# What's the most peaceful school fish with Cherry shrimps?



## bammbamm

Hello all,

I'm planning to add a large school of fish to my current tank where i have a large colony of Cherry Shrimp. Will any school fish destroy shrimps or are there any peaceful ones?

My tank isn't heavily planted yet but it tend to be one. It's a 72L x 30W x30H sized tank(nearly 280G). I just have many Cherries and 10 Amano Shrimp in there. Last day I talked to my LFS, seems i can export a box of fish/shrimp now in a cheap way  (One box=8 packs). But i couldn't decide the school fish that i will get. I mostly like:

-Rasbora espei
-Boraras brigittae
-Boraras merah
-Paracheirodon axelrodi (Cardinal Tetra)
-Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi (Black Neon)

Will those guys destroy my Shrimp Colony? Or i can keep any of those with shrimps? If not are there any school fish that i can keep in my tank safely with Cherries? (The school will have 100+ member, smallest packs have 120 fishes in them)

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(This part of the post won't fit with the title but i'll be happy to get any advice)
After chosing school fish, i have some more packs to fill (i have to fill the box to be able to export).
I think getting:
2 packs of Otocinclus Affinis (80 of them) (60x will be on main tank(280G), rest will be split up for my small tanks)
1 pack of young Amano Shrimp (100 of them) (80x for main tank)
1 pack of Anentome Helena (80 of them) (30x for main tank)
1 pack of Bumblebee Shrimp (80 of them) (60x for main tank)

So i'll have 230 small livings (Otos+Shrimps+Snails)+ my cherry shrimp colony + 100x undecided school fish totally in 280G. Is this an overload?
(And I hope Anentome Helena,aka Snail eating snail, can't eat shrimps)
Thanks in advance.


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## Valthenya

i'd say its a bit much especially in one batch...

But your schooling fish should be really small fish I find that my ember tetras are wonderful with my shrimp


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## Minsc

The Boraras sp. are fine with shrimp, the others I'm not sure about.
It might be hard to see such tiny fish in a tank that big though!

I think you should be fine adding everything at once. It is a large number of creatures, but they are all very small.


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## Quetzalcoatl

Thats a huge tank you are starting!
I've had Cardinals and Rasboras with shrimp before and had no problem.


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## Six

i would say many of those will die unless the tank is well cycled. sure, that many will be fine eventually as a stocked tank but at once, i seriously doubt it. 

most small fish will not bother a shrimp population given that the shrimp population can hide and breed. 

why not ask a friend to go in on the order with you? be prepared, most times when even the most prepared people order wholesale, much ofit dies. you have to hedge your bets, split up the order between tanks somehow. 

HTH GL


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## Cavan Allen

I saw an espei rasbora eat a cherry one time. Only the really tiny fish won't (as far as I know). Not that it matters much, because if there are enough shrimp and enough places to hide, you'll never notice that a few disappear here and there. I've even kept them with apistos. A lower population to be sure, but still healthy.


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## bammbamm

Firstly, thank you all for replying.

According to your posts, I can chose any school fish to keep with my Cherry Shrimps if fishes are small enough and if i have enough hiding place in my tank. And i'll lose some juvenile shrimps but that wont destroy whole colony, if i understand well?
So, I'll try to chose one between Rasbora Espei, Boraras Merah and Ember Tetra as school fish after reading their schooling habits. 

To Minsc,
Boraras sp. is really small fish that what i like though  I think they should look nice in a large school if they form a tight school. (I dont know if they are tight as school though)

To Six,
Actually, I'm not insisting on getting whole box, I'm even trying to find a friend around me to share it (I'm in Turkey though). And I'm not hurrying either, that's why i've opened this thread to learn things and to see advices. I just don't know to create a fauna for a 280G tank. After adding 30 of my Cherry Shrimps in there, i couldnt see three of them at same time again. I dont know how many Otos, Amano Shrimps, snails or school fish will be enough for this tank. As they are all small creatures, i thought they can live happily in large groups there. And again If it's an overload for my tank (those numbers of fish that i gave at my first post), i wont put all fishes in the tank of corse. In that case I'll split them up to smaller groups to put my other tanks ( I dont have any fishes yet on my other smaller tanks either). If i still have excess, i'll give those to a friend or they will be "gift" to a LFS. And I forgot to write at my first post, the setup of the tank was nearly 2.5 months ago. Do i have to do additional things before ordering new fishes?

---
Finally, I'll be glad to have advices again about the ideal numbers of creature for that list? 
-Otocinclus Affinis
-Amano Shrimp 
-Anentome Helena 
-Bumblebee Shrimp 
-A school fish (Rasbora Espei or Boraras Merah or Ember Tetra)
How many from each(approx. numbers of corse) can live happily in 280G?

Thanks a lot again.


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## Tobias

So far my celestial pearls and ember tetras have left my shrimp completely alone. The biggest fish I have is a peacock gudgeon and it does not seem to bother the cherry shrimp either.


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## Minsc

bammbamm said:


> To Minsc,
> Boraras sp. is really small fish that what i like though  I think they should look nice in a large school if they form a tight school. (I dont know if they are tight as school though)


I own 9 briggitae, in a 15 gallon tank. In this situation, they aren't a very tight school, but they like to hang out together much of the time. I do not know how they would act with larger numbers, in a big tank. Having 100-200 would be very neat!

My opinion is that briggitae has the best color of all the Boraras species.

The numbers in your original post for the other fish and inverts look fine. As long as you have proper filtration, strong flow, and large plant mass, you can fit many, many creatures in that tank.

Have you considered any of the dwarf cories? I think they are a very nice companion to small schoolers and shrimp.


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## bammbamm

After reading some about Rasbora Espei, Boraras B. and Ember Tetra, i saw that Rasbora E. and Ember Tetra are better schoolers than Boraras.So I'll try chose one of those. They both look nice and i think they have similar colors(according to photos, I have had R. Espei before but i havent see any Ember Tetra yet though). 
Adult size for those fishes given in many sources are 2cm for tetras and 4cm for rasboras. So i thought Tetras will be better with my Cherry Shrimps (Also Todias says that he havent got any problem with ember t. and cherries). But i'm not sure again.
I have to decide between 100x Rasboras or 200x Ember tetras. Does anyone have any experience with those fishes in a large group such as 40+? How they look in a planted tank?

To Minsc,
I have had Julii Cory before and they were really active and they were looking for food around all the time, but i dont know Dwarf ones. If they are that active like his big "brothers", won't they eat or harm all juvenile shrimps? I can imagine them on mosses while looking for little shrimps
If they won't hurt shrimps i should add some to my tank, they are very pretty
By the way I could find "Corydoras pygmaeus" as dwarf cory in a pack of 48 (or 96x in 2 packs). Are there any other dwarf cory species?


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## Valthenya

mine arent in that large of a group i have 7 and they are in a ten gallon tank and do school very tightly and they dont mess with my baby crs


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## Kets

There are four different pygmy species. C. cochui, C. hastatus, C. habrosus and C. pygmeaus. The likeliest ones you will find are C. pygmeaus and C. habrosus.


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## bammbamm

Thank you for information Kets. As you said i could find Corydoras pygmaeus.

I ordered Ember Tetras and Pigmy Corys to form two schools in my tank. Some Otos and Amano shrimps are on the list for the crew


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## akamasha

I love Corydoras pygmaeus they are pretty active and cute too.


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