# FEMALE bettas and shrimp?



## ravensgate

Yes, I'm specifically asking about female bettas and shrimp. I had some ghost shrimp in with my male betta for over a week and he was fine until they started molting then he began picking them off one by one, killing and eating most. I got 3 females tossed on me last week (seriously, mom got bad advice at Walmart and put 3 girls in a one gallon together....it wasn't pretty, now I have them). I have one female in with my last two remaining ghost shrimp. They've been together for only a few days and she seems fine with them...though neither have molted since being in with her so I don't know if that will change or not. Well, I have two other females and I'd really like to get just a few shrimp for their tanks. I was thinking of cherry shrimp this time instead of ghosts. Are female bettas any better with shrimp as a general rule or is it just REALLY dependent on the individual fish? Thanks in advance for any help and advice.


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## Oldfishlady

A lot of it is based on the individual fish as well as how the tank is setup, tank size, number of fish...etc......however, IME-I have more problems keeping shrimp with the females than with the males-even in my big heavy planted tanks-the females will hunt them down compared to the 1gal NPT with a single male-most of the males don't look twice at the adult shrimp, however, the baby shrimp are fair game...lol....one fast gulp...yummy....lol....

The cherry shrimp are much smaller than the ghost shrimp-so if the Bettas kill the ghost they will find it much easier to kill the RCS-plus the RCS are more expensive usually......

What I would do-setup a shrimp only tank to get a good colony of RCS going and this way you can stock your Betta tanks as needed...RCS reproduce really fast when happy....start with 1 berried female and 1 male in a planted 1gal unfiltered container and within a few months you should have a pretty nice colony to use for stocking Betta tanks.


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## ravensgate

Awww, I love the little shrimpies so much I hate to raise them as food. LOL! But that's good to know. Especially the 'unfiltered' part. I have an extra crappy air pump and pretty big shoe box sized tupperware bowl. Would that be ok for them to start colonizing, just some air and water or do they even require air flow? I have some java moss, java ferns and just ordered quite a few more marimo moss balls which should all arrive this week. My male betta was just VICIOUS when he began hunting them...it was terrible. I finally got the shrimp their own home then got these females last week. I'm not going to put the RCS in with the ghost shrimp and betta (I think ghost shrimp might kill the RCS, not sure) but would like to get a little colony and try it on the other two female bettas. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work and the shrimpies can have their own home I reckon. LOL! This fish/shrimp situation has sure become an obsession of mine lately. Ugghh! Thank you for the great advice and your experiences, OFL. I haven't been on this forum long but you have always been so helpful


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## Oldfishlady

Here is a great PDF article (_a page from Diana Walstad book_) on how to setup a small NPT (_natural planted tan_k)shrimp tank. These are what I keep NPT...you can also see pic and read more info on my NPT in my _album_....

http://www.atlasbooks.com/marktplc/00388Shrimp.pdf


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## ravensgate

What an excellent article, thank you so much! I will check out your album this afternoon!


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## Bombalurina

I want to re-affirm that it is so dependant on the fish. Apollo, Aphrodite and Athena were all fine with RCS, Odysseus hunted them at first but ignores them now, and someone in my sorority (not sure who) is a complete terrorist towards the poor little things.


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## ravensgate

Thank you for the response! I figured it was going to be fish dependent but I've never had female bettas so I wasn't sure if maybe there was enough difference in the sexes that they were more tolerable of shrimpies. I will wait until more of my plants arrive and I get the betta tanks more planted with hidey spots. I'd rather at least give the shrimp I put in there a fighting chance. I really think I may try the little one gallon setup though and get some RCS to try.


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## Silverfang

I too affirm, depends on the fish. I have one boy who will hunt and eat down anything in his tank. I have one who is just curious about anything new.

And the girls... they poke and sniff at the ghost shrimp, but the shrimp are smart enough to get away. It is entirely dependant on the betta and the shrimp, not to mention the hiding spaces available.


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## SpookyTooth

I'm sorry to hijack the thread I just wanted to thank Oldfishlady for posting that _awesome_ article! I've wanted to keep red cherry shrimp for months but haven't had the courage to try them in Kaze's tank - I might give this set up a go and get a breeding colony! Looks fantastic!

Good luck with your RCS adventure, ravensgate!


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## ravensgate

That article WAS awesome wasn't it?!?! Good luck with your RCS adventures too! And thank you to everyone else for the helpful posts


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