A quick guide for finding out if you can keep Cherry Shrimp with Guppies.
Whenever you plan to keep any specific guppy fish or other species in a tank, it becomes necessary to understand whether one can coexist with another. For instance, if you plan to keep a cherry shrimp with guppies, you need to know some things. This article will help you understand those things in detail!
To start by answering your question, cherry shrimp can live and coexist with guppies. However, it would be best to be cautious as guppies consider cherry shrimp their food when they are small. Before you put them together, you need to follow specific instructions and precautions.
Read on to know everything about cherry shrimp and guppies.
Is It Possible to Keep Cherry Shrimp With Guppies in the Same Tank?
You can keep cherry shrimp with guppies. Guppies are peaceful fish and won’t attack adult shrimp, but they will eat shrimp fry when given a chance.
If you love seeing your freshwater tank full of beautiful community fish and other water creatures, you might have thought about putting cherry shrimp with guppies in the same tank.
As guppies are on the upper level of the food chain and cherry shrimp on the lower level, there is a possibility that a guppy might feed on cherry shrimp. But they will usually leave adult shrimp alone.
Cherry shrimp are peaceful creatures with almost no defense mechanism, which could leave them vulnerable to the attacks of guppies and other more aggressive fish.
If you wish to avoid this from happening, there are certain precautions that you can take so that your cherry shrimp and guppies can thrive in harmony.
I’ll be discussing these steps in the coming sections!
Is It Possible to Keep Baby Cherry Shrimp With Guppies?
You might think that if we can keep cherry shrimp with guppies, is it possible to keep baby cherry shrimp in the same tank too?
Unfortunately, guppies will eat shrimp fry. Baby cherry shrimp are tiny, making them seem more like prey. The chances of your guppy fish eating the baby cherry shrimp can get extremely high unless you provide the shrimp with lots of places to hide!
If you make sure you have lots of plants and moss in your aquarium, enough of your shrimp fry will survive to have your shrimp colony grow.
If you want maximum growth of your shrimp colony, keeping the shrimp fry in a separate tank or only with guppy fry is always a good idea. This helps ensure that your baby cherry shrimp grow up without a guppy eating it!
When Can You Keep Cherry Shrimp With Guppies?
So, when can you keep red cherry shrimp with some guppies in the same tank?
As mentioned above, baby cherry shrimp is small in size and hence, vulnerable to the attacks of guppies. Therefore, they need to be more significant if you plan to keep cherry shrimp with guppies.
Usually, cherry shrimp attain a good-enough size once they are four weeks old. You can consider putting them in the same water tank as guppies during this time.
Essential Steps You Need to Follow to Keep Cherry Shrimp and Guppies Together
If you plan to keep cherry shrimp and guppies in the same aquarium tank, you must follow the below-mentioned steps to maintain harmony and peace.
Step 1: Start By Putting the Cherry Shrimp First
When your aquarium or water tank is cycled, you first need to introduce cherry shrimp to the aquarium.
The reason is simple. By introducing cherry shrimp first, you’re allowing them to establish and form a proper colony. Moreover, it also allows the cherry shrimp fry to grow to coexist with the guppies.
Step 2: Provide Proper Amount of Cover
Keep in mind that your cherry shrimp might have to hide from guppies in the form of defense. So it becomes essential you provide the proper amount of coverage to them.
You can use various plants and mosses to help your cherry shrimp hide from the guppies.
Driftwood and rocks will also help your shrimp find a hiding spot when needed.
Several plants and mosses can be used for this purpose. For instance, you can go for water wisteria, guppy grass, Java fern or moss, or even dwarf lily. These can look good in the aquarium tank and can also do the job of protecting your cherry shrimp.
So, consider getting some excellent aquarium plant cover for your cherry shrimp!
Step 3: Feeding Cherry Shrimp Correctly
Whenever you put the fish food in the tank, all of it is taken by the guppies. The only thing left for cherry shrimp is the dead/decaying matter leftovers.
Don’t worry; cherry shrimp can survive on leftovers. Cherry shrimp can easily feed on what they scavenge in your aquaria, like algae and biofilm. You can also supplement their diet with shrimp food.
When the shrimp gets the proper food, they can become healthier. This can make the shrimp’s movements swifter, allowing them to hide behind the covers rapidly.
Step 4: Consider the Shrimp to Guppies Ratio
It would be best if you always had fewer guppies than cherry shrimp. If there are more guppies in the tank, they can have their scavenger hunt for the cherry shrimp fry and hunt them all down. Make sure that there aren’t too many guppies compared to cherry shrimp.
You can also try keeping more cherry shrimp than guppies to balance out everything and keep the shrimp safe, but don’t make too big of a deal about it; balancing shrimp and guppy numbers can be challenging for both prolific breeders.
Step 5: Breed Shrimp in Separate Tank
You need to do it in a separate tank if you plan to breed shrimp.
As mentioned above, baby shrimp are highly susceptible to being eaten away by guppies.
If you want to minimize shrimp fry deaths, the solution is simple! You can keep the dwarf shrimp in another tank for breeding. Once the baby cherry shrimp is born, wait about four weeks and transfer it to the tank, or until it is big enough not to get eaten.
Which Fish Can Live With Cherry Shrimp in Harmony?
If the process of keeping cherry shrimp and guppies together in harmony seems too tiring and unsure, you can choose another aquarium buddy with cherry shrimp too. Go for small fish. Most freshwater fish tend to eat everything that fits in their mouth so go for smaller fish.
Stay away from more territorial fish, like cichlids, and larger fish, like gouramies and angelfish. The same goes for molly fish, similar to guppies but usually bigger fish with more enormous mouths.
Some of the water creatures that can live in harmony with cherry shrimp and are also guppy tank mates include:
- Otocinclus Catfish
Otocinclus catfish can be a fantastic tank mate for your cherry shrimp. This fish is a bottom-feeder and likes to keep in its own company, and it definitely won’t bother your cherry shrimp.
- Snails
If not a fish, you can also consider keeping snails in the tank. Snails are again bottom-feeders and won’t cause any harm to dwarf shrimp.
However, the only cause of concern here is that snails tend to reproduce quite rapidly, and their numbers might go out of control if an abundance of food is available.
If you don’t want a large colony of snails, get a nerite snail or a few. They can’t reproduce in freshwater.
- Rasboras (Small-Sized)
Small-sized rasboras are also great for your cherry shrimp, and they are a peaceful community fish and won’t cause any trouble to the cherry shrimp. Ensure that you go for small-sized rasboras only and not larger ones.
Other aquarium creatures that blend well with cherry shrimp include Corydoras Catfish, kuhli loach, Small-Sized Tetras, and White Mountain Cloud Minnows.
Final Thoughts
To conclude, it is possible to keep cherry shrimp with guppies, but it is a risk. Additionally, I have mentioned a few steps above that you need to follow to keep the cherry shrimp safe!
But, if it seems like too much of a hassle, you can always consider pairing up cherry shrimp with other marine creatures I’ve included above.