I'd recommend doing some homework on the needs of each shrimp species.. some like very soft water, some like cooler water, some like very fast moving water..

The bamboo shrimp should never be sold for home aquariums.. it's almost impossible to breed in captivity, so the vast majority are harvested from their native habitat and are therefore becoming increasingly scarce there.

And because they can't be bred.. and they tend to die quickly (usually of starvation) without the proper conditions, so are in a state of constant turnover.. sooner or later they'll become endangered species. My guess is sooner.

It might be kinder to find a few varieties that share the same needs, then stock your tank with a few of each. And the you'll get teeny shrimplets! These make excellent betta food. Or you can encourage your friends to keep a few as pets - RCS are great fun to watch, several can be kept in a smallish tank as they have very low bioload, and they have pretty basic needs compared to the poor old bamboo shrimp...

 

Ohhhh...
I never knew that about Bamboo Shrimp! I see them all the time at pet stores, and they look insanely cool so I thought that since they always look healthy it would be OK to keep them. I guess not. Thank you so much for informing me!!!
Also I learned that Bamboo Shrimp filter feed.....so I guess that's why they die so quickly. There is surprisingly little information online about them. People should learn to take care of animals before they snatch them out of the wild :C

I guess RCS are my best bet so far :lol:
I remember when I was around 8 years old I had this insane shrimp craze....I became obsessed with RCS and I wanted them so badly I cried. I researched their care and carefully saved up my money, but my parents said no.
I guess this is my time to get them:lol:

 

RCS are just so much fun. I love watching my Zoidbergs, when Cleo isn't bent on eating them (she isn't all the time, just now and then..). Mrs. Z is fat with eggs, currently. If she doesn't make a betta snack before I can net her, she's going into the tank currently housing all my plants for the 40 gallon NPT.. and I'll have shrimplets! :-D

You could always put an ad in the local paper or local online trading post, "WTB, shrimp, willing to pick up only, no post please" - as RCS breed like bunnies, I bet there's someone out there with a dozen or two to spare.

 

Cool
That's so cute how you talk about your fish xD

I'm definitely going to put an ad on Craigslist...people are always advertising all sorts of crazy animals, but mostly fish are very much tropical, brackish, or saltwater. I'm sure there's someone who will be willing to give some RCS to me

 

OMG! I, the idiot that I am, read several, and I mean several articles telling me that shrimp are great tankmates for bettas. So, I ordered a gorgeous red krili? shrimp online. I waited days and days for him to arrive. He arrived today, the cutest thing I've ever seen, I immediately named him 1, 2 and added him to the betta (Handsome Bob's) tank and withing 10 minutes, he was a goner! Bob only ate the legs off of him and I've never felt so bad in my life. He was so cute and I love Bob, dearly, infact have only had him 7 days and am quite obsessed, but I am so disheartened that he ate the shrimp. I think he's going to be a loner betta. Am also dealing with what I think are nipped fins, I originally had him with 2 tetras and am not sure how to go about healing the fins. Will they grow back? There is also a small food issue, I bought him and I bought BettaMin, he won't eat it, so I bought pellets and they were too big, so I bought him blood worms, that's all he'll eat now. I bought micro pellets, he eats them then spits them out and I also bought like a spongy brine shrimp. Same thing, spits them out. Is it ok to feed him only blood worms as on the label, it says that it's a supplement. HELP!! I adore him and don't want to lose him. He's in a 1.5 gallon tank, no filter, waters perfect and no heat, although I'll buy him one for winter. Any advice, opinions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Emalee

 

How sad that your poor shrimp were eaten
Omelette ate only my 2nd shrimp (of course the largest one) and he stopped after that.
All I know that I can answer is that torn or nipped off fins WILL grow back. Omelette had nipped his 2-inch tail fin down to 1/2 to 1 inch nub.
Use 1/2 teaspoon of Kosher or AQ salt per gallon for the betta so it will help heal the fins a lot faster.
If your fish isn't eating, you can try crushing garlic and soaking the pellets in the juice. It is usually enticing enough to attract the fish's attention so he will eat it. Or you can just soak the pellets in water. When I first got Om, he would eat the pellets then spit them out. Eventually he would hunt them out and eat them from the gravel later so that they were in small pieces, nice and soaked and not hard.
I'm no expert at betta care, but I know ghost shrimp. So fire away at the questions about ghosties.

 

I have 4 ghost shrimp in my planted cold water tank that stays 72 degrees (with white clouds) .. the fish are so docile that they probably don't even know the shrimp exist. I got them to clean up the extra food. I'm used to owning a comet in that tank and the comet ate ALL of the food and even sucked on the gravel so I gotta get used to smaller portions of food, and half the time it goes to the floor before the fish see it.. *shrug* .. Shrimp are fun, but I can't say for sure if the betta will eat em. I did a social expieriment putting Ted in my 10 gallon.. he hid for 2 hours, then came out, flared at my white clouds (who didn't give a crap) and went nose to nose with my biggest shrimp (staring contest) and then ted swam off. I have him back in his tank now.. Just wanted to see what he would do. Now that I have possible homes for my WCMM babies no need for ted to be in there and no worries if he'll eat the shrimp.

