Any Idea about a nano fish that is small enough to keep in a shrimp tank without eating too many babies?

[tabletopfishguy]

Essentially I have a 5 gallon thats breeding pretty steadily with some neos and neo shrimplets in there but i have an explosion of copepods or daphnia maybe? So id like to toss something in there to cut down the population of the small crustaceans.

 

[gwand]

Essentially I have a 5 gallon thats breeding pretty steadily with some neos and neo shrimplets in there but i have an explosion of copepods or daphnia maybe? So id like to toss something in there to cut down the population of the small crustaceans.

My celestial pearl danios do not eat my baby shrimp. The CPDs are nano fish about .5 inches when adult.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

You could probably keep some chili rasboras (Boraras brigittae) or similar species, if your water is soft. If your water is hard, you might be better off with some male endlers or feeder guppies. I'm not sure whether they'd eat baby shrimp, but I wouldn't put it past them.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I do the same as gwand. I have had a group of red cherry in my 5.5 for over a decade, maybe longer. I have had apistos and then CPDs in that tank. I always see shrimp but never any baby CPDs.

 

[Tacocat]

I do the same as gwand. I have had a group of red cherry in my 5.5 for over a decade, maybe longer. I have had apistos and then CPDs in that tank. I always see shrimp but never any baby CPDs.

Apistogramma with neocaridina? I thought that apistos were shrimp eating machines.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Well it was well planted tank and the Apistos eventually died and the shrimp colony remained. The apistos were a pair of A. Australe orange with a specifc geographic location I forgot where though as it was 15-20 years ago. I also feed my fish well. I had the apistos before I got the shrimp. So it is possible my old memory has it wrong, I thought the shrimp went in while I still had the apistos. Could be I was wrong but I am not so sure either way- sorry.

For sure they have been with CPDs for years now as I added some this past summer to replace those that went to the fish tank in the sky.

 

[tabletopfishguy]

My celestial pearl danios do not eat my baby shrimp. The CPDs are nano fish about .5 inches when adult.

That’s almost perfect i might have to give them a shot, seems like theyd be comfortable in the params i have rn too, Any idea if 2-3 of them would do alright in a 5 gallon, im aware theyre schioling fish but i dont want to overcrowd this 5 gallon especially when its going to end up being loaded with shrimp.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I have kept 4-6 in my 5.5. if that helps. But I am not overrun with shrimp. I just have shrimp.

 

[gwand]

That’s almost perfect i might have to give them a shot, seems like theyd be comfortable in the params i have rn too, Any idea if 2-3 of them would do alright in a 5 gallon, im aware theyre schioling fish but i dont want to overcrowd this 5 gallon especially when its going to end up being loaded with shrimp.

IMHO CPDs need to be in a group of 8 or more. Minimum 10 gallon tank size

 

[tabletopfishguy]

I have kept 4-6 in my 5.5. if that helps. But I am not overrun with shrimp. I just have shrimp.

yeahhhh unfortunately thats not my case theres 10-12 full grown neos with 7 of them berried, about two batches of shrimp let’s already so id say my nunbers are around 40-70

 

[tabletopfishguy]

IMHO CPDs need to be in a group of 8 or more. Minimum 10 gallon tank size

yeah i was thinking that was going to be the case, almost all small nano fish are schoolers and im not up to making them lonely and miserable with a pair or a trio, and i dont want some type of labyrinth fish like a gourami or betta, I might be out of options.

 

[tabletopfishguy]

You could probably keep some chili rasboras (Boraras brigittae) or similar species, if your water is soft. If your water is hard, you might be better off with some male endlers or feeder guppies. I'm not sure whether they'd eat baby shrimp, but I wouldn't put it past them.

using R/O and distilled remineralized to 180ppm gh and 40ppm kh so hardness is not a huge factor, when it comes to softwater fish (unless thats on the harder side…but i dont think so) I was thinking baby gups but would have to continuously relocate them after they get too big.

 

[Boundava]

Hengeli rasbora may also work. Any of the boraras species, ember tetras, green neon tetras, small cocia species of bettas...just keep in mind that they may predate on baby shrimp if they can find them so having some mossy areas for the shrimp to hide in is a good idea.

 

[Boundava]

Here's what I did years ago with my shrimp tanks. The video is 8 years old in our other house.

The camera was a Cannon Rebel so focusing was a bit tedious.

Tanks were taken down when we moved and never set back up.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I was just thinking a trip of sparkling gouramis, but you said you don't like labyrinth fish, and they are serious shrimp predators.