Possible shrimp mate advices for a Giant Betta in 8 gallon fish tank?

[PeggyAndAl]

Hello,

I am new to having a fish tank. I Google and watch many YouTube videos, but I wanted to ask the forum for advices. There are some algae growing (I love it-“It’s Alive! It’s Alive!) and white fungus on Manzanita driftwoods. Which and how many shrimps do you suggest? Would they be good at eating/cleaning algae, some melting plants, etc. Or is water change enough? I do it once a week. Hardy shrimps would be great, and I am squeamish and can’t feed frozen or live foods. (I know… I know….) : ) 

Thank you in advance for your advices and have a great day!

 

Tank: BiOrb Flow, 8 gallon fish tank with BiOrb Ceramic Media as substrate, which are like 1/2” tiny volcanic pebbles, new about 6 weeks old.

Fish: Yellow Fancy Giant Male Betta. He’s very cute.

Plants: Anubias, Bolbitis, Water Sprite, Windelov Java Ferns, Guppy Grass, Frogbits, etc. Fertilized weekly with Aquarium Co-Op Easy Green

Manzanita Driftwoods

Temperature: around 80 degrees

Water: Southern California tap water conditioned with Fritz Complete.

[Stephan1973]

What about a bristlenose Pleco. I had the same situation with a tank of mine and I added 2 albino bristlenoses and almost within 2 days no more fluffy white mould. I would be a little worried that the Berta would eat the shrimp. 

[PeggyAndAl]

On 1/13/2023 at 2:18 PM, Stephan1973 said:

What about a bristlenose Pleco. I had the same situation with a tank of mine and I added 2 albino bristlenoses and almost within 2 days no more fluffy white mould. I would be a little worried that the Berta would eat the shrimp. 

Hello! My fish tank is very small…. Only 8 gallons, and doesn’t really have substrate, apparently I can’t put substrate in this fish tank, just BiOrb Ceramic Media, which are like small volcanic pebbles (pictured). I don’t mind the fluffy white mold on driftwoods and cleaning it once a week when I do water change, and I read it eventually goes away as the fish tank matures. I just thought more for the wasted growing algae, and maybe to make Betta entertained. Thank you for your reply and advice! : )

[Remi de Groot]

I would go for neocaridina shrimps, you could pick a color you like. Just start with a few to see the reaction of the beta. Some more aggressive ones may go after the shrimps and eat them. I had 2 so far en luckily with both I had no problem with shrimps.

Only thing is that they may eat some of the baby shrimps. But if you have enough hiding spots your population will still grow in my experience.

I haven't had Amano shrimps but they seem to get a bit bigger and might be a bit safer not to get eaten. I think it's a downside though that they don't have nice colors and won't breed in your tank.

[PeggyAndAl]

On 1/13/2023 at 2:57 PM, Remi de Groot said:

I would go for neocaridina shrimps, you could pick a color you like. Just start with a few to see the reaction of the beta. Some more aggressive ones may go after the shrimps and eat them. I had 2 so far en luckily with both I had no problem with shrimps.

Only thing is that they may eat some of the baby shrimps. But if you have enough hiding spots your population will still grow in my experience.

I haven't had Amano shrimps but they seem to get a bit bigger and might be a bit safer not to get eaten. I think it's a downside though that they don't have nice colors and won't breed in your tank.

Thank you! They look beautiful! I just read Amano Shrimps and Red Cherry Shrimps are the hardiest shrimps. I actually don’t want them to breed so much as I am trying to over come my fear of shrimps too. I mean… why did I get a fish tank? HAHAHAHA : )

Edited January 13 by ButterTheBetta

[FLFishChik]

I have 3 Ghost Shrimp and a Nerite Snail with each of my Betta ( each have a 5 gallon tank).

[Flumpweesel]

If your not a fan of shrimps consider a snail some are quite pretty and can work hard on your behalf, I like Ramshorns they only reproduce if there is more than one in the tank.

[PeggyAndAl]

On 1/13/2023 at 3:17 PM, FLFishChik said:

I have 3 Ghost Shrimp and a Nerite Snail with each of my Betta ( each have a 5 gallon tank).

Hi! When you do the water change and siphon the gravel, aren’t they hard to see? I would worry that siphon thingamajig will vacuum them up and they get stuck in the bulb pumping thing. LOL 

[FLFishChik]

 

On 1/13/2023 at 6:23 PM, ButterTheBetta said:

Hi! When you do the water change and siphon the gravel, aren’t they hard to see? I would worry that siphon thingamajig will vacuum them up and they get stuck in the bulb pumping thing. LOL 

No, I use a mini siphon and because it’s a small tank, water changes are quick and the shrimp are easy to see so, easy to avoid!

Edited January 13 by FLFishChik

[PeggyAndAl]

On 1/13/2023 at 3:22 PM, Flumpweesel said:

If your not a fan of shrimps consider a snail some are quite pretty and can work hard on your behalf, I like Ramshorns they only reproduce if there is more than one in the tank.

No no no… baby steps. Snails frighten me more than the shrimps. I can’t even eat escargots. : ) More than 3 decades ago, I had some sort of adorable blue shrimp that I had to feed goldfish. It just became bigger and bigger. And the sight and memory of him eating goldfish!!!!!!!!! And finally he became so big, I gave him back to the fish store. The store was very happy and I am trying to overcome that memory by little cute, no goldfish eating shrimps! I crack myself up! : )

[FLFishChik]

On 1/13/2023 at 6:30 PM, ButterTheBetta said:

No no no… baby steps. Snails frighten me more than the shrimps. I can’t even eat escargots. : ) More than 3 decades ago, I had some sort of adorable blue shrimp that I had to feed goldfish. It just became bigger and bigger. And the sight and memory of him eating goldfish!!!!!!!!! And finally he became so big, I gave him back to the fish store. The store was very happy and I am trying to overcome that memory by little cute, no goldfish eating shrimps! I crack myself up! : )

Nerite snail are cool though! Just n ed 1 in an 8 gallon tank, they wind reproduce in freshwater, they come in pretty patterns and colors and they do a phenomenal job at beeping the inside of the glass clean! I live all of mine. I have one in each Betta tank and 5 in my 29 gallon tank!

[Lennie]

Shrimp eating a healthy goldfish?? That sounds like a crayfish or something. Sounds like a horrible experience no matter what. Im sorry to hear that.

Idk what ur water parameters refer to, but if u wanna keep shrimps and u managed to have ideal parameters which are quite wide for neocaridinas, they are probably the best choice. But I would suggest to observe betta’s behavior against anything you may potentially add to the tank. They really have characters and one may be super peaceful meanwhile another may be quite aggressive. Coming back to hobby after 3 decades, avoiding horror stories to happen with a backup plan seems like a good idea :,)

I dont have any experience with keeping a betta and shrimp together but I dont think which neocaridina you keep would matter as it is just the colors.  Choose the one you like but keep only one if you wanna avoid the natural brown color. Maybe only super bright colors like red and orange may scream “Im here” and attract betta’s attention slightly more, meanwhile some like green or black tones could blend better but provide less visual to you. Just an assumption!
 

They are mostly scavengers and they be constantly picking on biofilm, algae, leftovers, food you drop, etc. I don’t think they actually directly eat the plant matter like snails do, but they scavenge on everything especially when they start to decay.

baby shrimps are really really small, so assuming you will be adding only a few, you can easily check the berried females and may avoid any sort of big vacuum cleaning after they manage to spawn the babies.

shrimps like stable water parameters. More scheduled and not super big water changes is a good idea as in smaller tanks the water parameters tend to fluctuate more.

P.s: your betta looks adorable!

[PeggyAndAl]

On 1/13/2023 at 3:50 PM, Lennie said:

Shrimp eating a healthy goldfish?? That sounds like a crayfish or something. Sounds like a horrible experience no matter what. Im sorry to hear that.