Why wouldn't they like shrimp? We feed them brine shrimp parts for a treat..
I'm sure it's no different than a Hershey chocolate bar vs some japanese chocolate bar with nuts and something else in it... it's still chocolate and to a kid it's still candy!

 

Bettas DO like shrimp, shrimp of all kinds, they're just a bit more frightening than brine shrimp. Brine shrimp toodle and swirl around without a care in the world, and the betta just pops them into his mouth without a second thought. Now, ghosties on the other hand seem to have intelligence that bettas are not used to their prey having. My ghost shrimp will stand on top of the moss ball, poking his claws through it, looking for some extra food. If my betta swims over, he will raise his front claws up, threateningly keep them open, and if the betta makes a move to attack, he will reach out a claw and pinch the poor fish's nose REALLY hard. You'd be surprised how much it hurts a betta to be pinched by a shrimp. Bettas have sensitive bodies, shrimp are surprisingly powerful compared to their size....
Your betta may feel intimidated by the snack's claws and "knowing" stare. One of my shrimp has found a home at my friend's house in a jar, the second (least defensive) shrimp was eaten by Om, and the 3rd is like a ninja, very defensive and practically invisible.
So, in conclusion, your fish is wise. Very wise. I'm sure that when Om ate Misty he had to suffer some severe bites....Oh, and some severe bloating when he finished his meal.

 

I keep RCS with my fish for a few reasons - water quality barometers, algae removal, betta entertainment. Happy tank mates doesn't really come into it, as I do fully expect a few will be eaten.

They are good 'tank mates' in that they don't have a huge bioload, and can generally avoid being eaten if they're given lots of places to hide when the fish are in hunting mode.

Warning, however. Shrimp in themselves are addictive little things. I am soon to have a shrimp-dedicated tank..

 

My pearl halfmoon ate all my shrimp & most of my guppies.

Now I keep him in a solo tank. He'll go back into the guppy tank when their population increases. I know for sure mr betta's eaten at least 20 guppy fry and 30 cherry red shrimp.

My ENTIRE cherry shrimp population has been wiped out now.

 

Thanks so much. I think I'll stick with the betta being alone. I just couldn't watch another one of those little shrimp being eaten. The first thing I thought when I saw him was why won't Bob eat him. He eats brine fish chunks and this is a shrimp! I will get the aq salt and I will see if that helps. I have to suspect that the tetras nipped him and now he has fin rot as it looks worse today. He's still eating, but only blood worms, I'll try some pellets. What I can't figure out is he's acting differently, slow vs, fast, hiding a lot, but every morning I wake up and there bubblenests everywhere. I mean everywhere! Wish me luck, if I lose him, I don't know that I'd have the heart to try again as I love this little viscious shrimp murderer! hahha
Thanks again

 

Aren't there different variations of RCS called crystal red shrimp and cyrstal black shrimp? Those are really nice but my lfs sells them for over 5 dollars (which I'm not willing to spend on a single shrimp.) I wish I could keep shrimp but my bettas won't sleep until they've hunted them all. haha I'll just stick with ghosties.

 

RCS (red cherry shrimp) are quite different from CRS (crystal red shrimp). Cherries are cheaper and usually widely available compared to crystals.

The two are actually two different species. While cherries, snowballs and rili shrimp are all just different colour variations of the same species, (Neocaridina heteropoda var. red or cherry shrimp). And crystals are (Caridina cf. cantonensis sp. "Crystal Red").

Unfortunately I've found that the only shrimp that survived with either my females or my boys were ghost shrimp. They had the speed and jumping skills to taunt the girls (and occasionally steal food at supper time which was so funny!).

 

Oops, never mind. I'm not too good with shrimp. I didn't remember what the RCS variations were called. All I remembered was the name crystal red and their price.

I've only ever kept ghost shrimp and they all eventually got eaten by my boys. They only lasted a couple months.

 

I've seen cherry shrimp go for as little as $0.50 each. But there's a good chance these would be considered "CULL" grade shrimp. Regardless, I would rather have a cull grade CRS than a ghost shrimp due to the CRS' reproduction capabilities.

 

Like I said, my pearl HM betta ate most of mine. Same with the guppies. I had the smaller guppy fry in with the CRS & the guppy fry probably stressed them out.

Eventually I'll start up a shrimp ONLY tank. The shrimp ALWAYS did a great job for cleaning algae off my dirty aquarium decorations before they were wiped out.

 

I have NEVER seen RCS in a store, or Crystal Reds. I just see ghosts and bamboo (which I've never had). If I find some RCS I'll probably buy them because you guys make them sound really great.

My ghosties are gone (thanks, Vilkas) now anyway!

 

The only way you'll get the RCS for .50 or less is through an established RCS tank.

There's 1000's of people in CA that have established RCS. Nowadays cherry shrimp are the most common out there.

If you do happen to come across them in a petstore, you'll probably pay at least $2-$5 for one.

Start with the most common ones if you're new to them. They require differ a fish free tank, and a cycled filtration system, otherwise they'll get wiped out like mine.

Ammonia & copper will kill shrimp QUICK. Also massive water changes, will kill them as well.

Baby cherry shrimp are TINY. You won't see them, till they're a couple weeks old, but the the fish usually get to them first.

The shrimp were the best at removing algae off decorations. Beats scrubbing decorations in the bathtub for an hour and rinsing that good algae that the shrimp would LOVE to eat down the drain.