Once you start a shrimp aquarium, there's no escaping it... you'll fall in love with keeping these beautiful bottom-dwelling creatures. Over time, you might want to add more life to your nano aquarium and add some fish, or you might have an existing aquarium you'd like to add shrimp to. This article describes everything you need to know about keeping dwarf shrimp and aquarium fish.
Dwarf shrimp can be kept with fish. Choose fish whose mouths aren't much larger than the youngest shrimp. The fish will always eat a small shrimp, which you can prevent by creating plenty of hiding places in your aquarium. The best species to keep with shrimp are small fish.
Can fish keep dwarf shrimp? If so, what should you keep in mind?
It's possible to keep fish in the same aquarium as shrimp. It's easier than you think! Provide plenty of hiding places and choose only nano fish. These are very small fish with a tiny mouth, making it almost impossible for shrimp to fit.
Having a fish in the aquarium does make your shrimp a bit less prominent. As soon as a fish is present, the shrimp send out signals to each other, causing them to hide more. Want to enjoy your shrimp more? Then choose a shrimp-only aquarium. Still want to keep some fish? Then choose an easy-to-care-for fish that gets along well with dwarf shrimp, like this one:
This Endler guppy species doesn't grow larger than 1.5 centimeters and has a very small mouth. This makes it particularly well-suited for a shrimp aquarium. Guppies also swim near the surface of the water, making it less likely they'll be hunting your baby shrimp from below.
Of course, there's always a chance they'll catch a shrimp; this is unavoidable. If you'd like help setting up your aquarium, please contact us via the chat bubble in the bottom right corner of your screen. Therefore, make sure you have the right aquarium plants for shrimp. This provides your shrimp with hiding places; we've written an article about this. Read the article about which plants are good for dwarf shrimp here >
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Which (nano) fish can be kept with dwarf shrimp?
When buying fish for your shrimp aquarium, always pay attention to the size of the mouth. Very importantly, also calculate the actual size of the fish. Many fish sold are younger and will therefore grow considerably larger in your aquarium.
Several fish can be kept with dwarf shrimp. We've compiled a list of suitable fish below. You can also purchase these from us if you'd like. We offer a Home Aquarium Service. This allows us to provide on-site advice, scavenging, or maintenance, and deliver fish at the same time. Click here to view our aquarium service page >
Alternative: Snails can eat shrimp!
Aquarium snails get along well with dwarf shrimp. This is because ornamental snails don't eat shrimp at all. The Assassin snail may occasionally eat a shrimp, but this species is primarily concerned with pest snails.
Can a Betta betta be kept with shrimp? The real truth…
Keeping betta fish with shrimp is a tricky business. Bettas eat live food, including shrimp, but whether they actually eat the shrimp varies from fish to fish.
Bettas can sometimes be kept with shrimp. Some bettas leave dwarf shrimp alone, while others eat them all. This depends on the fish's personality and what the betta is used to eating. There are aquariums with bettas and shrimp where it gets along well, and where they are all eaten.
We've seen several aquariums where betta fish are kept with shrimp without being eaten. We've also seen aquariums where the same people had only one betta left because it had eaten all the shrimp. So you can try keeping a betta with your shrimp, although we don't recommend it. If you really want to try it, try with shrimp species that aren't too expensive. Otherwise, the costs can really add up.
Which aquarium fish cannot be kept with (dwarf) shrimp?
Finally, we'd like to discuss which fish absolutely cannot live with shrimp. In principle, this means all fish that aren't nano fish. However, it's sometimes thought that certain shrimp can live with certain fish species, such as discus fish.
To avoid major problems (and therefore very expensive live food, i.e. shrimp), here are a number of fish species that shrimp absolutely cannot eat.
- Moonfish and discus fish
- Any form of predatory fish
- Tetras and salmon
- Carp species
- Catfish (Small Corydoras species are allowed)
- Labyrinth fish (Bettas remain a gamble)
- Pufferfish and brackish water fish
- All Cichlid species…(just don't do it)
- Loaches and mud crawlers (These are scavengers)
Of course, it depends greatly on the specific fish species. These are a few groups you should definitely avoid with your shrimp aquarium. Want personalized advice for your aquarium and the best setup? Send usa WhatsApp message for the best advice > or leave a comment at the bottom of this blog. Thanks for reading!
