#i need to get smaller shrimp i think cherry shrimp are smaller than amano

[bibleofficial]

since christmas is over now my new excuse is using the first day of hanukah as a reason to spend credit card money i don’t have on myself for me ❤️

[youbetta-believeit]

I want to keep a betta with some shrimp. I saw that you have accomplished this, and I was wondering if you have any advice about doing it. This is for a kindergarten classroom, so if you think this might be a traumatic experience for the kids, please talk me out of it! Thank you!

Hi! I am all for kiddos experiencing the joys of fishkeeping, but there are a few things I would keep in mind before keeping a betta and shrimp together (specifically Neocaridina davidi, or red cherry shrimp, which are the only ones I have experience with):

Bettas are aggressive! When I introduced the shrimp to my betta’s tank, I was lucky that he only seemed interested in chasing the adults in brief spurts, and I never saw him kill or eat an adult. He does eat the baby shrimps, but ultimately it’s good population control, and the babies are so small the children honestly won’t even notice them. However, I’ve seen other blogs post about their bettas that are much more aggressive than mine, who can’t keep shrimp at all as the betta will pick them off one by one. I can imagine that might be something you don’t want a kindergartener to see, but could also be a good lesson about life? 😅 You could maybe look at getting a larger species of shrimp than the Neos (amano or ghost shrimp?), if you don’t want to risk this!

The tank habitat matters! Cherry shrimp thrive in aquariums with a lot of biomatter for them to pick at, meaning a lot of live plants, biofilm/algae, and leaf litter. Lots of plants also means lots of hiding places for them to escape their predatory tank-mate (the betta!) and gives them a safe space to molt.

Shrimp are opportunistic feeders! This is something I was not so happy to learn, hah...shrimp will scavenge the bodies of anything freshly dead in the tank, including other shrimp, and yes, probably the betta too. They truly spend 99% of their time eating. It’s a good way for them to get nutrients, but not a fun thing for a child (or me!) to see.

The positives are that shrimp are delightful to have and easy to care for! Kids will love watching them and playing a role in their care. I don’t have to feed my shrimp that often, only supplementing their diet a few times a week (with shrimp food or blanched veggies), which makes them ideal for a classroom tank that’s left alone over the weekends. Bettas require a bit more maintenance and should be fed daily (although I recommend one day off a week as a “fasting day”), so if you plan on being away from the classroom for more than a few days you will need an automatic feeder or someone to care for it. If you want to keep a betta and shrimp together, I recommend nothing smaller than 10gal!

I hope that this is helpful and hasn’t turned you away completely from the idea, haha!

[hella-free-space]

Hello, I have a male betta fish, named Blue. I have no other tank mates for him, yet, but may wish to get a sand for his ten gallon tank that I have him in. Do you know if white sand is safe if I plan on getting marimo plants? Or should I keep the gravel I have now. He's been in the tank alone for three months now since I've had him, and hes much better since the cup he came home in. Do you recommend sand, tank mates, or marimo plants? I hope to upgrade his home and am slightly nervous.

Hey there @creepylupaboi ! :DDo you know if white sand is safe if I plan on getting marimo plants?White sand is safe for any plants, fish, inverts, etc. As long as its made for aquariums, you shouldn’t have to worry about anything leaching into the water :p I hear you can also use blasting sand and pool filter sand but I haven’t personally used either. I have the Imagitarium brand sand in 2 of my tanks (black and white) and I like it so far :) Sometimes when I roll my marimos over or move them around the tank, they pick up a little bit of sand, but the sand I have doesn’t stick to them if I shake them off :pOr should I keep the gravel I have now.Marimos can be kept on any substrate ^-^ gravel, large stones, small stones, river rocks, sand, shells (don’t put real shells in a betta aquarium tho), or barebottom :pDo you recommend sand, Substrate is a matter of personal preference! Pick whatever you think looks good :) Some fish require sand or bare bottom tanks (like cories or goldfish), but bettas do well with any substrate :)tank mates,I personally think that a tank with just one betta looks a little empty (personal preference, nothing wrong with a 1-betta-only tank :D) so I put snails in all of my betta tanks ^-^ Shrimp and snails are the best choices for smaller betta setups, but in a 10-20+ gallon tank you could do some fish as well if you wanted to, and since you mentioned you wanted to upgrade your bettas home, I’d say you could definitely have 1-2 schools/shoals of fish if your betta is chill and doesn’t becomes stressed in a community-tank type setting :D Here’s an excerpt from my betta care guide regarding tankmates:

I’ll preface this section by stating that bettas don’t need tankmates! :) Tankmates are more for you than for your fish, and should be chosen carefully.

