# Best way to introduce shrimp to betta?



## Lettuce (Jul 12, 2014)

Now that my tank is finally cycled I want to get some shrimp. Cherry shrimp would be neat but I don't know if the betta will play nice, so I was thinking about getting a few ghost shrimp to see what happens.


The question is, what is the best way to introduce them without the betta immediately assuming they are food?


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Can you post a photo of the tank? Part of being successful with shrimp depends on planting.


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## Lettuce (Jul 12, 2014)

http://i.imgur.com/pWRPbVw.jpg


I heard that they like moss? I don't know where to get any though. I never saw any at petsmart or petco when I went.

I was also curious about little shrimp hides. Anyone have any suggestions? I was thinking about putting one of those little airplane liquor bottles in there if the shrimp are small enough to fit through the neck of the bottle, that way they could go in there and the betta wouldn't be able to get at them, but that could become problematic as the shrimp grow.


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## Tress (Jun 6, 2014)

I've heard that it's safest to start with a bigger, cheaper shrimp like the ghost shrimp, and only introduce one in case your betta turns it into a snack, else they might pig out and get constipated.


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## merrycat (Mar 29, 2014)

Give them a lot of hiding places, start with the biggest shrimp you can find (adult sized as opposed to babies), and hope like crazy that your betta isn't a shrimp killer. Maybe start with something cheap like ghost shrimp to test it out?


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Very few shrimp die of Betta predation. Most die from unstable water parameters (including bad TDS) and the stress of living with a predator in a habitat that is not planted heavily enough. Tanks should be well-beyond just cycling; I suggest at least two months. This gives the shrimp the best chance at having stable parameters. Shrimp feed on the biofilm and newly-cycled tanks don't generally have enough. Even a reading of .25 Ammonia can kill sensitive shrimp. If you see a shrimp in your Betta's mouth it was most likely already dead or dying as healthy shrimp are too quick for a Splendens to actually catch in a properly planted aquarium.

If you have shrimp which constantly hide, the environment is too stressful for them. And, as with shoaling fish, there is safety in numbers. I never buy fewer than 25 at a time of dwarf shrimp no matter the tank size.

I have successfully kept RCS, Sakura, Blue Velvet, Amano, Malawa, Vampire and Bamboo Shrimp with various male Bettas. But this is the how the 20 long is planted (my 10 is this heavily planted as well). As you can see, plenty of places for the shrimp to hide and there is no straight line-of-sight for predators to use.

If you decide to get shrimp, turn them loose in a darkened tank and leave it that way a minimum of 30 minutes.


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## taquitos (Jun 27, 2013)

RussellTheShihtzu covered everything I wanted to say.

But I just wanted to add something a little OT:
Your DHG will spread faster if you break up your clumps into even smaller chunks. I find the larger clumps always do worse than smaller clumps.

I would suggest planting yours a little more heavily, or waiting for the DHG to at least grow in


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## Lettuce (Jul 12, 2014)

Alright sounds like I need to wait 2 months


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Taquito is right about the DHG. The more smaller the clumps of it or MicroSwords the faster they will spread because the roots have more room to spread out and put up new shoots.

BTW, I always give those cautions because I love, love, love inverts. I want everyone's first experience to be so positive they'll go as overboard as I have ... and someday have an invert-only aquarium. ;-)


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## Mercury (Feb 2, 2014)

I added three cherry shrimp to my 5 gallon tank two days ago. For the first day, Comet (the betta) chased the three of them around for a while, and then got bored of it and ended up not caring after a few hours. 

Two days later, they're doing great! The three of them now hang with Comet in his floating log, and I've not seen him attempt to bite one of them since the day I've had them. They have lots of hiding places, but they don't seem to be scared of him, and they spend most of the time in his floating log with him.

I have some Java Moss that I bought with the shrimp, and they love it. It's a great hiding place too. I also added them to the tank with the lights off, and that went pretty well.


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## aselvarial (Feb 21, 2014)

I have cherry shrimp in my 10 gallon. Loki chased them around for a bit, they hid in the moss and around some plants, and then he lost interest. I have absolutely NO idea how he would ever catch cherry shrimp to even eat! They are FAST! Like super duper fast! 
My recommendation if you tank isn't very well-planted is to get some moss. My shrimp just love the moss!


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## Mercury (Feb 2, 2014)

Well, unfortunately for me I had to remove my three cherry shrimp from my betta tank to my father's community tank to be with his shrimps. My betta decided to take a big bite out of one of the shrimps, and basically removed half its side.  Lucky enough I was by the side of his tank when he did it, and I was able to remove them all quite fast.


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## rpadgett37 (Jan 1, 2014)

I am with RS regarding shrimp with Bettas.

In my own experience, I started a tank with 6 RCS. Had them in there for a while and they were doing great. I then introduced Picasso into the environment.

He left the shrimp alone; however, the shrimp went into deep hiding and never came out again. There were plenty of hiding spots for them to venture out into, but they went under every nook and cranny of the driftwood and would not come out, even when I dropped food right next to the ones I could see. What complicated matters was when I caught him systematically eating all of the shrimp food. End result, I rescued what shrimp survived and found them a new home.

I've learned the hard way that this particular Betta must be kept alone. He doesn't share food and will cruise around stalking the tank for what he knows is in there somewhere. And I've heard plenty of stories from friends about their Bettas behaving the same way. I am also pretty well convinced based on what I have seen that adding anything after he has been in there for a while he will automatically see as food simply because anything going into the aquarium while he is alone is in fact food.

I personally will never mix shrimp of any kind with a Betta unless it is in a larger, well planted tank. 5 Gallons I believe is just too small a space to try to mix them. But of course, this is only one hobbyists experience and opinion.


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## zilphy (Apr 6, 2014)

Introducing shrimp to a betta?
With cocktail sauce of course;-) 

Sorry, I couldn't resist


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## bluenail (Jul 23, 2014)

One thing to add, sorry if this has been mentioned but I missed it. When doing water changes with shrimp, add the new water slowly, and be extra careful that the water is the same temp and as close to the same hardness (DS) and ph as the water in the tank.

If there is a difference in ph or hardness, you might have to mix tank water and new water in your water change bucket before adding it back to the tank.

And I wouldn't do anything smaller than a ghost with a betta.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

+1 bluenail


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