# Betta Safe Cleanup Crew



## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

I have a 29 gallon tank. The plan is to house a single betta along with a clean-up crew (mainly algae and detritus eaters). There are some small bristlenose plecos that I will be rehoming because they are pooping machines! I will be adding some Otocinclus once the tank matures. Are shrimps betta-safe? Recommendations are appreciated.


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## BettaMummy87 (Jul 26, 2014)

You need a lot of cover if you want shrimps. Some bettas will tolerate them, others won't. Mine kills 'em. Your best bet is to put a lot of cover in, then when you are adding them, add a lot! Like, 15-20. The best person to ask is RusselltheShihTzu.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

What exact algae do you have? Every 'algae eater' only eats 1 or 2 types, not everything. Otos for example usually eat diatoms (also known as brown algae) but NOT black beard algae, green hair algae, or green spot algae (I don't think they eat staghorn algae either but not 100% sure on that one). Amaon shrimp will eat hair algae.. but some bettas don't care the size of the shrimp and may harass them (not all do). But the larger species are safer than the 'dwarf' fresh water shrimp. Amaona and ghostshrimp are the first that come to mind for me, but I don't know what (if any) algae the ghost shrimp eats. Don't get Bamboo shrimp or other 'filtrer shrimp' as they won't help with your needs and must have a strong current to get their food (sift it out with fine hairs on their limbs) far too strong for a betta to handle. Avoid cherry/fire red/rcs/blue velvet etc etc etc the small shrimp variety. They have a much higher chance of becoming a snack.
You also cannot except any algae eater to survive on only algaes, they will run out of food and starve. You'll have to keep an eye on them and add vegetable or algae wafer supplements. If you have otos they only eat wafers that are 100% vegetable and algae NO fish meal or other proteins. otos also learn to love blanched veggies like cumber, zucchini, and leaf greens. You can also look at nerite snails as good diatoms cleaners, I beleive they'll eat lefter food too (if they find it). But a lot of people complain about nerite snails pooing alot. 
What is your pH and hardness(general hardness and karbinate hardness?) this helps rule out shrimp or snail options as they can't take the wide range that bettas can.

If by detris you mean poo there is nothing that eats that. Beneficial bacteria will consume the ammonia it produces as it breaks down, and the nitrite produced from consuming ammonia, then plants will eat the final product: nitrate (they'll actually consume ammonia and nitrite too if fast growers, but nitrate is easier for plants to process for their food). But there will still be physical poo in the tank,*you *have to siphon it out. 
If you mean left over food shrimps and cories are good for that, but cory do no eat algaes. I cannot tell what your substrate is, but it might not be cory safe. They have little barbs on your 'noses' and tend to burrow in the substrate a bit to find food, anything remotely rough will rip up their face and can leave them susceptible to disease with these open wounds.

If you do consider otos or cories please get a group of 6 or more, they are shoaling fish and will be much more comfortable and less stressed in a group of 6+. And don't get one of this and that different cory species (like to 2 emerald, 3 jullian, and 2 albino cories), but 6 of one 'breed' of cory.


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

The single betta + clean up crew is just a theme I was aiming for. The goal wasn't to just throw a clean up crew in there and hope they survive on "algae and poop" and never have to do a water change. I have a thorough understanding of keeping planted community tanks.

The large canister filter I have might generate enough flow for filter shrimps. It's positioned such that there are still stagnant spots as to not to throw the betta flying (also why I stayed away from HMs). I might add in a filter shrimp just to see how it will do.

The substrate is Eco-complete fine grade. It's almost like sand but still might be too coarse for corys. Good thing I am not a big fan of them. I will take your suggestion and consider some larger species of non reproducing snails.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

I did not mean to offend with my post, did not know your background/knowledge and those getting a cleaning crews and asking about them tend to be first timers and a bit naive about it.


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

Not offended at all.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

+1 All of the above. You'd need a lot more cover before you could keep shrimp of any size. With shrimp you don't want the Betta to have a straight line of sight. Think of a thick forrest.

There is safety in numbers as well. I have 40+ dwarf shrimp in my 20 long. Putting just two or three in a tank is like expecting a "herd" of two horses to survive in cougar country. ;-)


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

I respectfully disagree with your idea about safety in numbers when it comes to smaller shrimps. If a betta eats one, it will eat the others. It's just a matter of time. I wouldn't want the shrimps to live in fear and be in hiding.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

It's safety in numbers for the shrimp; they are much more secure than when someone puts just two or three in an aquarium with a predator. All I can give is information based on years of experience which is anyone's right to accept or reject based on theirs.

You asked if shrimp are Betta-safe so the assumption has to be that you've not had shrimp with Betta so don't actually know.


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

I do appreciate the input and apologize if I came off sounding rude; not my intent.

I don't quite understand why a tank with 3 shrimp is worst off than say 30 shrimps if they are snacks for a predator.

I admit I have never kept small shrimps with a betta. But I have in the past in a guppy tank, and that didn't go well. It was a matter of days before all 30 rcs were eaten. Perhaps this experience will translate.


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## aselvarial (Feb 21, 2014)

I had 4 red cherry shrimp in with a betta. the tank was fairly heavinly planted and I had a huge section of java moss for them to hide in that the betta never went in. that said, he is one of my calm, low aggression bettas. All 4 made it over a month until I set up a shrimp tank for them. I would NEVER have put them in with my aggressive betta. In a heavily planted tank, with a calm betta, red cherries are probably ok.


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