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My skrimps feasting on an almond leaf
(hexbear.net)
Ignore the clown killi fish, she likes to photobomb.
Yes I know some shrimp keepers cull the duller ones, but I refuse, I love all my skrimps. I don't care if their 'grade' goes down over time, they're my babies.
I love my neocardina! If you have a suitable tank you should get some immediately because you'll be cleaning it much less often. Unfortunately tank mates are hard, most fish will eat the fry and probably at least attempt to go for the adults, although I have successfully had them thriving and even breeding in a 15 gallon with a betta who once, with a full stomach, devoured 4 the moment they were added and before I had a chance to intervene. Trick was to add the betta to an already established group, although people report mixed results with this method. Really interesting behavior, basically the perfect aquatic pet
Yeah the only tankmates I've had any luck with are clown killifish and even then I suspect they're snacking on the odd baby skrimp.
If I ever catch them doing it I'll be making it a shrimp only tank for sure. I only have the killis because I needed something to eat the copepods and detritus worms that kept moving in.
I have dwarf barbs in one of my tanks for the exact same reason, unfortunately despite supposedly having some of the smallest mouths they are nimble af and suspiciously this is the only tank in which the shrimp have not taken off. I never caught them in the act, but same with my betta and when they passed (fuck dropsy) the population exploded. Fwiw, in my limited experience the detritus worm and copepod community has always calmed to what I consider an acceptable level with time and without predators, I'm not sure why this is
Oh and snails are good friends for shrimp, but they eat like crazy and produce a lot of waste
I've had good luck so far by pairing them with 5 Zoogoneticus Tequilas in a 40 gallon breeder. The fish definitely can eat the baby shrimp, but having plenty of plant/algae masses to hide in should mitigate that. They are great fish in need of conservation and not much harder to care for than your more traditional live-bearers, like guppies and swordtails.
Side note, one of the female Tequilas just gave birth yesterday and the other two appear to be pregnant!
I wasn't familiar, what a cool fish, congrats on being a tequila grandparent!
Also, holy shit you weren't kidding: