Interesting question and ill give you the straight answer first yes you can. Now the long answer if you have no fish than you can pump more co2 and dont have to worry about fish dieing also some ferts that would be harmful to fish well you could use them too. And last but not least cost if you dont have any fish you dont need any fishfood. And last but not least the shrimp aquarium tons of people have things other than fish in planted tanks. Think of it as an extention of you. You know who you are you know what you like and get creative and put passion in your tank and you might surprise yourself.