Safe tank-mates for Red Cherry Shrimp?

[CACAdmin]

It always comes down to space (which I don't have). No room for tanks. Right now my Red Cherry Shrimp are in their own 2.5g tank. I was wondering about adding them to another tank but don't want to see them devoured. What are safe-tank mates for them. Most importantly, would my platys devour them? Another idea is to put them in the 5g with my adult marisa snails. What do you think?

[Melody]

They'd be fine with Marisas except they need plants to grip so you'd have to find something to suit that need in plastic, since the snails would eat any Java Moss, etc. Platy's would call them lunch. :wideeyed:

[CACAdmin]

Thanks! I kind of figured they'd be on the platys' lunch menu. (what isn't?:laugh: ) Right now the shrimp have lots of java moss to cling to and seem quite happy where they are. However, in the interests of space, I might just get a few plastic plants & move them to the 5g. I'll have to think about it. For now, I'll leave them where they are.

[Shelley]

I have my shrimps in my bristlenose pleco tank. They all seem to get along, and there are always a zillion-12 baby shrimps. I have a sponge over the intake on the aquaclear filter, and the shrimps seem to like to hang out on that.

[CACAdmin]

Thanks. I have 3 BN plecos in my 70g community. It's good to know they get along with the shrimp for when I decide to reorganize. There are so many critters I'd love to have but only so much space so must try to optimize the use of what tanks I do have. As for sponges over the filter intake, I do that for all tanks with fry or tiny critters... it works great. My platy fry love to hang out and pick at stuff off the sponges too. (must be good stuff... I actually posed a question here (http://www.canadianaquariumconnection.com/forum/showthread.php?t=648) to see if anyone knew what collects there).

[hp10BII]

Tankmates for shrimp discussion:

http://www.shrimpnow.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1530

[j__l__e]

I have a 55 gal brackish tank. My cherry shrimp, platies and mollies as well as 1 horseface loach all peacefully coexist. No one has so much as touched my RCS and I introduced them to the tank last and only 1/2 grown.

[Pamelajo]

All my shrimp are in with bns. Have had some in with tridens and medakas. They were full grown and did okay and there was only a couple when I tore this tank apart I had a lot more, so some babies were surviving in there, but then there is a ton of guppy grass in there.

[Ursus sapien]

Adult cherries are big enough not to be bothered by many of the smaller common community fish - except when molting. Molting shrimp are a target many fish can't resist, and you'll need sheltering spots where they can do this in privacy.

Most fish will eat newly hatched shrimp. Notable exceptions include corys and bristlnoses. However, with enough hiding spots (Melody's cactus wood is useful for this) enough babies will survive to keep your colony going.

Since shrimp are thigmotactic, it's important to have plants and other surfaces for them climb.

[okotoks]

From my own experience with shrimp mixed with fish, there seems to be limited choices.
I have my Cherry reds in a 25 gallon, living happily with white clouds and neon tetras and a cory cat. The cory cat is very active and at times makes the shrimp hide in the moss.
Otocinclus are very safe with shrimp. Plecostomus and basically any catfish will eat anything that fits in there mouth.

[mdfa.ca]

Put a thick blanket of java moss on the bottom, weigh it down with some pebbles if needed and leave a bit of space underneath, and your shrimp will be fine, no matter what fish. My son bought and added about 10 cherry shrimp (a lot of them babies) to his tank with the moss. In this tank are furcata rainbows, some guppies and two very hungry betta girls. Even though the bettas try to actively hunt the shrimp, there is probably close to 100+ shrimp in there just a few months later.

[Shiyuu]

I'm thinking about getting rid of my 3" Bosemani Rainbowfish & 5" common pleco to accommodate few cherry shrimps that I plan to get for my 55G tank.
I've also obtained some java moss & subwassertang just recently too~

By then, I will just have about 16 zebra danios+silvertip tetras in the tank...
So will this plan work if I introduce the shrimps to the tank??

If I want to introduce albino BNP into the tank, is it safe with the shrimps?
(I'm also thinking about getting couple cactus wood if it's necessary)

[vince0]

shrimps are pretty much at the bottom of the food chain, i had silvertips at one point and I can tell you they chased small bugs just as much as the next fish. i also had much smaller killi fry pick the shrimps off one by one, piece by piece. Your best bet if you want to keep shrimp is to dedicate a tank to them. It seems however, that you are determined to get shrimps, therefor try some out and see if they live. I haven't had luck keeping them with fish, but your fish may be different than mine.

[Pamelajo]

Mine do fine with bristlenose plecos and snails, but keeping them with other fish is taking a chance on them being a snack.

[jewels]

I have growing suspicions that a few kuhli loaches are preventing a shrimp population explosion in my 29G.