Tankmates in General:-please remember to make sure that your tank is suitable for the tank mates you wish to house; you wouldn’t keep your betta in a 1 gallon unfiltered/unheated tank, so don’t do the equivalent to your betta’s tankmates  your fish are all equal, so please, please, please make sure that you put in the same amount of research and care for the tankmates that you do for your betta! make sure your tank mates have the same requirements are your betta, and their temperament won’t put your betta at risk.-ALWAYS DO RESEARCH ON THE SPECIES YOURE CONSIDERING BEFORE PURCHASING!! :)-always have a backup plan in case your tankmates don’t get along with your betta, or your betta doesn’t get along with his tankmates -a 20 gallon is the best minimum choice for a community-style betta tank, as it opens up more options and gives your betta and his/her tankmates plenty of space!-be prepared to separate/rehome/etc. “problem fish” or a “problem betta”. if your betta isn’t really the community type, don’t try to force him/her to be; it won’t work out well for anyone. Get that betta an individual setup as soon as possible, or if your tank is large enough, divide it so that your betta has his/her own space. Corydoras:shoaling, 6+ to a group - keeping them in groups smaller than this will stress them to death…literally sometimes10+ gallons (dwarf/pygmy), 20+ gallons (regular)tropical, lots of species to choose fromsand/barebottom is a MUST - p they have soft bellies and sensitive barbels, and gravel can scratch up their bellies (which leads to stress or infection) or damage their barbels o.o also, they sift through sand to find little bits of food naturally, so sand lets them display this natural behavior and you get to see it too!Rasboras:schooling, 6+ to a school – keeping them in schools smaller than this will stress out the fish10-20+ gallons – depending on the speciestropical, lots of species to choose fromnote: “galaxy rasboras” are NOT rasboras (true rasboras belong to the boraras genus). Galaxy rasboras are actually a species of danio (other common name: celestial pearl danio) and are not tropical.Snails:under 10 gallons: nerites, ramshorns, horned nerites, and other small snails10+ gallons: mystery snails & other snails listed above – mystery snails get quite large and have a bioload as large, if not larger, than your betta’s, so a mystery snail is more suited to living in a 10 gallon tank than in something smallershrimp:not all bettas are “shrimp-safe”, meaning that if you want to try shrimp, you should be prepared for the worst case scenario: your betta eats them! if youre okay with the possibility that you may lose some shrimp, then i suggest starting out with a few shrimp.Amano shrimp are larger, great for algae, should be kept in groups of at least 3-5cherry shrimp (and other neocardinia sp.) are hardy, but small (most likely to be a tasty snack). They are super colorful/many variations to choose from tho!ghost shrimp can actually be nippy, so I’d recommend against them, even though they’re pretty cheap~putting shrimp in a 2.5 gallon tank is doable, but a 5 gallon tank would be much better since it would give you more space to provide lots of hiding places for the shrimp :)otocinclus:do best in groups, 3+ - they’re not traditional shoaling or schooling fish, but are still social20+ gallons - otos are sensitive to water qualityif your tank doesn’t have a ton of algae for them to eat, then I suggest supplementing their diet with cucumbers/zucchini/algae wafers/etc. 　plecos:tank size depends completely on the species your considering, there are a ton!! Even the smaller species of pleco have minimums of 30-40+ gallons, so keep that in mind :) I suggest supplementing their diet with cucumbers/zucchini/algae wafers/etc. ember tetras:schooling, 6+ to a school – keeping the in schools smaller than this will stress out the fish10+ gallons – they do ok in a 10, but would prefer a 15 (long) or a 20 gallon! 

or marimo plants?I love marimos! I have a TON :D I definitely recommend them ^-^ when looking for places to buy from, though, do your best to purchase healthy ones~ I’m not too good at reviving/saving the ones that have started to brown, so I try to look for ones with little to no brown spots and a bright green color :D

I hope to upgrade his home and am slightly nervous.It’s great that you’re looking to upgrade and I’m glad that Blue is doing much better since he’s come home with you! :D Don’t be nervous about upgrading, it’s a good thing! /* If anyone has any changes/corrections/suggestions to make, feel free to reblog/comment/let me know :) */

[iantojonesthebetta]

hi, I hope you're doing well! I was wondering about betta companions in a 10 gallon tank. I wanted to do albino plecos because they're smaller but I think I saw something about how they need friends and maybe a 10 gallon isn't enough for them. So I started looking at snails. Are snails all right companions? Do they make a mess of the tank? xx thank you

Hey, there.

Albino plecos? Do you mean albino corydoras? If so, yes, you’re correct that a 10 gallon isn’t suitable for them. Albino corydoras need 30 gallons and a group of around 8 friends to thrive. You may hear some recommend bristlenose plecos as well, but they, too, need a lot more space than 10 gallons.

Yes, you can go with snails. Nerite snails are popular options. I’m personally not a fan of them, but a lot of people love them. They do make some mess since they are living beings as well, yes.

You can also do shrimp if you have lots of cover for them. Cherry shrimps may get eaten by bettas, but amano shrimp are an option. Since they’re larger, I’d probably only recommend 5 for a 10 gallon.

Hope this helps!