What Fishes are Safe to keep with Shrimps in Aquarium?

-- By Carol

Freshwater shrimps have turned out to be very popular as algae eaters, and are an interesting addition to the aquarium tanks.

One issue when you keep shrimps with different types of fish is that shrimp is the natural food for many of the fish species. This is common to many types of freshwater, tropical fishes.

They see shrimp as a part of their regular diet or as an occasional treat.

Putting fishes into your shrimp tank or vice versa could mean that your fishes have a feast ready to be devoured.

So if you have shrimps in your fish tank and are wondering what fishes are safe to keep with shrimps, this article covers exactly that.

Table of Contents

The Natural Environment of Shrimps

In nature, shrimp spend most of their life hiding out from many types of freshwater fishes. Indeed, some have a natural coloration that helps them to meet their surroundings and helps them to evade predators.

With shrimp breeding on the rise, it has removed this line of defense for the shrimp.

This is due to selective breeding techniques to make them look more beautiful. This also has led to many shrimps varieties with beautiful colors that are not easily seen in the wild.

For example, you may not see the colors such as solid reds, blues, or white in wild shrimps.

The brightly colored shrimp often looks like a beacon for the predatory type of freshwater fishes. Shrimps can be very expensive and if they get eaten, you will not be very happy about it.

This is not to deter you from keeping tropical fishes with your shrimp. In fact, there are some fishes that are safe to keep with the shrimps!

So which type of fish is suitable for shrimps? Luckily, there are a few fishes you can keep with shrimps safely.

It’s a good idea to have a lot of plants and some decorations in your fish tank so that the shrimp can hide from the different types of predator fishes.

Related: What Aquarium Fish Eat Shrimp?

The best type of tropical fishes safe for shrimp aquarium

There is a golden rule “If the shrimp can fit in a fishes mouth, then there is a good chance the fish will eat it.”

Neon tetras

This little fish is actually one of the best types of freshwater fish when it comes to keeping fishes with shrimps. It’s also a great choice to keep in a community aquarium as it’s peaceful and doesn’t harm other fishes.

On top of that, the view of these little fishes swimming around together in a group can be a visual treat.

Neon Tetras are peace and small fishes and they are highly unlikely to bother the shrimp.

They are a hardy and adaptable fish species and can live in a wide pH range (ranging from pH between 5.0 and 7.0) quite comfortably.

They should be a beautiful addition to any shrimp tank and I would highly recommend them.

Glow-light Tetras

The glow light Tetras os one of the ideal tropical fish to keep with shrimps in an aquarium. These are small and peace-loving fish that will leave you shrimps alone.

They act much like their neon cousins and are perhaps a little bit shyer.

They can take some time to adjust to a new fish tank. During this time you can expect them to be hiding out along with your shrimp!

Harlequin Rasboras

These small and colorful fish are great types of tropical fishes to keep with your shrimps.

You can choose to keep them alone or with a group of other peaceful fish. Rasboras fish generally prefers tank water that is slightly acidic and bit soft.

They can also be kept in neutral or slightly alkaline water without any issues.

Rasboras like to eat live food, as well as flakes. So while you can keep shrimps with Rasboars, if you planning to breed shrimps, then it’s not such a good idea (as the babies will be at risk).

White Clouds

They get this name from a mountain in China in which they were first discovered- the white cloud mountain.

White clouds are also known as “poor man’s tetra”. This is due to the copper strip that goes lengthwise along its body.

They are not actually tropical fish but are labeled with this name due to the fact that they do so well in tropical aquariums.

They are peaceful, happy enough to eat flake food, and are ideal to keep with shrimps as they leave it well alone.

Glassfish

Glassfish is a delightful, and unique tropical fish.

This fish gets its name from a distinctive translucent flesh. You can actually see right through it (hence called glass) and make out its bones structure and internal organs.

There are several different species of glassfish. Most of the glassfish species look and act similarly. They are usually quite shy and will spend a lot of time hiding out.

They are non-aggressive and are unlikely to bother your shrimp. They also usually never grow to a size large enough to be a threat to the shrimps. One thing to be careful about these fishes is that you have to keep them in freshwater. Otherwise, they have a problem surviving.

How to care for your shrimps in the Aquarium

Listed below are a few tips with the help of which your shrimps will thrive

Take care of water parameters

Keep one type of shrimp per aquarium. Different species of shrimps require different types of water parameters. For example, cherry fish thrives in a different environment as compared with the ghost shrimp or the crystal red shrimp.

If you keep two species together, one will thrive and the other might perish. Do your research on the water parameters requirements (pH etc).

Make sure the shrimps are of the same color

If you keep the same species of shrimps but of different colors in the same aquarium, the shrimps will breed together and you will end up mixing up the colors of the future generations of shrimps.

To avoid such mistakes its important to keep the same species having the same color per aquarium

Keep a steady environment of the aquarium

Shrimps require a steady environment, with little to no fluctuations in the water temperature and pH. They are very fragile, gentle species and can easily become distressed and die.

Make sure your aquarium has a steady balance of pH and temperature before placing your shrimp.

Try to Keep the aquarium pH low. It is important to keep the pH level below 8 for any kind of shrimp. A pH level range of 6-7 is generally a sweet spot for any kind of shrimp.

Acclimate your shrimp before adding to the aquarium

Shrimps are very fragile creatures and moving them from one environment to the other in a short span of time can stress them out causing them to die.

Before adding them to a new aquarium, you have to drip acclimate them for a couple of hours.

This ensures that they become a little used to the new aquarium water parameters before they are added to it.

Below is a video showing how to drip acclimate the shrimps.

Add hiding place to the tank

Keep plenty of hiding places available for shrimp in your aquarium. It gives them a place to hide when they are newborns or when fishes are added. It also gives the adult shrimps a place for refuge and relaxation.

Hiding places makes them feel safe and secure in the aquarium bringing down their stress.

Add Java moss to your aquarium

Add java moss to your shrimp aquarium. Java moss is great because it gives the shrimp plenty of spaces to hide. It also forms a little micro bacteria, that the shrimp can eat when there is no food available in the aquarium.

Java moss is a cheap and affordable plant and grows rapidly. It is one of the keys to a successful shrimp aquarium, as having them makes the shrimp feel safe and they can breed with ease.

Apart from Java moss, the shrimp will consume and eat fish food, algae, and biofilm.

I hope this guide will help you have success with the addition of fishes to your shrimps and that you will be able to breed your shrimp in a beautiful manner starting your own colonies!

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