Guppies and Ghost shrimp in tank

Greg31 · Jun 29, 2009

I am getting my axolotl later this week. Just wondering if like 10 ghost shrimp, 4 guppies and 4 plants might be too much for a 15g tank? i havent gotten shrimp yet but wanted advice first.

Markw · Jun 29, 2009

Quarentine the shrimp first for at least 30 days. Your axie will most likely eat the shrimp as fast as you can put them in there. Same for the guppies, but no, its not too much in the tank as long as you keep doing regular water changes and cleaning the tank well to keep up on the ammonia that the shrimp will help with too).

Mark

Greg31 · Jun 29, 2009

ok great, thanks for reply.

Greg31 · Jun 29, 2009

so living in harmony with shrimp helping to clean is out of the question? haha

Markw · Jun 29, 2009

Not necessarily. Ive heard tons of stories with axies, guppies/mosquitofish/mollies/platties, and cherry/ghost shrimp living together for quite along time if the axies are fed extremely well. I hear that cherry shrimp seem to do better for some reason though and theyre really prolific, so if the axie doesnt go and eat all of them straight away, they can sometimes establish quite large colonies with them. Ghost shrimp have been proven really hard to keep alive in captivity and are hard to get to breed. They are usually looked at as food, so not handled too well and are usually damaged when you get them. Cherries are usually bred intentionally to keep as pets, so they are brought up well and are usually healthy. Just expect to lose some. I will be keeping a breeder tank of cherry shrimp and put some in the 55gal and see how it goes. If they live, I will put more in. If not, I will put some in when the breeder tank does its job and they hatch out more babies than it can hold. Its a personal choice, a game of chance really.

Mark

ianclick · Jun 29, 2009

Hi Greg,

Before you add anything have a look here Caudata Culture look up species mixing disasters it has a comprehensive list of what species can be mixed and the possible ramifications.

Good Luck

Markw · Jun 29, 2009

Let me save you the trip. Axies are ideally supposed to be for species-specific tanks. Anything you put in with your axie could potentially harm them, or the axie will eat it. If its smaller than the axie, dont get too attatched to it because it will be gone soon. Anything you put in there, make sure it is well within the size of food your axie can accomodate and isnt hard as to not cause impaction on the axie. So, in short, nothing hard, nothing bigger than what the axie can eat, and nothing that could harm the axie.

Mark

kenya · Jun 29, 2009

Mark brings up a good point about fish/invertebrates sold as food being handled worse than the regular fish. But it kind of depends on where you go. Chain stores tend to get small amounts of the ghost shrimp, and they don't last long. I just got two dozen from a reallyyyy good mom and pop place, and they are all healthy. I grabbed some Hikari frozen brine shrimp and when I got home from work six hours later they had eaten it all up! Healthy appetites are a good sign. But it's trial and error. And do not forget to quarantine!

Greg31 · Jun 29, 2009

are guppies ok? the bones may cause trouble right? or am i just over thinking it.

Greatwtehunter · Jun 30, 2009

Greg31 said:
are guppies ok? the bones may cause trouble right? or am i just over thinking it.

Your just over thinking it.

People feed guppies to the axolotls all the time, myself included, and I don't think I have ever heard of the bones causing a problem.

Darkmaverick · Jun 30, 2009

Hi Greg,

Its a good thought really. Sometimes, the simplest thing tends to get overlooked. I can see where you are coming from. I have fed guppies/minnows to my axies without problems, but i guess theoretically, bones can still pose a problem.

Cheers.

Markw · Jun 30, 2009

Both shrimp and feeder fish are okay to feed your axies 99+% of the time as long as they can fit comfortably in your axies' mouth and wont harm them. Stick with guppies, mollies, platies, and mosquitofish for the fish category for the most part. Ghost shrimp and cherry red shrimp seem to be the two favorites as far as shrimp are concerned. The people that feed cherries generally have a cherry tank that they breed and keep colonies of shrimp in that they take their feeders from. Hope ive helped some.

Mark

Greg31 · Jun 30, 2009

ok, sounds great, thanks for the replies.

Florieke · Jul 8, 2009

ianclick said:
Hi Greg,

Before you add anything have a look here Caudata Culture look up species mixing disasters it has a comprehensive list of what species can be mixed and the possible ramifications.

Good Luck

I read the page, they never said anything about shrimps being harmfull for the axies, just that they ate them. Anyone ever had a problem with shrimps in the tank?

Markw · Jul 8, 2009

Ive heard of the shrimp picking at an axies' gills, but since they are first and foremost scavengers and only eat algae, I cant see this happening in the norm. Plus, the shrimp soon became axie's appetizer, so no problems after that. :wink:

Mark

Florieke · Jul 8, 2009

Thanx for your reply! My new tank is on its way! It will contain shrimps and guppies. They will be food for my two axolotl's Salter and Harris. I really wanted a second tank so I could breed them and therefore make a steady snack for my axolotl's (and also make a nice place for them to stay in quarantaine!!).

Markw · Jul 8, 2009

Be weary. The guppies may eat the shrimp. I found it hard to believe that they would, but they do nip quite a bit at them if there is not enough food. Make sure you feed well enough and if you wanted to avoid the problem all together, you could always go for mosquitofish. They are a relative of the guppy and are heard to be much more prolific. They tend to stay in the mid-top column of water, away from any shrimps. Just a thought.

Mark

Florieke · Jul 8, 2009

Thanx (again)! I haven't got the tank yet, so no shrimps and guppies together yet

I have a great and big aquarium-fish store at walking distance from my house. I'm gonna pay them a visit to see if they have those mosquitofish!

Markw · Jul 8, 2009

Another thing Ive heard that gives good results are white clouds. Ive never had experience with them, but thats what I hear.

Mark

Greg31 · Jul 8, 2009

can i use like a small hermit crab aquarium for shrimp? as long as i have some moss or something inside?

Guppies and Ghost shrimp in tank

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