# Ghost shrimp and Betta relations



## winebottle (Apr 3, 2013)

I recently purchased two Ghost shrimp at Petsmart as tank mates for my betta Pete. Our setup is a 3.2 gallon cylinder tank for Pete and the substrate at the bottom is a conglomeration of those clear translucent rocks from Walmart and heavier rocks from Petsmart. After we initially cleaned the tank we dumped them in while I'm not sure if one of them are alive anymore, they stay primarily at the bottom of the tank and hardly ever surface when he swimming about. Their first interaction was him swimming after them, and they immediately positioned themselves inbetween the crags and dips in the substrate. As noted the ghost shrimp now predominantly spend their time at the bottom in the crags of the substrate, is this behavior normal as tank mates?

What does this behavior mean when he chases them? Do bettas normally prey on Ghost shrimp, or is he just chasing them in a territorial fashion? What can I do to normalize their relationship, and better yet how do I clean the tank without killing them as they are incredibly fast swimmers. Any tips or helpful information for cleaning the tank without having them die is appreciated.


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## winebottle (Apr 3, 2013)

Here is a picture of my setup, I know the image is grainy. But if you can see some of the crags, that's where the Ghost shrimp hide. One of them at this moment is underneath a massive brown rock, and barely moves at all.


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## winebottle (Apr 3, 2013)

Edit: He just killed the Ghost shrimp, he wandered around with it for a bit then tore it in half and ate its abdomen and uropod. RIP


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

Ugh! As for bettas and shrimp, it really depends on the personality of the betta, yours will obviously hunt them down as a tasty snack.

Sorry about your shrimp


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## Bluelily54 (Feb 4, 2013)

Sad day =[ I'm not sure what exactly happened to the first two ghost shrimp I had (I may have stressed them out by doing a larger water change than usual that day), but I lost both of them within a day of each other. Weird thing was, I only found their heads, so I'm not sure if Barbossa found them after they died and gobbled them up... XD The current pair (Pintel and Raghetti), have been doing fine for a couple weeks, though.


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## Catie79 (Jan 22, 2012)

One of my bettas ignored them, the other hunted them ruthlessly and after he caught one, swam around with it in his mouth the way a dog would with a bone. I think it's safe to say your betta has a taste for shrimp and if you add any, they're going to be lunch.


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## Stone (Jan 6, 2013)

Most of my bettas ignore them one of them will basically kill anything that's put in his tank.....but the shrimp in his tank right now is a smart one that hides where he can't get to it


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## mushumouse (Dec 29, 2012)

wow, your betta is a good hunter. mine loves chasing shrimp around, but he's never yet come close to catching one! one strategy people seem to use with shrimp-hunting bettas is to put some small hides in the tank for the shrimp, either just a ton of cover for them to get to or a couple things that are too small for the betta to fit in, like little tubes- i think i've seen fancy stuff being sold for this purpose on amazon and ebay but you could probably just saw up some pvc tubing or bamboo cane in a pinch and weigh it down. you'd have to be careful it wasn't of a size that your betta could get himself stuck in, though.

about the other stuff- shrimp are actually more delicate than fish generally, and more sensitive to water quality. i had several ghost shrimp in succession when i was cycling my tank as an early warning system for water quality problems. now i have some amano shrimp, they're a little more hardy, but if your betta's chomping on the ghosts i wouldn't try them, since they're more expensive and more visible. shrimp usually seem to stick around the bottom of the tank, and ime only swim around the top if there's something wrong with the water that they're trying to escape OR if you're feeding the fish and they want to play the dangerous game of racing a hungry betta for food.  if your tank isn't cycled, or if you didn't acclimate them before releasing them into the tank, they might not make it. don't feel too bad about it, but if you want to try again sometime, it would be better to treat them like fish- float them in the tank for a while, adding a little spoonful of tank water to the container every 20 minutes or so for a couple hours or as long as you can stand.


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## xShainax (Feb 11, 2012)

My betta's love shrimp. I feed them FD red shrimp and they all love to eat them.


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## Greylady (Jul 15, 2012)

I have a ghost shrimp in both my betta tanks. Gandalf likes to "play" with his shrimp, who's name is Dyson. Sometimes, but not always, Gandalf will sort of follow Dyson around, almost like he's trying to sniff him, like a dog would to something he's investigating, but if Dyson stops running away, Gandalf stops chasing him. Gandalf is an extreamly passive, calm, yet curious betta, nothing upsets him!

Now Merlin is another story, he trys to chase his ghost shrimp, who's name is Hoover, but Hoover is a tough little guy and won't "play", he just ignores Merlin or will even chase Merlin sometimes but mostly they ignore each other. Merlin is much more attached to his Zebra snail, Nessy, follows her everywhere, lol. 

Neither of my bettas have actually tried to eat the shrimp thank goodness.  

On another note, Dyson and Hoover have both shed their shells a couple times and have grown quite a bit. I've had them for about 8 months now.


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## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

my ghost shrimp was too fast for my betta. He chased it once and it did that thing that shrimp do when it looks like they've teleported across the tank they've moved so fast. That's why I called him "Ping". haha


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## JadeAngel (Jul 31, 2012)

aw, poor shrimpy 

Yeah, it really depends on the betta. My husband has a ghost shrimp (he got 2, one died, he refuses to buy another). His betta, Sushi, completely ignored it. In fact, I noticed the silly shrimp would swim up and try to nip at him! I was taking a video and actually caught the little brat on camera grabbing and yanking Sushi's tail! Still the betta ignored him.

Sushi died last month and a week later my husband got Shisu. He definitely doesn't ignore the shrimp. Not to say the shrimp probably doesn't deserve it... hehe

But he doesn't get too bad either. What I see happening is that either Will (shrimp) will head butt Shisu, and Shisu will turn around and head butt him right back, or Will just gets too close to Shisu and the betta either swims quickly away (wanting to avoid the shrimp's claws) or does a quick turn and swats him with his tail or head.

His behavior towards the shrimp is entirely a reaction to the shrimp being a brat to him first, rather than seeing him as lunch.

I think all tank mates are like that. MY betta has an african dwarf frog in his tank. He was absolutely fine with her... and I got a 2nd female african dwarf frog... and that one had a bad attitude problem too. I thought my betta was being mean to her, until I realized that she instigated it. I found her a new home with an employee at petsmart. It's been a couple of weeks, and I saw the girl who took her a few days ago. She said the adf is in a nice sized tank with only snails, and she is just as bold and aggressive towards the snails (she seemed surprised, like she didnt believe me that the frog was antagonizing the betta)

With tank mates, it's a hit or miss. Just like people... we generally can live in a town with other people, but who's to say you are going to get along with your neighbor?


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