# sparkling gourami and shrimp



## adlib33

Anybody have any experiences with this combo. I have a 75 g heavily planted tank with mostly community-rasboros, cories, tetras, honeys and and two sparklers.I'm trying to figure out if I can add some bottom of the tank interest with some RCS or do I have to stick to Ghost Shrimp?


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## YuccaPatrol

Your gourami's are likely to eat both RCS and Ghost Shrimp.


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## Raul-7

YuccaPatrol said:


> Your gourami's are likely to eat both RCS and Ghost Shrimp.


I don't think so, Sparkling Gourami's are really small (~1.5 inches). They are fairly timid and very shy, I think it's the last fish you need to worry about snacking on the shrimp.


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## tropism

They are small (regular sparkling gouramis, Trichopsis pumilis, are supposed to stay around 1", the "giant" sparkling gouramis, Trichopsis schalleri, get to around 1.5" or maybe 1.75") BUT...

I had some giant sparklers a while back and they were methodical hunters. My one attempt with three large Amano shrimp, well, didn't quite turn out like I expected. The sparklers would slowly swim up to the shrimp, stare at them for a while, and then lunge. They killed one and caused another one to jump out of the tank. I moved the two that were still alive to a 2.5 gallon (the only thing I had available at the time), but the shrimp were already highly stressed and the 2.5 wasn't cycled. They died within a couple days. 

*My* giant sparklers had a bad disposition though -- they actually stalked and killed a few gold tetras that were added to the tank later. I don't think that's normal behavior for them, but I'd certainly be cautious if I added shrimp with either the regular sparklers or giant sparklers.


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## Cassie

I have one "giant sparkler" and two regular ones in with a few ghost shrimp, and those shrimp are literally as big as the regular sparklers. For cherries, adults are certainly too big to fit in their mouth, but they may make a nice snack out of the babies, so I wouldn't plan on breeding them in the same tank, but, in my experience, those gouramis leave shirmp in general alone


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## Raul-7

Cassie said:


> I have one "giant sparkler" and two regular ones in with a few ghost shrimp, and those shrimp are literally as big as the regular sparklers. For cherries, adults are certainly too big to fit in their mouth, but they may make a nice snack out of the babies, so I wouldn't plan on breeding them in the same tank, but, in my experience, those gouramis leave shirmp in general alone


Actually before he nows it he's going to be flooded with too many Cherry shrimp. Might as well let nature take it's course - as cruel as it sounds.


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## Isthan

I've got a planted 75 gallon with 15 harlequin rasbora and 6 pearl gourami. I also have ghost shrimp n' snails for my cleanup crew (along with a few plecos, but thats besides the point). My Gourami leave the ghost shrimp alive, and the rasbora take little notice to the shrimp. If any shrimp should die though, the corpse becomes a buffet bonanza for fellow shrimp, plecos, snails, and gourami. As far as I can tell in my tank, the shrimp are left to their own devices but quickly become a snack when they pass away. 

If your shrimp dealer is anything like here in Nebraska, ghost shrimp are really cheap, $.20, while Cherry and forbid any Amano shrimp would cost $2-5 per. With them all having the same life expectancy, I would go with ghost shrimp unless you really want the color accent from cherries.


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## Cassie

Isthan said:


> If your shrimp dealer is anything like here in Nebraska, ghost shrimp are really cheap, $.20, while Cherry and forbid any Amano shrimp would cost $2-5 per. With them all having the same life expectancy, I would go with ghost shrimp unless you really want the color accent from cherries.


Good advice, unless you are going for a shrimp that eats algae, in which case I do not recommend ghosts. They, or mine at least, won't eat algae unless it's a last resort. They much prefer left over bits of fish food


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## southpark

not only will gouramis eat shrimp, the tetras will take pot shots at the shrimp as well

i've watched tetras pick legs off of shrimp (which eventually kills the shrimp)

so i'd recommend going for the 20 for 1$ ghost shrimp and provide hiding places for your shrimp to run to

the only fish i've seen that doesn't go after shrimp are otocinclus (and other specialty mouth fish) even my baby fry guppies will chase down shrimp sometimes


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## Cavan Allen

Raul-7 said:


> I don't think so, Sparkling Gourami's are really small (~1.5 inches). They are fairly timid and very shy, I think it's the last fish you need to worry about snacking on the shrimp.


That hasn't been my experience. _Trichopsis pumilis _ may be small, but they're hardly pushovers and don't take any guff from other fish. They're also very efficient hunters. I had several in my 30 gallon with RCS and noticed a big jump in the shrimp population when I took them out. One or two might be ok in a 75 with a healthy shrimp population.

Really any fish that has a mouth big enough will snag a shrimp from time to time. I once saw an espei rasbora get one.


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## Raul-7

Cavan Allen said:


> That hasn't been my experience. _Trichopsis pumilis _ may be small, but they're hardly pushovers and don't take any guff from other fish. They're also very efficient hunters. I had several in my 30 gallon with RCS and noticed a big jump in the shrimp population when I took them out. One or two might be ok in a 75 with a healthy shrimp population.
> 
> Really any fish that has a mouth big enough will snag a shrimp from time to time. I once saw an espei rasbora get one.


Really. Then I must be mis-informed, I thought they were similar to Licorice gourami's which have really small mouths and are very weary of anything that moves. I could see how they could pick out the smaller juveniles but my Licorice have trouble eating a 1mm NLS pellet!


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## Cavan Allen

I had a pumilis that didn't get any flake, live, or any other food for over a year. As far as I know, he ate nothing but cherries.


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## adlib33

Hey thanks for all of the input. With all of the different takes, it seems as if it's really up to the disposition of that particular fish and how satisfied they are. Isn't that almost always the case. I really hope that I manage a healthy shrimp population cause I'm gathering that almost all fish will take a shot the little shrimp from time to time.


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