Idk what ur water parameters refer to, but if u wanna keep shrimps and u managed to have ideal parameters which are quite wide for neocaridinas, they are probably the best choice. But I would suggest to observe betta’s behavior against anything you may potentially add to the tank. They really have characters and one may be super peaceful meanwhile another may be quite aggressive. Coming back to hobby after 3 decades, avoiding horror stories to happen with a backup plan seems like a good idea :,)

I dont have any experience with keeping a betta and shrimp together but I dont think which neocaridina you keep would matter as it is just the colors.  Choose the one you like but keep only one if you wanna avoid the natural brown color. Maybe only super bright colors like red and orange may scream “Im here” and attract betta’s attention slightly more, meanwhile some like green or black tones could blend better but provide less visual to you. Just an assumption!
 

They are mostly scavengers and they be constantly picking on biofilm, algae, leftovers, food you drop, etc. I don’t think they actually directly eat the plant matter like snails do, but they scavenge on everything especially when they start to decay.

baby shrimps are really really small, so assuming you will be adding only a few, you can easily check the berried females and may avoid any sort of big vacuum cleaning after they manage to spawn the babies.

shrimps like stable water parameters. More scheduled and not super big water changes is a good idea as in smaller tanks the water parameters tend to fluctuate more.

P.s: your betta looks adorable!

It was tiny and cute but had two claws. And grew and grew. He would grab onto goldfish and slowly chow down… one day my mother and I looked at each other and said, “we can’t do this anymore.” Ha! I just googled and you are right, it must have been some sort of blue crayfish.

I ordered identical fish tank and going to set it up and “cycle” with plants for a few weeks or so, and then wait to get shrimps. Just in case Butter the Betta decides to attack the shrimps, then I would have some place to put the shrimps. Also need to get shrimps which will work with whatever fishes I end up getting for the second fish tank. I am leaning towards a group of Red Neon Blue Eye Rainbowfish.

 

Thank you for your advices and insights! : )

[Lennie]

@ButterTheBetta  Feel free to ask questions anytime! I am kinda new here too and people have been super welcoming and helpful since day 1. 🙂

I've added shrimps the last to my community tank with no problem. People generally keep shrimps even more sucessfully in the tanks where they add them first and give them time to settle, so that sounds like even a better option for your 2nd tank plans! Meanwhile your tank plants can perform a good growth to provide good cover for the baby shrimps which will definitely increase the survival rate. I've never kept the red neon eyes, but they look great. I highly advice moss when it comes to keeping shrimp with fish. I have a good success with overgrown mosses in my tank, my shrimps seem to love it and use it as a safe spot whenever they want.

From my little knowledge of the rainbows you've mentioned, they do better in matured tanks, should be kept in schools bare minimum of 6 or even 8, and can be jumpers so lid on top is important! When it comes to schooling fish, the higher the number and the more the swimming space, the better. 8g would be even less than bare minimum for their needs  considering they should be kept in schools and need a good amount of swimming room  and with the substrate, decorations, filter, plants, heater etc. added to the tank, the swimming space for the fish decreases even more. Maybe you may want to keep other species you like. You seem to have lots of time ahead to think of it anyway! Do not hesitate to ask for opinions 🙂

I believe you will be doing well on searching for care and experiences on your stocking options anyway just by seeing you asking about opinions here about your new tank! 

Welcome again,

 

 

 

[PeggyAndAl]

On 1/14/2023 at 1:24 AM, Lennie said:

@ButterTheBetta  Feel free to ask questions anytime! I am kinda new here too and people have been super welcoming and helpful since day 1. 🙂

I've added shrimps the last to my community tank with no problem. People generally keep shrimps even more sucessfully in the tanks where they add them first and give them time to settle, so that sounds like even a better option for your 2nd tank plans! Meanwhile your tank plants can perform a good growth to provide good cover for the baby shrimps which will definitely increase the survival rate. I've never kept the red neon eyes, but they look great. I highly advice moss when it comes to keeping shrimp with fish. I have a good success with overgrown mosses in my tank, my shrimps seem to love it and use it as a safe spot whenever they want.

