# Fish in a planted shrimp tank?



## Lupus0310 (Nov 18, 2010)

Hello everyone I'm in the process of setting up a 29 gallon NPT and to hold myself over until i can get all the equipment together for it(poor college student) my buddy gave my this little 5 gallon tank with a filter and a light. Seeing as 5 gallon is way to small to hold most fish I've deciding to give a go at shrimp. It's my understanding that shrimp have almost no bioload and plants and the bacteria that develop in aquariums need that to help make the over ecosystem stable. Is this the case/ will i need to add fish to ensure healthy plant growth and if so can i get a recommendation on a fish that would survive reasonably well in a 5 gallon planted tank and not bother the shrimp. Thanks in advance for your help.

Lupus


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## JohnPaul (Aug 28, 2006)

While it is true shrimp have very little bioload, they certainly have enough to provide biofilm/bacteria stuff to grow on. Even a shrimp-only tank needs to be cleaned with some regularity or else the poop will build up, just like in a fish tank. There is no need to add fish at all, and there are virtually no fish you could add that would not make a quick meal out of the shrimps (or at least the babies). The only fish I would declare to be 100% safe with shrimp in a tank that size would be an otto. But unless you have lots of algae growth on the glass, there's no reason to have an otto in there.

Keep it a shrimp-only tank, or if you want a tad more variety, add in some snails. I have a 5g planted shrimp tank with a single olive nerite snail and a bunch of orange ramshorn snails. Nice little tank.


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## krayz5183 (Dec 11, 2010)

From my experience you can have ffancy guppies in the tank and will not harm the shrimp or even pay attention to them.Couple points to make on that first. First buy smaller sized fancy guppies dont buy the larger sized ones 1inch or under seems to be just fine.Have lots of places for the shrimp to hide in the tank. Make sure you keep the guppies fed. Lastly the guppies might eat the baby shrimp not for sure on that part but it could happen. So if you start breeding put the berried shrimp in a breeder box and allow them to have the babies there and let them grow alittle before introducing them back in the tank. Hope that helps


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## potatoes (Jun 25, 2010)

Guppies and endlers live bears will generally leave adults alone, but nothing can pass up the shrimplets. I would also recommend a shrimp only tank


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## tex627 (Nov 2, 2008)

fish are definitely not needed to keep the plants healthy. Shrimp are recommended to be kept themselves.

If you really want to put fish in with the shrimp make sure their mouths arent too bgi and the population should stay fairly stable.


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## mfgann (Nov 10, 2010)

Otocinclus won't bother shrimp or little shrimplets. Kuhli loaches are supposed to be pretty safe, but I've just added a few to my tank and can't verify this yet. Most other fish will make a meal of any shrimp small enough to go in their mouth, which means the babies will suffer. With enough ground cover plants you may have enough survivors to sustain a population, but be prepared to lose some, and to remove troublemaker fish.


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## kimcadmus (Nov 23, 2008)

I keep yellow shrimp and CRS with Bororas Maculatus in a 10g tank. This tiny rasbora's mouth is so small I must feed it thin flake or baby brine shrimp. http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/barbs/dwarf-rasbora.php


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

I keep mines with pygmy cories, bn plecos, and ottos. As well as assassin snails and mts and micro crabs. Never had a problem. Theres a lotofplants and i see many new babies growing up.


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

I think for this thread to be useful, you must post a distinction between fish that are adult shrimp
friendly and shrimplet friendly. many fish will ignore 3cm shrimp, but gladly hunt down 3mm babies.


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## mfgann (Nov 10, 2010)

spypet said:


> I think for this thread to be useful, you must post a distinction between fish that are adult shrimp
> friendly and shrimplet friendly. many fish will ignore 3cm shrimp, but gladly hunt down 3mm babies.


True, and many fish will occasionally nab a baby shrimp, while others will actively hunt them down. For some fish it can also be a personal temperment thing. I've had a betta that ignored my ghost shrimp and RCS, but the next betta I got would hunt the adults down like a little lion.

The only fish that is supposed to be 100% safe is otocinclus, due the way their mouth works supposedly. Every other fish is a suspected baby shrimp eater.

You just have to see if they're the type to hunt down the babies, or just nab the occasional snack. I've heard that neons, guppies, and endlers are some of the most eager shrimplet eaters, so it is not just a question of whether it is a community fish or a very hungry green terror.

Good luck


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