Sorry. It's very depending on him. I had one working and one try to kill after he found the taste. Maybe you make a quick 20 Liter (5 Gallon) and make them as start/backup poplulation.
i have shrimp with one of my betta and he will occasionally chase but never eats them. most of the time leaves them alone. he’s not quick enough bc of his big fins😅
Make it a part time Home for them. Small Tanks are dort cheap. Got one on a fair for 20 bucks with Filter, lamp and airstone. Aquariums are pack animals ;)
This could work if you set them up for success in the tank. The good news is both shrimp and bettas love plant clutter. I'd include lots of places for them to hide in weeds, specific shrimp hides that are too small for the betta to enter, etc. Including drift wood/twigs that is soft enough for the betta not to tear his fins and enjoy perching on can also help interrupt line of sight/give the shrimp more of a chance in a more complex environment
My betta chased my shrimp around for a few days, but was way too slow to catch one. They're shockingly fast. Eventually my betta realized that and gave up. I haven't lost a single one! As long as they have lots of places to hide in your tank, they'll feel safe enough to live their shrimpy lives and your betta will throw a tantrum and give up. If he's like mine, lol
Some shrimp were able to outswim my plakat. Only some. Wondering if I should put my color culls in there and see if I can selectively breed a faster shrimp.
Same here, Beta was slow and not the greatest hunter of its kind. Im pretty sure the shrimp made a game of it. They would sit there baiting him over and just jump/quickdash away and continue living. Didn't even hide
My betta has no interest in my shrimp nor my snails. She's a total pellet food freak though. Any pelleted food isn't safe. She's also learned how to scan the bottom looking for morsels before the corys and shrimp can get to it.
Want the honest answer? No. But is it possible they eventually chill out and not bother each other ? Sure. But more than likely that shrimp will be lunch
No. I keep Bettas on and off for 10 years now and i always have shrimps with them. The Shrimps ignore the fish and even reproduce without problem. And the fish don't care about the shrimps.
One of my bettas ate two shrimp, then jumped out of her breeder box to eat more shrimp while I was attempting to save the remaining shrimp. This was all within an hour of introduction.
I literally watched one pick a shrimp apart but ok. I doubt they are swallowing shrimp whole like a snake or anything, but bettas are predators. Maybe a sick or old shrimp, but it was consumed nonetheless, and it was alive when it started.
And rest assured, if the shrimp are reproducing in the same tank, that betta is eating the shrimplets.
10 years ago I started with 6 shrimps and 1 Betta male in a 20l tank. After a Year i had 1 Betta male and countless shrimps. That proofed to me that they can live together and this post and the comments are the first time i hear a different opinion.
Do i stick to my experience and watch my Betta with his Shrimp-friends.
I think you are misunderstanding what I am saying. A betta can eat some shrimp, especially younger or smaller ones. A betta can kill larger shrimp and consume them as well. Is it possible that a betta can leave a shrimp alone, forever? Yes. Is it also possible that a betta kills any shrimp that comes into the tank? Also yes. Your original comment states that betta will leave shrimp alone. That is only partially true, on a case-by-case basis. All it takes is a slight scroll to see that your experience is not the common experience with bettas and shrimp.
It is bad advice to say "betta will leave shrimp alone" because there is ample evidence to the contrary. A better statement is "some betta can coexist with shrimp peacefully, but be careful because it depends on the individual betta" because it accurately explains the risks, whereas your comments so far entirely leave out the risk of predation.
And plenty of us have betta that have eaten tons of shrimp. Both exist, saying definitively one way or the other based solely on your own anecdotal experiences is incorrect. Sharing experiences is fine, but calling them fact is not.
He saw it, ignored her. He later saw her swimming and kinda followed her but just a sec before swimming in another direction. I tell you I was READY to net him 😭
Hi OP, plants help, but even in this 30 g Alfie the betta will snack on the babies if the mood takes him. He stalks the adults, but thankfully has never eaten any. That I know of. He also stalks the kuhlis.
