will eat baby Neo shrimp and pretty much anything else they can find or catch, I've found both Ghost and Snowball shrimp babies have survived to adulthood in surprising numbers, in a community tank both were living in. That tank also contained danios, kuhli loaches, corys and Blue Claw Whisker shrimp, who are sort of like Ghost shrimp on 'roids .. So long as there are plenty of plants and many hiding places, baby shrimp will hide quite successfully, though you certainly won't get the numbers of survivors you would if all those other predators were not present.


----------



## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

In the end, I bought a (juvinile) Opaline gourami, and some (also juvinile) Boesemani rainbows for the 35 gallon. I'll also add some kuhlie loaches, and maybe a medium school of fish that are small, but not small enough to be rainbow snacks. 

These are not the most shrimp friendly fishies! So no red cheeries in that tank (which is very heavily planted as well, I added a lot). However, I do have a 10 gallon as well. i originally had 10 ghost shrimp in the 10, which whittled down fairly quickly to 2. I think the main culprit was heat-treating ich. Water at 86 degrees is no good for poor shrimpies  I've also got a very tame beta (who has never shown interest in the shrimp) and 7 neon tetras in there. 

So I moved the two (now rather large) surviving ghost shrimp to my 35 gallon. the current fish are still to small to eat them, and the ghost shrimp are very fearless and active. This is what i like about them the most! I have only 2 in that large and heavily planted tank, and they are often easy to see, scurrying around! I think my plan is to add 10-15 more ghosts to that tank, while the other fish are still very young, and see what happens. Some have claimed that fish which grow up with shrimp in the tank are less likely to eat them. And if this turns out to not be the case, then it is survival of the fittest for the ghosties. between plants, driftwood, and rocks, they have lots and lots of places to hide. 

I actually got 2 free fire red cherries in a recent plant trade . They are very nice. I then picked up 4 amanos from Menegerie for the 10 gallon. I set up a couple of shrimp caves in the tank, and the amanos hide there constantly. They are still young, and I hope they will get a bit braver as they get older. 

I am hoping to get some more fire reds of Igor in a few days, for the 10 gallon. The 2 I have a very nice and active. My 10 is also pretty well planted up, with some thick tuffs of java moss, some hygo difformis, and a few other plants shrimp seem to favor. I'm also going to add a small peice of driftwood, which will have a nice big cave in it, for shrimp to feel safe in. I should try to orient it so I can see inside the cave area, but that might not work out 

My water Ph is actually around 7.5. It is untreated tap water (I dechlorinate of course). I don't want to mess with chemistry and believe reds should do fine in those paramters. I am not determined to breed the little guys, but any babies will be happily welcomed.


----------

