Pea Puffers vs Cherry Shrimp

[Benny]

Hey folks!

I was looking to stock a 10 gallon aquarium with a colony of cherry shrimp and a pea puffer. However, I am not sure if I should get the pea puffer first or the cherry shrimp. If I did the pea puffer first, would it be able to pick off enough young shrimp to kill off the first spawning? If I had a fairly established colony of shrimp, the puffer shouldn't be able to kill off enough shrimp to drive them to extinction, right?

Maybe I am overthinking this, but since pea puffers are hardcore carnivores I thought I would throw out the question.

Thanks!

[BETTA999]

yes pea puffers could kill the shrimp until extintion it had to be 1 pea and 35 adult shrimp and it had to be well panted

 

[Levi_Aquatics]

I would add the shrimp first and let them establish a strong colony before adding the puffer. That way the shrimp will have a head start as the puffer will definitely hunt them down. 

[H.K.Luterman]

I agree with @Levi_Aquatics. Also, give the shrimp a pile of rocks to colonize - lots of tiny spaces to hide and breed in so the puffer can't get at them. It will give the shrimplets better odds of survival.

[Atitagain]

It can work, the first year my pea puffers (3) were in a 20G tall. Had a good sized piece of wood and packed with vallisneria. Started with 10 cherry shrimp when I broke tank down and separated them had 35-ish shrimp. If you keep the puffers fed well I think they will leave the shrimp alone. On most pea puffer tank mates list have cherry shrimp.

Is this a new set up? If so I would suggest letting the tank season for a few months before adding either one (keep a couple platys or something in there for a bit). Both the pea puffers and shrimp would very much have a better chance of success. Then I would add puffer first just to season the tank for another week or two before adding shrimp. If tank is already seasoned I’m still adding puffer (1) first. Indian almond leaves will help a lot as well.

good luck 

[JettsPapa]

On 2/2/2022 at 9:07 AM, Atitagain said:

. . . Is this a new set up? If so I would suggest letting the tank season for a few months before adding either one (keep a couple platys or something in there for a bit). Both the pea puffers and shrimp would very much have a better chance of success. Then I would add puffer first just to season the tank for another week or two before adding shrimp. If tank is already seasoned I’m still adding puffer (1) first. Indian almond leaves will help a lot as well.

I completely agree with letting the tank season, but I'm curious why you recommend adding the pea puffer before the shrimp.

[Griznatch]

Not having had pea puffers before, I'd think it all depends on the individual puffer. In the interests of giving your shrimp the best chances, I'd go for getting the tank well established (months) first. The rock pile is a really good idea, think of it as a shrimp fortress. Once the shrimp have had a chance to have at least one batch, then I'd add the puffer. That way shrimp are going strong and hes the new comer, and not just out to kill anything he see's as encroaching on his pre-established territory.

Edited February 2, 2022 by Griznatch
punctuation

[Atitagain]

On 2/2/2022 at 10:12 AM, JettsPapa said:

I completely agree with letting the tank season, but I'm curious why you recommend adding the pea puffer before the shrimp.

I believe both are fairly delicate especially to get started. So my thought process is feeding the PP snails, blackworms, or frozen bloodworms (that’s what I feed) helps to season tank to have more natural biofilm and or infusoria to give shrimp a better chance. No advantage to adding shrimp first, as the PP won’t be as affected he’s not eating infusoria.

[Benny]

So my original thought process was that, since shrimp are more sensitive to spikes in parameters it would be best for them to be the final bio load added to the tank.

On 2/2/2022 at 7:07 AM, Atitagain said:

Is this a new set up?

No, it's been running for about 1 month. Just trying to map out the future stocking plans with it.

I guess I'll do the puffer last. I understand that there is a chance the shrimp can evade him, but shrimp in my area are expensive ($5 a pop), so I'm quite hesitant to taking the chance of adding the pea puffer first.

Thanks for the helpful advice everyone!

Edited February 11, 2022 by Benny
Spelling

[JettsPapa]

On 2/2/2022 at 9:34 AM, Atitagain said:

. . . No advantage to adding shrimp first, as the PP won’t be as affected he’s not eating infusoria.

. . . , except to give the shrimp a chance to get a colony established before introducing a predator.

[Atitagain]

On 2/2/2022 at 12:30 PM, JettsPapa said:

. . . , except to give the shrimp a chance to get a colony established before introducing a predator.

Yes I understand and that will completely work. And if you have very expensive shrimp maybe this is the way to go no worries. This is just my thoughts/ opinion from my research and experience. My set up worked great even tripled my shrimp in 9-ish months. Shrimp were added to PP tank 3 months after PP to work on an algae problem. 
guess all I’m saying both ways would work my preference would be add puffer first.

[eatyourpeas]

IME I added a pea puffer to a tank with one Amano and two adult Neocaridina shrimps. Pea puffer has not bothered them at all. Yesterday I introduced new Neocaridina, mostly shrimplets, and the pea puffer although terrified at first, is now actively hunting them and has a full belly. All original shrimp are still not being bothered, but they are also much larger than he is. 🐡

[Jennifer V]

@Benny I hope you can make it work! I would love to have shrimp in my pea puffer tank! Sadly, the peas picked at the cherry shrimp I added to the tank first until I had to remove them, but I added six juvenile puffers to my 10g so the shrimp had *a lot* to deal with and the puffers had been raised on bloodworms so they saw a banquet of red food zipping around. I think it could work with just one pea and lots of shrimp. Keep us posted!