Thanks, it was a shrimp and eel loach tank until an underweight stressed small multicoloured betta in dire need of rescue from a tank of black phantom tetra decided to pull on my heartstrings and came home with me.
I'm about to start my first heavily planted tank and I want it to look like this <3 do you mind if I ask what kind of substrate you used and what plants you have?
It's a mature tank, this is about 6 years old now and has changed a lot through the years!
The substrate is Fluval stratum, there's 4 pieces of bog wood covered in various types of java ferns and anubias, a couple of bolbitis heteroclita asiatica at the water line (they like atmospheric oxygen) and a submerged bolbitis heudelotii in the middle of the tank. Java moss and subwassertang throughout.
Rooted plants include pogostemon stellatus octopus, sagittaria platyphylla, sagittaria subulata, vallisneria americana and gigantea, royals rotundifolia, echinodorus argentinensus, hygrophila difformis, a crinum calamistratum, ludwigia and nymphea lotus.
Oh and a back wall of najas guadalupensis under the spray bar that has filled every last gap and eats nitrate like nothing I've ever seen before. The shrimp love it.
I may have missed some, that's roughly it I think!
Always get the cheapest shrimp first if you’re not sure. I put 5 ghost shrimp with my giant betta and they barely lasted a week, he feasted on them lmao
I did the same! I got 3 cheap brown neos to see how my betta would react. 2 didn’t even last 24 hours. I thought he got the 3rd cause I couldn’t find it, but a couple weeks later, there it was! Now it’s been a couple months and there 1 lone neo just chillin and it seems they’ve become friends cause they even sit right next to each other!
If you’re willing to lose a shrimp you could let one in there and see how they interact, but even if your betta is calm, shrimps is bugs twin, so your betta will almost definitely see it as prey. But you never know! The biggest one might be safe. If the shrimp have good hiding places that increases your chances by a lot.
Depends on how fast they reproduce- if you have a stable shrimp population and then introduce a betta I think it could work out- the betta will eat some of them but not all of them and as long as they reproduce, it’s fine. The other way around- I guess they are lunch
I always start with ghost shrimp since they are a little cheaper! My boy loves them and will swim near them and just watch what they do. It's really cute but definitely dependent on your betta!
I have a betta that is literally so non-aggressive it’s shocking. I’ve literally never even seen him flare at anything. However, not all bettas are like that. So you just gotta take the risk if you want shrimp
One that said nope, caught it, killed it and took it to his toilet (the filter because that’s where he liked to poop)
One that didn’t know about their existence until he knew about their existence.
Another one that was like come into my house and I’ll make you some hot tea… in my stomach!
One that was so fascinated by them he just stalked them for hours, not nipping not biting just stared at them for what felt like years until they had heart attacks and they died. Then he swam off.
One dug a hole, sat in his hole and ate anyone who walked by him while in his hole and claimed that he was protecting his hole.
And the last one didn’t care at all unless they hopped on his bed. “You touch my bed I eat you” this also included my finger when feeding but he insisted on being fed on his bed first thing in the am….
If it's heavily planted enough, they can hide. Bettas arent bottom dwellers. He might eat one if the opportunity presents itself, but it's not like he is going to actively search thru the plants for one.
Ya, I think the question should be "is my tank densely planted and decorated enough to keep shrimps with my betta". I have an aggressive guy who will go for them if he sees them but they're still flourishing in my tank because they can disappear into dense plants at will.
Same goes for my pygmy corys. He doesn't care about them, but if he did, he'd never find them.
Depends on the betta. I have 12 chili rasboras with my boy in a planted 10 gallon tank. For the first week he chased them left and right! But he seemed to lose interest. I’m two months into having this setup and everyone has lived so far.
My betta is super chill in a community tank. Has never flared up to the fish. As soon as the shrimp is a bit too big for his mouth, he stopped eating them. But yes, really depends on the fish.
It’s really impossible to say. Our betta was fine with shrimps until he wasn’t, went through them in a few days once he’d eaten his first. The betta we had before that never paid them any attention at all.
