# rams and crs, bad mix?



## voiceofid (Jan 31, 2008)

i currently have a 30g planted tank with 2 blue rams, 3 neon tetra, 2 sae and 5 zebra danios

i purchased some crs from a member of the site and planning on putting them in that tank

but then i read that the rams will eat the crs... just want to get that verified

if they will eat them, i have a 10g that's lightly plannted (like..3 plants) with 3 guppies i'll throw them in there instead...

any help is appreciated!


----------



## bratyboy2 (Feb 5, 2008)

http://www.alphafishfarm.com/crystalredshrimpcareguide

here is a link to my buddies web site he breeds many shrip i have seen them and they are really nice.

i would say take the guppies and put them with the others and dedicate the 10 gallon to them they will breed and you could have tons...then you have some room to experiment. really it all depends how big they are. if they are full grown get them to breed grow them out and put them with the fish i would say the rams might get them and then you have lost your most prized shrimps


----------



## bencozzy (Jun 2, 2006)

ramshorn snails shouldnt harm your shrimp your fish though are a different story??


----------



## NoSvOrAx (Nov 11, 2006)

german blue ram dwarf cichlids will most definately eat your crs.


----------



## voiceofid (Jan 31, 2008)

hmmm.. okay

i was hoping to use them to clean the tank, the plant tank is rather dirty, full of diatoms


----------



## It's Me (Jan 14, 2008)

I didn't have troubles with Red Cherry Shrimp and Rams. The baby's were brave not backing down. 
But this might be the exception to the rule.


----------



## ingg (Apr 8, 2007)

I've also kept rams with red cherry shrimp.

So call me another exception to the rule, or, alternatively, the rule is in need of a bit of an edit...

I'm quite sure the rams ate lots of babies. There is a difference to me between optimal breedout of shrimp in a breeding farm tank and a viable sustainable colony in a community tank. I don't think I'd do it with crystals simply from a price point of view, but cherries breed fast and are inexpensive to start a colony of.


----------



## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

I have Bolivian and German rams all living happily together. I ve seen the rams try to catch one and shrimp move fast as lightning.


----------



## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

voiceofid said:


> hmmm.. okay
> 
> i was hoping to use them to clean the tank, the plant tank is rather dirty, full of diatoms


If they're full of diatoms (brown algae) get some oto cats?


----------



## It's Me (Jan 14, 2008)

I have not found shrimp to be the most effective at cleaning. My Otto's and Nerite Snails do an excellent job. Man those Snails are fast.


----------



## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

Snails are great little cleaning maids.


----------



## voiceofid (Jan 31, 2008)

yes, there are 2 otos in the tank with 3 amano and an apple snail

the rcs i got went into their own 10g


----------



## Djeki (Feb 17, 2008)

Hi everyone!
I have read this topic and I still don't understand if Rams and shrimps are a bad mix.
I've talked to some people and they all have given me mix answers.
I have 54 l aquarium with about 120 Amano and Cherry shrimps of all sizes and I'm planning in a months time to get some Rams, but I'm still not sure that that is a wise decision.
My aquarium is heavily planted.
Is it possible for Rams to just give up hunting shrimps once they realize that shrimps are too fast?

Best regards, Ivan.


----------



## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

IMO the general consensus of this thread is that most of the time rams eat shrimp but there are exceptions to every rule.

If you don't want to risk it, don't mix them. If you don't mind some losses, then go ahead. 

If you are trying to get a breeding colony of shrimp going, don't mix them with fish.


----------



## It's Me (Jan 14, 2008)

I agree that you might have troubles. When I added a male shrimp one of my Rams chased him for a while. In fact I found the shrimp out of the water under the rim of the tank. I put him back in and never have had any other problems.


----------



## Djeki (Feb 17, 2008)

It's me, by "never have had any other problems" you mean that now Rams don't pay attention to shrimps, or...?
Lauraleellbp, I'm not trying to get a breeding colony, I only want to combine shrimps and this beautiful fish, if possible.
I think that shrimps will manage to multiply even if I get 2 Rams because they have many places to hide.


----------



## It's Me (Jan 14, 2008)

See my picture. The baby shrimp and the rams would come around each other. I never saw a ram chance, nip or disturb any of the shrimp after that one instance. I wasn't so lucky and my shrimp out lived my rams. I will try more rams when I start my next tank. My LFS has a planted community tank with just about every type of smaller freshwater fish. The rams in there don't bother the shrimp colony as far as I can see. Again I think these are not the norms. I am sure if I had of starved my rams they might of had shrimp for lunch.


----------



## Djeki (Feb 17, 2008)

"See my picture", Doup, how stupid of me not to notice it.


----------



## It's Me (Jan 14, 2008)

here it is larger, thats a baby female RCS.


----------



## Jeff.:P:. (Nov 20, 2007)

MMMMMmm Dinnner

lol, jk. I had 3 rams and 25 rcs with no problems. They will reduce the baby population though, which I'm sure has been said multiple times.


----------



## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

Its Me- I think the secret to your success is super-ballsy shrimp!


----------



## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

I had them together for awhile. Everything was fine at first but later on as the Rams began to breed they developed an expensive taste for RCS. Interestingly, they picked up the young shrimp first and then moved onto the larger prey once they were done.


----------



## voiceofid (Jan 31, 2008)

i am just gonna wait till the colony is 100+ then move half of the colony over to the plant tank, so i have less of a risk losing eveyrthing


----------



## It's Me (Jan 14, 2008)

thats wise.


----------

