Shrimp: Cherry or Ghost?

[bahamut285]

I'm thinking of getting some for HongBo...I have a 5G tank, and I don't know which/how many shrimp to get. Which one have you had better luck with? How many should I get?

I'm actually going to a different LFS this time because the one closest to my house only has Ghosts, and they kind of look freaky to me, especially since I can't see them unless I press my face to the tank and look really hard, haha.

To be honest, I don't know if the LFS I'm going to has Cherries (no website listing of species), the woman on the phone was really unhelpful when I called the store.

I just wanted to know that, if everybody finds ghosts better then maybe I won't even go up to the other shop.

[shinybetta]

Ghosts are more active and bold. Cherry's will hide and will be less active. Ghost shrimp are also more fun to feed, but cherries do look cooler. If I were you I would mix both.

[scootshoot]

Most I would get in a 5 gallon is one shrimp.

[bahamut285]

Thanks for the input guys~ I got 2 cherry shrimp and so far they are doing fine. I'm really antsy about HongBo eating them though. He got a little too close to one and the shrimp nicked him in the nose. It taught HongBo a quick lesson as for the most part he leaves them alone, but if they're directly in his path of scooting around on the gravel, he tries to bite them. Fortunately they're too fast for him though, but it still makes me nervous.

Just as a precautionary question: How do you catch the shrimp if your betta develops a taste for them? They're so teeny @_@

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

patience and a net lol.

I have shrimp in with my betta and he's ok with them. He does occasionally chase them but generally he doesn't mind; when I first added them one of them sat opposite my fish and kept poking him with his feelers....the fish swam off first lol.

[Nanglebadger]

i've put Amanos (ghosts) in with mine. i was advised in my LFS on saturday that the cherries were too small and would be eaten by the bettas. indeed, this is why i ended up with my first betta, he was eating my brothers cherries on him.

i guess it depends on the size of the cherries u can get, if they were big enough they'd stand more chance of survival. the ghosts i must agree are very active.

Phil.

[demonr6]

My sis had a ghost in her tank, it lasted about five hours before it became a ten course meal. All that was found the next day was its feelers sticking out of the Bettas mouth. The fish was floating on the top of the tank having an interesting time trying to breathe and the next day it had disposed of the waste if you get my drift. No more shrimp in that tank to say the least.

[bahamut285]

@Dipsy: Hahaha that's what happened with one of mine.

@Nagle: My shrimp aren't that big, but neither is HongBo. He COULD fit them in his mouth if he tried, but he's far too slow as far as I can see.

@demonr: This is honestly what I'm really scared of, haha.


I didn't get any ghosts because at the LFS I was at, they were the same size as the cherries and still looked weird to me. It's day two, and they cleaned up the tank quite nicely, so I guess they did work while HongBo was sleeping (he's a heavy sleeper). I'm not sure where they are right now though....**panic**