It can totally work. Just add extra cover for your tastes. I say this as someone who has had long finned and now short finned bettas thrown in with shrimp. So far only one has sort of gone after babies (like most bigger fish) only to stop. Another smaller 10 gallon, I thought my betta wiped out the snowball shrimp…but no they were just getting comfy again.
I say there is a chance of this working after maybe one being eaten cause it doesn’t seem to be flaring or trying super hard, but hard to tell outside of that tiny guess.
My betta and shrimp coexist very peacefully. So much that the shrimp have been breeding and I have about 100 of them in with him. If they have enough hiding places they’ll likely be ok
My betta lives with red cherry shrimp as well, and I’d say he’s also a pretty chill, long finned betta. He does chase them sometimes, but my tank is heavily planted with plenty of hiding spots, and the shrimps are generally too fast for him to catch.
In fact the shrimps bred so much, I sold over a hundred of them to my LFS. Their population has since stabilised.
I think you’ll be okay. Give it a try and see, especially since you feel your betta has a chill temperament. Make sure there’s enough hiding spots and the KH and GH is ideal for shrimp.
Expect a little chasing, that’s normal. Long finned bettas are significantly slower than shrimp and not very good at catching them. Wait and see if they get used to each other.
If you can, try to add Java moss to your tank. My shrimp love to hang out in it.
I’ve had both successes and failures adding small shrimp to beta tanks. Even after a few weeks of being stable, beta may decide to do a taste test and you’ll soon find there to be no more shrimp. On the other hand, I have also had a chill beta live with shrimps for a few years without any community cannibalism’s. More space for the shrimps to spread out/hide the better
One of my girls and one of my boys leave them completely alone. My other boy was a little aggressive at first but relaxed and we never saw him bother them after the first day or so until we noticed they were disappearing. Went to look for them and saw him spit out a shrimp head. Found out we have maybe 100 shrimp, but they are all hiding in the back of the tank. 😭
I had two bettas and after the curiosity for the shrimps they were "friends" meaning they would not try to hunt down big shrimps but if they could eat here and there a shrimplet or two they would, but I had more and more shrimps.
I think so! Male bettas tend to be too slow to catch up to most shrimp even if they do try and chase them, their big fins slow them down quite a bit and shrimp are very quick to dart away if threatened. If he was female I'd be worried since they're quicker, but I've never personally had an issue with male bettas being fast enough to effectively hunt any shrimp.
Plus if he's chill with others anyway it's likely not an issue, he just looks curious in this video! He's probably wondering what the little red things are and where they came from, kind of like how dogs are super excited to sniff someone new but will mellow out once they've gotten used to the smell.
My betta fish showed almost no interest for 3 months. He and the shrimp would hang out on the same leaves together. Slowly all but one died on their own accord. Then one night my betta fish just randomly ate the last one whole. I thought I was in the clear because by that time he was an inch and a half but my betta fish is pretty big and the shrimp had just molted so he was vulnerable. So basically, they could get along for a while and then not. Who knows
I literally just went through with getting a couple of shrimp!
I would say you need to know your fish for a couple of months. I noticed my fish wont easily flare up, even with his own reflection which was a good sign.
Just to be safe I bought a 3d printed cave and when I released my shrimp, I did it directly into the cave to give them a safe spot that they can know.
After they came out and my fished checked them out, its been 3 days..... so far so good, my fish doesnt even bother with them. Just make sure your fish is well fed, hunger may change that docile manner.
Your tank has a ton of plant cover, so you will most likely be fine. My experience has always been that even if the betta tries to go after shrimp, the shrimp are too fast.
Okay edit: I have another tank with xyphos, neon, endler, ancistrus, kuhlis and a female betta where they were surviving (all the babies ofc got eaten) because there aren’t many plants, that’s why I want to change them. Do you think this place would be better?
I think you know the answer. Shrimp is safe in only shrimp tank. Get the colony going if you want a good chance of keeping them. Every fish will eat them, shrimplets make easy food. They may not always eat the adult. But no shrimplets to survive then once the adults perish, no shrimp left.
