In recent years, the trend of raising ornamental shrimp is very popular. Some hobbyists want to add diversity to their aquarium so they want to keep shrimp together with other types of fish. However, not all fish breeds can live peacefully with shrimp. If you don’t research carefully, you can accidentally cause the shrimp to be attacked unconditionally and become a meal for the fish. Aqua Plants Hub will suggest to you some species of fish with gentle characteristics that can live with the following shrimp:
OTTO FISH
Otto fish’s scientific name is Otocinclus Affinis. This is one of the fishes of the Macrotocinclus genus of the Loricariidae family. This fish usually lives on the bottom, specializes in cleaning and eating moss that is harmful to the tank, so it is very benign.
Otto is a tropical fish that will definitely never eat your shrimp. Otocinclus is a small catfish that loves to eat algae and is probably the most ideal algae eater for a nano aquarium. Even so, this small catfish requires quite specific care. You have to make sure your tank is well set up and always has enough algae so they have food to eat, especially the soft green kind.
Otto fish is the most popular name when kept with shrimp
On the market, Otto fish are priced from 8,000 – 15,000/11 small fish and 20,000 – 40,000/1 adult fish.
CORY MOUSE FISH
Cory fish strains are highly social and live in harmony with almost all other species. Cory rat fish are a safe fish for ornamental shrimp. Although they are omnivores and can eat dead shrimp, they are too gentle to bother live shrimp. Furthermore, most shrimp species reproduce quite quickly and will maintain their numbers in the tank even if your ratfish accidentally eats a few shrimps but this is highly unlikely.
Cory rat fish live peacefully together and do not harm other creatures
Ratfish come in many varieties and are the perfect choice if you are looking for fish that are adorable, peaceful, have a cheerful disposition, and can live in a fairly small aquarium with aquarium shrimp.
Depending on the type of cory rat fish, the price will be different. However, in general, it will cost from 10,000 – 30,000 VND for a small sized fish.
BROOM FISH
Tram fish has the scientific name Boraras urophthalmoides and is a species that likes to live in groups. Although this species is very small in size, only about 16mm, it is very suitable for keeping in the same tank as ornamental shrimp.
Raising Tram fish with shrimp can add liveliness to the tank
Tram fish are not picky about food and raising methods, so we can feed them anything as long as it is a size that fits their mouth. Therefore, when rearing with shrimps, only keep small-sized fish and in moderate quantities to avoid them from overcrowding and attacking the shrimps. Farmers can refer to some small-sized fresh foods such as artemia larvae, daphnia and meal worms or can also feed them dry foods such as flakes, small pellets and even frozen food.
Tram fish has a very cheap price, only from 3,000 – 5,000 VND/10 fish.
COLOR GUIDE FISH
Guppies are relatively safe when placed in the same tank as shrimp. Guppies and shrimps can be kept in the same aquarium. However, as omnivores, guppies may eat shrimp if you let them starve so you need to be very cautious. When raising guppies with shrimp, you need to make sure the tank is large enough and feed them enough food twice a day to keep them full and away from the shrimp.
Guppies are very diverse in species and color.
Additionally, the ratio of guppies to shrimp should be ‘smaller’ to prevent guppies from combining with each other and hunting shrimp. To be safer, you should also plant many plants in the tank to help protect the shrimp if you love guppies and want to share a tank with ornamental shrimp.
Guppies have prices depending on the type. Black and white guppies have an average price of 30,000 VND/pair, grass green guppies cost about 80,000 VND/pair higher. Whole red body guppies cost about 100,000 VND/pair. The most expensive is the red guppy with fanned tail, the average price for each pair of these fish is 150,000 VND.
SLAVE FISH
Slave fish, also known as yellow goby leaves. Its English name is Gyrinocheilus aymonieri, this is a freshwater fish belonging to the Gyrinocheilidae family. Slave fish are one of the perfect fish to keep with shrimp because they only eat algae and clean up. This fish breed’s hobby is spending all day looking for food, so it is extremely easy to care for.
The fish species are chosen to create more diversity, help clean the aquarium in the most natural way and are very popular with aquarists, especially suitable for beginners.
The Slave Fish is very popular among aquarists today
At aquatic stores, the price of golden goby fish is around 15,000 VND/fish.
In short, if you want to keep fish and shrimp in the same tank, you can consider the options above. You just need to note that you should put the shrimp into the tank 1-2 days before adding the fish to avoid scaring it. Besides, you should add many dense bushes so that the shrimps have a place to hide. Small and docile herbivorous fish can be kept with aquarium shrimp as long as the water environment is safe and beneficial for all organisms. Carnivorous fish or aggressive fish such as gourami fish, discus fish, arowana fish or arowana fish should not be kept in the same tank as shrimp, whether it is freshwater or saltwater. But if you are a true shrimp lover, you should set up your tank just for crustaceans, with no predatory fish or other possible dangers.
Aqua Plants Hub Editorial
