Compatible freshwater fish with RCS?

[new2betas]

I am wondering what fish ARE compatible with RCS? I put them in my 10g tank with my betta and cories and they disappeared almost immediately! I found one lone survivor yesterday when doing a major tank cleaning of my 10g to get rid of snails. I put the lone RCS in my 2g that had been unused for a few weeks. I had even put some of the original RCS in my 2.5g with my two female guppies....they ate them quick as a wink! So, what freshwater fish are compatible with RCS? I think I am just going to go with about 10 in my 2g tank for now and see how they do and if any get pregnant.

 

[Purrbox]

I've not heard of a single fish that is 100% safe with Cherry Red Shrimp. The closest is Otos, but even those may occationally snack on the babies. Your best bet when keeping shrimp with fish is to heavily plant the aquarium and ensure that the shrimp colony is well established before adding any fish. To minimize losses, especially of the babies, you want to choose fish that have very small mouths since this will make it harder for them to snack on the more mature shrimp. Even then some fish have been known to kill the shrimp and tear it apart so that they could eat it. Personally I really do prefer keeping shrimp in a species aquarium since they don't hide as much, which makes it easier to observe them.

 

[new2betas]

Personally I really do prefer keeping shrimp in a species aquarium since they don't hide as much, which makes it easier to observe them.

See that's just it, Joy....I love to watch them to! I don't want them to have to hide.....BUT that means I now have to watch out for a bigger tank, so my addiction just gets worse. What is the best thing to put in a larger tank if you want to be able to observe them? And, what size tank is roomy enough and not overcrowded?

 

[chris127]

put a thick forest of plants in the back of your tank. mayaca and rotala indica work for me. you could also make a moss cave that your fish cannot fit into. this would give your shrimp somewhere to hide and you could watch them

 

[new2betas]

put a thick forest of plants in the back of your tank. mayaca and rotala indica work for me. you could also make a moss cave that your fish cannot fit into. this would give your shrimp somewhere to hide and you could watch them

Hey ~ Thanks chris! This is the kind of advice I just love from this forum. Now, I am totally into researching info. for making a 5.5g shrimp tank.
I know the little buggers are hard to see, but I am struggling today to see the little guy in my 2g tank. (I know he loves to hide in that java moss though)...hmmmm, maybe I need glasses.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

So far I have no issues with Endlers Livebearers(basically a smaller guppy) and these RCS. How big are the guppies that you have? I had some but not with the RCS only with ghost shrimp(no issues w/ these). Most of the RCS that I have are close to 1" or more. I do have a couple ~1/2" ones also. I think I read about people shipping tiny ones like 1/4" or so since they tend to ship/acclimate better when they are young(mine were all 1/2"+). Funny thing is I only lost 1 RCS of the ones I got and it was one of the smaller ones.

So I'm guessing a couple things: You know what they say about assuming
1st: the RCS you received were very young, how big were they?

2nd: I think you may need more hiding spots. I know I thought I had some hiding spots for my guppy fry, then out of the 1st 10+ fry only 1 survived, I had to put stuff in the corners of the tank(2 fake plants jambed in 1 corner) so that the fish could not get in the corner and only the fry could and have a little space.

3rd: I think you may have kinda dropped the shrimp in, and your fish so far have been accustom to anything that drops in the water is food. I'm not real sure if there is a better way to do it. For me I was swapping fish also, so I had no fish in the tank when I put the shrimp in, this gave them a head start, then I added the fish later(still they are tiny also). I guess if one of your fish was chasing the shrimp on the bottom then eating them then thats a different story and not sure if you can do anything about it.

 

[new2betas]

So I'm guessing a couple things: You know what they say about assuming
1st: the RCS you received were very young, how big were they?

2nd: I think you may need more hiding spots. I know I thought I had some hiding spots for my guppy fry, then out of the 1st 10+ fry only 1 survived, I had to put stuff in the corners of the tank(2 fake plants jambed in 1 corner) so that the fish could not get in the corner and only the fry could and have a little space.

3rd: I think you may have kinda dropped the shrimp in, and your fish so far have been accustom to anything that drops in the water is food. I'm not real sure if there is a better way to do it. For me I was swapping fish also, so I had no fish in the tank when I put the shrimp in, this gave them a head start, then I added the fish later(still they are tiny also). I guess if one of your fish was chasing the shrimp on the bottom then eating them then thats a different story and not sure if you can do anything about it.

1 - Yes, they were extremely young (teeny weeny - 1/4" maybe), but I am under the impression they travel better that way...

2 - I have now decided to do a tank just for shrimp so maybe I won't need too many hiding spots after all....

3 - yes...my tank was already established with my fish in there and I release the shrimp into the tank. I tried to net them down near the java moss, but my betta found them and eventually ate all but one

 

[Purrbox]

The shrimp still enjoy a heavily planted aquarium, and will be much more likely to be happy and breed for you. You'll find that as they start breeding they are much easier to find. I generally guess that I see at most 50% of the shrimp actually in the aquarium at any given time.

 

[JohnPaul]

Shrimp-only tanks are the way to go. It is amazing the difference in behavior, and how much more active, the shrimp will be when you get them into a tank without any "threats." They will also breed like crazy!

Otos are the only fish I know of that are "baby safe" in a tank with little shrimplets.

P.S. -- Some really good articles on setting up a shrimp-only tank, as well as some very knowledgeable people, over at Petshrimp.com. Of particular note:

How to Keep Dwarf Shrimp-An Introduction
Shrimp Keeping Beginners' FAQ
...and the dreaded....
Why Are My Shrimp Dying?

If you still have any questions after reading through those, the forums there are extremely helpful, and some of the folks who post there are among the top shrimpkeepers in the country (and in some cases, the world).

My first foray into shrimp keeping was a 10g Red Cherry Shrimp tank that I had for about a year or two until a move (from the US to Europe) forced me to give it away. Now that I am recently back in the US again, I am looking forward to setting up another shrimp tank soon.

 

[new2betas]

Shrimp-only tanks are the way to go. It is amazing the difference in behavior, and how much more active, the shrimp will be when you get them into a tank without any "threats." They will also breed like crazy!

Otos are the only fish I know of that are "baby safe" in a tank with little shrimplets.

P.S. -- Some really good articles on setting up a shrimp-only tank, as well as some very knowledgeable people, over at Petshrimp.com. Of particular note:

How to Keep Dwarf Shrimp-An Introduction
Shrimp Keeping Beginners' FAQ
...and the dreaded....
Why Are My Shrimp Dying?

If you still have any questions after reading through those, the forums there are extremely helpful, and some of the folks who post there are among the top shrimpkeepers in the country (and in some cases, the world).

My first foray into shrimp keeping was a 10g Red Cherry Shrimp tank that I had for about a year or two until a move (from the US to Europe) forced me to give it away. Now that I am recently back in the US again, I am looking forward to setting up another shrimp tank soon.

Thanks JohnPaul! I think I actually came across those articles yesterday while searching!