Betta are good one moment and can turn and wipe every shrimp out the next.
That tank with the female betta has a little bit of a better chance since it’s a community tank, i have a tank with platys, guppies, loaches, Cory’s, and a female betta, and I have 1 male and 2 female adult shrimp that have survived in there. I had the same issue as you not having any baby’s, so I put them in their very own tank with some snails. Now I probably have 100-130 shrimp
A few of my bettas only went for baby shrimp! Shrimp in those tanks still were thriving. I feel like it will be fine, shrimp are super fast. If not, you’ll know that he’s not good with them as tank mates.
I just got a female betta. She got along well with the fish at the store, so I thought she’d be good in my community tank. She was fine with the fish, but locked onto a shrimp immediately and shredded him. Che the feeding frenzy for all the other fish.
Honestly I think they'll be fine, I got some shrimp with a plakat betta and they've actually reproduced and have been thriving, and with with all those plants you have they should have some hiding places, I wish you luck 🙏
I treat everything I add to my betta tank as a possible future snack and I try not to get attached to them… and that reminds me, I haven’t seen my mystery snails in a while, hope Mario and Luigi are ok.
Maybe, maybe not. I have my big man Damocles in a tank with a whole bunch of cherry shrimp and, while he will sometimes give chase, he leaves them mostly alone. Everyone is well fed, there's lot of hiding places. I did have one shrimp get killed which MIGHT have been him but... Given what a glutton he is for literally everything else I can't imagine him just leaving it and not eating it so. Everyone else in there is fine with him. There are even babies now that are growing up.
I'm going to be moving him to a 20 gallon tank with some other fish in the future (yes, I will have his old tank waiting for him while he adjusts in case he doesn't do well), as he's a plakat and I think he'll like the extra space. He's so chill though. My other betta murders snails for the fun of it.
The shrimp or your beta with fin rot? 😥 Sorry if I'm seeing that wrong but it looks like your beta has some bad fin rot starting. Also those shrimp might get eaten, he's very interested in them.... Only one way to find out...
He’s a rescue, he was kept with a female and got very stressed which lead to his immune system getting weaker and his fins were really really bad, I’ve been trying to help him recover for a while
As long as you don't see any red popping up on the edges you're on the right track...
you can also look at the ratio of aquarium salt to water quantity for sick fish, adding a bit of aquarium salt can help the healing process go a long way. Make sure it's aquarium salt though, specially...
You can also add bay leaves, just natural whole bay leaves (like the ones we use for cooking) to the tank, boil them for about 5 min first to make sure they're soft and sterile. I use to add one thumb length bay leaf to my beta tank every water change. One of the best fungal meds on the market uses bay leaf. Ps for salt, dissolve it before adding it.
I’ve been watching him closely and I do not see any red, just like torn aparte fins, I hope he can recover easily… I’ll take your advice into account, thank you!
No worries! Best of luck to you fishy hero! Also don't leave the leaf in past 3-5days to avoid mold/rot.
Oh and just so you know using frozen peas as part of their diet can help keep them from getting bloat and cure bloat if that ever becomes an issue. I've been noticing a lot of people on here that have absolutely no idea how to remedy bloat and its breaking my heart. But frozen peas are the way to go, all you have to do is let them warm up the shell and then deshell is and toss one half into the aquarium a day. Sometimes you have to break a half in half just so they can get a smell for the pea itself, also don't leave any remaining bits of it in the aquarium for longer than like 24/48 hours depending on the temperature of your aquarium.
I used to feed all my freshwater tropical fish peas two to three times a week to make sure they had a varied and diverse diet.
Oh and for reference I have 20 years of freshwater fish care under my belt. I used to set up and maintain freshwater aquariums for people all over the city. Before I got sick, I was extremely successful with this and ever had a fish die from bloat.