From my little knowledge of the rainbows you've mentioned, they do better in matured tanks, should be kept in schools bare minimum of 6 or even 8, and can be jumpers so lid on top is important! When it comes to schooling fish, the higher the number and the more the swimming space, the better. 8g would be even less than bare minimum for their needs  considering they should be kept in schools and need a good amount of swimming room  and with the substrate, decorations, filter, plants, heater etc. added to the tank, the swimming space for the fish decreases even more. Maybe you may want to keep other species you like. You seem to have lots of time ahead to think of it anyway! Do not hesitate to ask for opinions 🙂

I believe you will be doing well on searching for care and experiences on your stocking options anyway just by seeing you asking about opinions here about your new tank! 

Welcome again,

 

 

 

I think when 2nd fish tank is ready, I’ll get some Amano shrimps or some Red Cherry Shrimps for both Betta tank and whatever new fishes I put in the 2nd tank. It’s very exciting and I’m a bit less nervous than when I first got the betta. My friends shake their heads and said I cannot get a 3rd fish tank, because then I won’t see anyone being busy with the fishes. : ) @Lennie

[Lennie]

Sometimes, all I wanna do in the evening for an hour or so is to lay on my bed and watch the aquarium. It just makes me feel super relaxed. Even cleaning the tank and trimming the plants feels like an anti-stress activity rather than a chore!

 

On 1/15/2023 at 12:37 AM, ButterTheBetta said:

My friends shake their heads and said I cannot get a 3rd fish tank, because then I won’t see anyone being busy with the fishes. : )

 Non-fish keeper friends will never understand how much all of us are willing to keep more and more tanks all the time! 😄 

Once my friend was over for a coffee when I was in the middle of making a snello for my rabbit snails. She said: " if I ever come to life again, I wanna be a fish in your aquarium. I don't even take care of myself this much." 🤣

 

Edited January 14 by Lennie

[PeggyAndAl]

On 1/14/2023 at 2:09 PM, Lennie said:

Sometimes, all I wanna do in the evening for an hour or so is to lay on my bed and watch the aquarium. It just makes me feel super relaxed. Even cleaning the tank and trimming the plants feels like an anti-stress activity rather than a chore!

 

 Non-fish keeper friends will never understand how much all of us are willing to keep more and more tanks all the time! 😄 

Once my friend was over for a coffee when I was in the middle of making a snello for my rabbit snails. She said: " if I ever come to life again, I wanna be a fish in your aquarium. I don't even take care of myself this much." 🤣

 

Hahahaha! Last night, I almost wanted to reserve another Giant Betta…. But I refrained. : )

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/13/2023 at 2:26 PM, ButterTheBetta said:

Hello! My fish tank is very small…. Only 8 gallons, and doesn’t really have substrate, apparently I can’t put substrate in this fish tank, just BiOrb Ceramic Media, which are like small volcanic pebbles (pictured). I don’t mind the fluffy white mold on driftwoods and cleaning it once a week when I do water change, and I read it eventually goes away as the fish tank matures. I just thought more for the wasted growing algae, and maybe to make Betta entertained. Thank you for your reply and advice! : )

Otocinclus would handle that too, but I don't know that they'd do well at that temp.  You'd be looking at Neocaridina shrimp I think.  Depends on your water, but given you said so cal, that's probably what you're looking at.

Pick a color and go from there 🙂

Betta will predate on shrimp, so just keep that in mind.

On 1/14/2023 at 2:09 PM, Lennie said:

Sometimes, all I wanna do in the evening for an hour or so is to lay on my bed and watch the aquarium. It just makes me feel super relaxed. Even cleaning the tank and trimming the plants feels like an anti-stress activity rather than a chore!

1000%

[Lennie]

On 1/15/2023 at 6:04 AM, ButterTheBetta said:

Hahahaha! Last night, I almost wanted to reserve another Giant Betta…. But I refrained. : )

Frankly, bettas are well know to have lots of character. They also have soo many variets and colors that makes each of them very unique. They kinda have the puppy vibe, which I like. I have always been keeping super peaceful fish in my tanks, except the cichlid tanks, but even then, thats how they mostly are. So I've never given a chance to a betta before, but if I make a small tank for my sister on request, a betta would be my go to.

