I added cherry shrimp to one of my betta tanks last night. Rogue had a couple curious interactions before he began pecking at them, and chasing them around the tank.
he almost caught one once, and messed its tail up a bit— but hasn’t been successful to my knowledge yet.
i know that some bettas are just shrimp killers, but is there anything I can do to possibly deter him more? i’ve added many hiding spaces, and plan to buy bigger plants for the bottom.
I’ve thought about rearranging the tank, but don’t know if I should?
https://v.redd.it/yhavuh6c9vig1
Posted by CerberusFangz
20 Comments
Nope. That’s how bettas work man, they will never learn to not eat their LITERAL NATURAL DIET. You agreed to this by putting shrimp in his tank…
Not really, rearranging still leaves the irresistible shrimp-hunt! If you want to keep your shrimp, get them out now. Or resign yourself to some very expensive Betta snacks!
Seriously, the only normal-looking shrimp Bettas won’t hunt are Amanos – too big and too clever. Or other varieties like bamboo shrimp. But if you have neos, well eventually your Betta will eat them😢
This happened to me too when I tried to add cherry shrimp and snails to my tank with my betta. He immediately hated them and started picking on them and being mean so I had to take them all out.
Shrimp are fish food. Bettas (and every other fish out there really) eat shrimp. He’s doing normal natural fish stuff by hunting shrimp. It’s up to you to set up the tank in such a way to provide the shrimp with enough heavy plant coverage to escape and feel safe.
This has nothing to do woth territory or aggression, it’s a hunting/feeding behaviour.
Yeah it’s gonna eat em all
Guys pls, I’m not saying I’m mad at my fish for pecking at them, and I know they’re a natural food source- that’s why I was asking for advice for coexistence
There’s no need to come at me sideways, I’m genuinely asking 🙏😭
This betta has a huge tummy. Looks like you’re overfeeding and/or he’s bloated
Bettas are Predators and shrimp are Prey animals yo
My previous betta used to attack shrimps as well,
I bought on Temu a pvc panel with holes to divide the acquarium in 2, and put betta on one side and shrimps on the other.
It was like the betta had its own tv 😆
Your only hope is to densely pack your bottom layer so shrimp has more hiding space.
Off topic but I recommend taking that cholla wood out of the tank if you can. The amount of photos I’ve seen in this sub where a betta was found stuck inside the wood and got severely injured/died is disturbing
Poor little guys.
Give the shrimp hiding spots mostly. Especially hardscape like rocks can give shrimp places to go that the betta physically can’t get into. When my betta were aggressive towards shrimp they caught a few early in but once the shrimp wised up he was rarely successful. He’s also a slower long finned variety so it’ll be pretty hard for him to catch them. There’s nothing much you can do to deter him. Those shrimp are free steak dinners wandering around his tank.
As a consequence i rarely saw the shrimp since they hid a lot. They actually came out at night a lot when the betta slept.
In future try buying a betta from your local fish store. Mine kept their betta in larger tanks with a few ghost shrimp so you could see who was going to attack shrimp and who wasn’t. Got two really nice betta this way who don’t strike at my neos at all. It’s basically impossible to gauge betta temperament when they’re in a cup.
On the plus side, if any survive to reproduce, the next generations will be super camouflaged! The shrimp that now coexist in my Betta tank blend in perfectly with my substrate
https://preview.redd.it/1gizcx1agwig1.jpeg?width=2389&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b70345df2ffe9ad80fb1147b6988b2153f56d810
Your Betta is absolutely STUNNING! Like red velvet! And your cherry shrimp are adorable!! I have to laugh at how both of them were peeking up at your Betta from the driftwood as to say “ hey you try and get us!” And then your BETTA DID, and they were like … SEE YA!!! Bolt away fast! lol!
set up a separate shrimp breeding tank so it doesn’t hurt as much when one dies.
He might get bored and leave them alone, just want to say your tank and babies are beautiful!
Your betta is bloated, if he’s stealing their food, feed them at night, feel free to fast him a few days. My Panera likes to rob the shrimp.
When I added my betta I readily made the gamble of the local cherries becoming dodos but also wanted to give them the best chance at staying stable which has worked out wonderfully tbh. I used a hirsuta carpet and a huge driftwood with stuck on moss, anubias and bucephalandra. The betta while snapping right out of the gate has by now dropped his aggression significantly since other food provided by me is just way easier to get. The carpet and moss allows them to congregate and coexist.
Nope. FYI- his belly looks like he definitely got at least one! 😂