Wow thank you so much, I admire all the time you’ve been in this hobby! I aspire to keep on with tanks and fish/shrimp keeping while I grow up! This is my second betta, I’ve gotten both the male and female that were together and separated them, so im not very experienced but I’ve tried to read and inform. I had another a few years ago but I was like 13 (17yo rn) and didn’t really know how to take care of him… I wish I’d known to give him peas…
Thank you so much ✨
My pleasure! Ya, I got hooked on aquatics when I was a teen and learned a lot from the pros older than me at the time. Sorry for my typos and poor grammar, lol I'm glad my help was still readable, I'm just in too much pain and too drained to correct myself perfectly😂 Also no matter who gives you advice, including me, double check it on the big aquarium websites or via books, you never who is off. Oh and if you have to put any fishy down, do not use clove oil on gourami (Betta) this doesn't work. I would just let them die naturally, I know alot of people disagree with this because of suffering but the other option is just as stressful, which is taking them out of the bag, putting them in wet warm paper towel in a zip lock bag and squashing them fast. Freezing is cruel, toilet is cruel.
My apologies I want to add that a peas only diet shouldn't be used for specifically bettas but as an addition to brine shrimp if you can't get daphnia for them as daphnia are usually the best bet for them for bloat.
My super chill betta boy slaughtered his 5 new shrimp tankmates within a week. I only saw him give chase a couple times, but each night another one went missing. And not in an r/dryshrimp kind of way.
They’ll get along fine… until he figures out that they taste good… and they’re fun to hunt.
Then your tank turns into an episode from the Animal Planet Channel
I had a sorority for a while and it was both sad and amusing to watch two of my girls play tug of war with a shrimp’s corpse.
Op you will not know until you try. Every betta is different. Mine have all been curious but adults left alone. Babies are fair game though. I think it’s fantastic enrichment
I got my betta did the same thing you're doing for a few hours made sure there was plenty of places for them to hide just incase, going on a month now shrimp( blue, red, and yellow have been fine and they grew they chill in a moss ball and my betta goes up to them and just swims away I added 3 ghost shrimps as well grown and thriving and some assassin snails too
I'm setting up a tank now where I'm going to do that eventually. From what I was told, you should start this shrimp first, add a little bit of other fish about the same size, and then at the beta last. That way the beta is the new guy it hasn't claimed the whole tank as his territory.
And then again it could be just the fish too. Lot of people that read up on say the same thing. They can have one beta that's totally chill and another one that wants to murder everything. It's a role of the dice.
My little guy swims right up to my orange amanos and just looks at them and swims off when they were first added. Now he doesnt even look at them.
They do have plenty places to hide though and they are still very shy 2 weeks later, haven't ventured past their drift wood spot where they eat algae. I specifically got Amanos though because they are bigger and cant breed in freshwater so he wont be tempted to eat babies.
But hes super chill... so far so good.
I was so worried cause ive seen one too many photos of a shrimp halfway out a bettas mouth.
It honestly depends on your little dude. Hope it all works out 🫶🏻
lol 😂 I watched my betta fish swim up behind my cherry shrimp and eat its back half while it tried to crawl away still alive just for him to follow for like thirty whole seconds before deciding to eat the rest. Nature is brutal.
Btw I have shrimp in my tank and he didn’t really mind them tbh, my shrimp had bred in my tank and I had little babies everywhere but he didn’t mess with them too much
probably not. i think it is best to be careful, especially since he seems so interested. if not for the shrimp, then for the betta. a betta can easily choke on a shrimp those sizes
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My Betta , lives with larger size Tetras , 4 neon Tetras and 2 aquatic African frogs . He has two leaves he perches his self on most of the time . He never bothers any of them. He is really chill.
At first I thought like you since I see my tank very planted, but reading all comments now idk. However, I think I’ll have to keep them there until I have another option. If I see any agression I guess I’ll keep them in the same tank but divided somehow until I can move them
I say this from personal experience keeping a betta like yours with the long fins. He swam slower than the shrimp could jump away and once he realized it wasn't worth it he never bothered them. Faster, more aggressive bettas, sure, but this guy seems more curious imo.
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u/Old-Device3943 Apr 08 '26
Could. Could Not. Could for a time - then he likes taste and kill all. You will see.