Also let's be fair, another betta would be one of the best, if not the best addition to your future tank with 8g. As long as you love a fish, I would say go for it ( ofc when your tank is cycled) 😄

Schooling fish do look great! But they rarely have that puppy behavior you can see from a betta or a gourami. Maybe clown loaches? Idk if I will ever have a tank that is big enough to meet their needs :')

I would love to see the other betta! I love the look of Butter already 🙂 Yellow is my one of my fav colors. Also I like plakats the most too. They feel like to have best quality of life out of them all. Yours is a plakat right?

When I saw this, I fell in love.

 

You can check MD's videos for your next tank idea, he does rly nice a job for designing small tanks too. 🙂

Edited January 15 by Lennie

[PeggyAndAl]

On 1/14/2023 at 11:12 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Otocinclus would handle that too, but I don't know that they'd do well at that temp.  You'd be looking at Neocaridina shrimp I think.  Depends on your water, but given you said so cal, that's probably what you're looking at.

Pick a color and go from there 🙂

Betta will predate on shrimp, so just keep that in mind.

1000%

I read and watched so much and just ordered some Amano shrimps! When I saw that they don’t reproduce in the tank… SOLD! : ) 

[PeggyAndAl]

On 1/14/2023 at 11:42 PM, Lennie said:

Frankly, bettas are well know to have lots of character. They also have soo many variets and colors that makes each of them very unique. They kinda have the puppy vibe, which I like. I have always been keeping super peaceful fish in my tanks, except the cichlid tanks, but even then, thats how they mostly are. So I've never given a chance to a betta before, but if I make a small tank for my sister on request, a betta would be my go to.

Also let's be fair, another betta would be one of the best, if not the best addition to your future tank with 8g. As long as you love a fish, I would say go for it ( ofc when your tank is cycled) 😄

Schooling fish do look great! But they rarely have that puppy behavior you can see from a betta or a gourami. Maybe clown loaches? Idk if I will ever have a tank that is big enough to meet their needs :')

I would love to see the other betta! I love the look of Butter already 🙂 Yellow is my one of my fav colors. Also I like plakats the most too. They feel like to have best quality of life out of them all. Yours is a plakat right?

When I saw this, I fell in love.

 

You can check MD's videos for your next tank idea, he does rly nice a job for designing small tanks too. 🙂

I watched all these YouTube videos before I got Butter! Now I watched everything about Amano shrimps. I just ordered some! : ) Butter is hilarious! Yellow and smooth like butter. : ) He naps and does all kinds of funny things like swims through guppy grass and just rests there. Or middle of the night, I see him sleeping in his coconut house. He makes bubble nests often. He sees me looking at him and swims towards the glass and sometimes flares (maybe he wants to fight)… I ordered him online from fish store in Virginia, I think. He just uploaded bunch of new bettas and he has some beautiful ones. I’m going to wait until the new tank is ready and go from there. Maybe I’ll end up with another betta. Haha.

[YYC Carrie]

On 1/13/2023 at 4:11 PM, ButterTheBetta said:

........ I am trying to over come my fear of shrimps too. I mean… why did I get a fish tank? HAHAHAHA : )

Don't feel bad about that! The only way to overcome a fear of something is to expose yourself to it. I use to be an arachnophobe, I got a Chilean Rose-hair (Grammostola porteri). It took a while but eventually I was caring for about 48 (I think) individual specimens from 40 different species, even trying my hand at breeding some. I had to sell my collection off when I moved back to Canada from the US, but you get the picture. 🙂 Good luck with your giant betta (I am so jealous, lol)

[PeggyAndAl]

On 1/15/2023 at 12:16 AM, YYC Carrie said:

Don't feel bad about that! The only way to overcome a fear of something is to expose yourself to it. I use to be an arachnophobe, I got a Chilean Rose-hair (Grammostola porteri). It took a while but eventually I was caring for about 48 (I think) individual specimens from 40 different species, even trying my hand at breeding some. I had to sell my collection off when I moved back to Canada from the US, but you get the picture. 🙂 Good luck with your giant betta (I am so jealous, lol)

Arachnophobia, the movie! OMG! : ) My other fear is I would wake up and the tank is filled with shrimps like something from a horror film, and Butter is in the corner with little “SOS” flag. I am hoping once they arrive, Butter and I end up loving them, as you ended up loving spiders. Thank you for your encouragement! : )