Anyone else have problems with super aggressive shrimp?

[joeychizzle]

I've got a little 5 gal long semi densely planted with a betta, about 40-50 ghost shrimp, a few random snails I yanked from a random river, two albino cories, and as of today, 4 dwarf puffers.

I brought the shrimp first and were happy watching them scamper about and constantly hunt for food, but thought it would be nice to add a betta since they're low maintenance and rather graceful. He acclimated quickly, great.

A few weeks later I added the pair of albino cories. They settled in quickly. Great.

A few weeks later I added 8 cardinal tetras. They were slowly eaten one by one over the course of 2 weeks by my shrimp. I'd wake up every other morning and find them gobbling up the corpse of a poor tetra. I checked my parameters and they all were stable, so they weren't dying.

After a month I decided to try some different small fish to liven up the tank. I bought 6 guppies. They were albino on the front half and a stunning cherry red from the belly to the tail. Also eaten within 2 weeks.

I told myself no more little fish, but I walked past the local fish street and they were having a sale on a fresh shipment of baby dwarf puffers. I saw a group of four little puffers in a display tank, they swam up to me, and I had to get em.

Fast forward to getting home, acclimating them, and introducing them. The shrimp seem quite unphased by them, the cories are their usual slow, methodical selves and the betta never cares about anything apart from food.

Fingers crossed all four of them make it through the week!

Has anyone else had problems with shrimp eating small newcomers?

 

[TheresaM]

I've heard that ghost shrimp can be agressive from quite a few people.

You tank is quite overstocked. Also, it's generally recommended to have 5g per dwarf puffer. Hopefully you have enough plants/hiding places to avoid aggression.

 

[joeychizzle]

I've heard that ghost shrimp can be agressive from quite a few people.

You tank is quite overstocked. Also, it's generally recommended to have 5g per dwarf puffer. Hopefully you have enough plants/hiding places to avoid aggression.

It is a tad overstocked, but the shrimp perch on my plants and the little fish hover around the roots and other bits so nobody's really crowding each other. I'm going to transplant some of the shrimp to a tank at my office and the fish into a bigger tank in the future. I'm hoping to get a 20 long planted, but that'll have to wait a month or two.

 

[Nils]

Please, please reconsider keeping your betta with 4 dwarf puffers. I can guarantee you that in a couple days it will be WW3 in there with a betta and the puffs. I have 2 in my 5.5 gallon and they still go at it sometimes. Your betta will be relentlessly attacked and it's fins will be in shreds. The cory's won't stand a chance against the puffers. Ok, back to the real problem. I would be more worried about the puffers eating the shrimp more than anything else. I have read and heard about people's betas and fish getting attacked and eaten by ghost shrimp. So before you do anything else, get those puffers out ASAP and then take care of the shrimp. Puffers are aggressive fish and should be kept in a species only tank IMO. What are you feeding them right now? They will not take flake or pellet and may only take live food. It takes a while to train them onto frozen in most cases. Rehome them or get a bigger tank for them. At least 15 gallons for 4 puffers.

 

[joeychizzle]

Please, please reconsider keeping your betta with 4 dwarf puffers. I can guarantee you that in a couple days it will be WW3 in there with a betta and the puffs. I have 2 in my 5.5 gallon and they still go at it sometimes. Your betta will be relentlessly attacked and it's fins will be in shreds. The cory's won't stand a chance against the puffers. Ok, back to the real problem. I would be more worried about the puffers eating the shrimp more than anything else. I have read and heard about people's betas and fish getting attacked and eaten by ghost shrimp. So before you do anything else, get those puffers out ASAP and then take care of the shrimp. Puffers are aggressive fish and should be kept in a species only tank IMO. What are you feeding them right now? They will not take flake or pellet and may only take live food. It takes a while to train them onto frozen in most cases. Rehome them or get a bigger tank for them. At least 15 gallons for 4 puffers.

Jeez, it's that bad? They're literally the size of two peas.

I'll put the betta in a spare 1 gal planted tank for now, and I'll either return the puffers to the store or give them away.

 

[Nils]

Yeah they look harmless but they'll be little monsters in no time. You could give back 2 puffers and keep 2, but please note that they probably will end up picking on the corys. Plus corys get to around 2" so IMHO they should be kept in at least a 10 gallon. But you have a plan right now and that's what matters.

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[joeychizzle]

Yeah they look harmless but they'll be little monsters in no time. You could give back 2 puffers and keep 2, but please note that they probably will end up picking on the corys. Plus corys get to around 2" so IMHO they should be kept in at least a 10 gallon. But you have a plan right now and that's what matters.

Sent from my LG-LS720 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

I removed the puffers last week - they and the betta were giving each other hell. Had the betta trying to breach the water like a killer whale haha.

The puffers are now enjoying themselves in a 20gal quarantine tank my friend has. He's got a few vampire shrimp and a giant African clawed frog in there, but plenty of plants. They're his problem now

The corys seem to be doing fine in my little 5gal, but eventually I WILL upgrade so they won't be trapped for long

 

[Nils]

Ok good. Told you so Cory's will appreciate the extra space. make sure to give them smooth gravel or sand.

 

[joeychizzle]

I had this white 1cm wide gravel at first. A thin layer with plenty of gaps and I wasn't keen on vacuuming lol
The amount of poo my fishes dropped between the cracks, man it was a hassle. Now with the minimum of fish and plethora of plants, things are muuuch better.

Now I have a nice thick layer of black eco complete for the plants and corys to rummage through. I'm hoping to mix in some root tabs and aqua soil though, along with some of those grey rocks Takashi Amano was so fond of.