Bamboo shrimp

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Fin35

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I just set up my 20 gallon. Once it’s established I would love to add bamboo shrimp. I have a bubble filter, can they filter feed and eat well with a bubble filter if there is food in the water colum? Can they eat off the filter moving upward? Thanks
 
As long as there's plenty of flow and the tank is mature the bamboo should do just fine. I have 2 6year old bamboo shrimp in my tank and I use a spray bar they just sit there all day.
 
Two Examples
 

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Oh but the betta will hate that. So I had one before with a HOA filter and a male dumbo eared betta abs the betta didn’t bother the bamboo shrimp, he was afraid of him! Are plakat female bettas more aggressive?
 
Wait, wait. I need to figure this out, please bear with me.

First subject: If you want to have shrimp, the answer from Shellyx included the info that shrimp love a spray bar. Then I sent pictures of spray bars to answer your question of what they are.

Second subject: You're right, a betta won't appreciate the added motion from a spray bar. Or a bubbler, for that matter. They like low flow, little motion. Didn't know you have a betta in there, I thought the subject was only about shrimp.

Third subject: Plakat female bettas. I've heard from friends who have them that yes, they can be more aggressive than the long-finned betta splendens, as they were originally bred to be fighters (like the male betta splendens were).

So, do I have this right?--you have a 20g with a (male long-fin or female plakat, which?) betta, and a bubbler, and are wondering if adding the shrimp would cause fighting and the shrimp to go hungry because of bubbler action?

If that's the case, I can report from my experience that bettas, even aggressive ones, can sometimes give attitude to shrimp but there's no fight-to-the-death scenes going on. By that I mean they'll swim up, maybe even flare at them, maybe even turn around and give 'em the fin bump, then leave. Others may have different experiences.

Having just a low flow filter with no bubbler will certainly keep your betta happy. It won't steal shrimp food either, especially if you feed the sinking pellet variety. They love to nip into that as it dissolves on the bottom.

Hope this helps.
 
The long finned betta I had for 2.5 years but he died. I have upgraded to a 20 gallon tank and I’m going to be ordering a plakat female betta from an online breeder. I’m trying to brain storm a tank mate, as I think the bamboo shrimp is very cool. Any other shrimp I believe would be food for the betta. I just don’t think I have the best set up with a bubble filter low flow. I know I can spot feed the shrimp, I just don’t want to get something unless it’s the best set up for that animal. Thank you. Do you know anything about dwarf crayfish? I know they’re super small and they can’t hurt fish? Maybe that might be more suitable?
 
Ooh, no, not a dwarf crayfish (or crawfish as we call them here in Louisiana). Those betta fins will be too tempting and signal a nice meal. I've watched our dwarf blue crawfish headlock, punch out, and eat a mystery snail. We got him some little goldfish to be companions/hunting practice/meals-to-go, and that's exactly how that worked out.

Our 5 month old Thunderbolt crawfish is a less aggressive variety but is currently eyeing the cherry shrimp we put in; we're monitoring the situation and hoping they're too fast for him to catch.

I've had cherry shrimp in with bettas. The fish don't eat them. Everyone has their own food, shrimp with pellets dissolving on the bottom and betta with floating pellets up top. Bamboo shrimp get much bigger than cherries, so...

I've also had mystery snails and nerite snails with bettas. The mysteries are lots of playful fun, though big poopers. The nerites don't have such a sparkling personality but they keep the place very clean.

A betta with a couple of bamboos + a nerite in a 20g? That would seem like a nice combination. Others might weigh in here with different opinions.
 
Oh yes I have a white mystery snail named pearl and a black racer Nerite snail that I’ve had for two years as my only inhabitants in my new tank at the moment. it worked out that we are doing an in snail cycle, but they seem to be doing fine in that large of a tank. I’m only a bit worried my nerite might starve as the new tank has zero algae in my new tank and she passes by algae wafers and veggies. The plants do have some algae left that I’m sure she can find until I build up some biofilm. I do hope she’s eat some dang spinach over starving to death though. I had zebra nerites that happily ate veggies but she never has! I might get another mystery snail too, they’re funny. I your bettas don’t attack and eat the shrimp? That’s surprising. I had a long finned betta hunt an amano shrimp. I’d love to get cherry or ammono shrimp. I’ve heard amono shrimp can be aggressive and bite the betta? I know some ghost shrimp can too. Cherry shrimp would be the safest bet but most bettas eat them.
 
If you have a betta I would probably avoid the bamboo, it's going to cause issues especially when he molts he'll be extremely vulnerable and could be killed.
 
Okay, you have a mystery snail, a nerite, and a female plakat betta (soon) in a 20g tank. Some would say that's enough of a bio load. I would agree. But I also might push it with one more snail. If it's getting that second mystery you mentioned, that would increase the poop and also likely start the mating cycle. So you'd be dealing with egg sacs too. Water changes and cleaning would be essential.

If you decide to try the bamboo shrimp...well, it depends on the betta and depends on the shrimp. I've asked around locally and it sounds like my non-eating-the-shrimp betta is in the minority. But a few suggestions if you do it:

-Giving the shrimp lots of hiding places is crucial to their survival

-The bigger the shrimp, the less chance of being eaten. This would be where the bamboo variety has an advantage. A friend who used to have bamboos with a betta said she kept the shrimp in a small "nursery" tank until they were the size of the betta. Then she put them in together and no one was eaten. Still, they needed hiding places for when they molted.

Surely your nerite will get into that algae tab when it gets hungry enough.
 
All Bettas can have different personalities. So when picking one out, watch their reactions to other fish. Hyper active flaring could be a bad sign for friendliness. But inquisitive behavior, and swimming up to the other creatures in what can look like an attempt to show dominance or scare off intruders to their territory are common.

This behavior often will diminish to not being threatened by the other inhabitants or not trying to intimidate them and all can be just fine.

BUT, not all that rarely a Betta, male or female after months of living peaceably, tears up all the little shrimp or fish mates that can't hide fast enough or well enough and there has been mass destruction. So just be mindful of any specially beloved or prized or expensive tankmates which could be lost to a murderous tirade.

That said I have kept so many Bettas with other fish and a few with little shrimp, most recently grass shrimp. With lots of mossy cover for them to hide and had oodles of babies. Betta didn't appear to give a care about them.

Plakat body Bettas can really squeeze into unbelievably tight spots. And have a huge advantage over the halfmoons darting around lacking fluffy fins
 
[BUT, not all that rarely a Betta, male or female after months of living peaceably, tears up all the little shrimp or fish mates that can't hide fast enough or well enough and there has been mass destruction. So just be mindful of any specially beloved or prized or expensive tankmates which could be lost to a murderous tirade.]

Yeah, what is that? The sudden mood swing to a mean fish. Is it old age? Hormones? Kids on his lawn?
 
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