Dwarf gourami and red cherry shrimp

[krisco]

Is it ok to have dwarf gouramis in a tank with cherry shrimp? I moved them out earlier this week, but really miss them in the 36 gallon,. I was afraid they would eat the shrimp.

What do you guys think?

[cocoa_pleco]

the gouramis are topdwellers, so i would say its probably okay

[MeganL3985]

I posted the same question recently after buying some cherry shrimp from Algenco. I got a pretty strong response that it would probably not work out. Seemed like little shrimp and bigger fishy mouths would be a hazard. lol

[krisco]

Yeah, i wan't sure. I know the gouramis are top dwellers, but i noticed one was hanging out in the nooks and crannies of the driftwood and aroun d the java moss where the shrimp hide. Figured he might be hunting.......

That's when i moved them to the other tank.

[Tolley]

if you've got cherry shrimp you'll see how much they like to 'swim' about. Easy prey imo

[sandy_n]

My dwarf gouramis did not read the book. :hmm3grin2orange:
They spend most of their time in the middle to bottom level, occasionally going to the top.

[krisco]

My dwarf gouramis did not read the book. :hmm3grin2orange:
They spend most of their time in the middle to bottom level, occasionally going to the top.


Same here!! They even do it in their new tank. They are the rebels of the dwarf community!

[MeganL3985]

My dwarfs hang out at the bottom to middle also, unless I open the top and they expect to be fed. lol

[Taurus]

My dwarf gouramis did not read the book. :hmm3grin2orange:
They spend most of their time in the middle to bottom level, occasionally going to the top.


Same with my dwarf gourami! He's so full of himself...he staked out an area on the tank bottom where my plants are and that is HIS area. LOL...he chases the bronze corys outta there once in a while. But the corys are not bothered at all.

[Pr0eve]

If the Shrimp can fit in it mouth, it will eat them, but I have Dwarf gourami and red cherry shrimp in the same tank and they are doing ok.. just be sure to have a lot of hiding place for the shrimp. My Dwarf do not mess with the bigger cherrys in the tank so..

[Wild Turkey]

I just has a 2" black skirt devour some of my cherries, gourami will have no problem with eating just about all of ur shrimp very quickly.

[Pr0eve]

I just has a 2" black skirt devour some of my cherries, gourami will have no problem with eating just about all of ur shrimp very quickly.

Black shirts will, my gouramis do not mess with them..

[Wild Turkey]

Black shirts will, my gouramis do not mess with them..

The shrimp perts around here all seem to think otherwise, just cause you got lucky isnt a reason to risk kriscos cherry shrimp, you said it best if it can fit them in their mouth, they will eat them.
Also, even if the adult shrimp make it, babies wont which means soon you will have no shrimp as them being able to reproduce is important as they dont live terribly long.


to quote hobbs....hope she doesnt mind

"I think they will always be food for the gourami's. I doubt you will ever be able to keep them together. I am going to add some neon's to my shrimp tank but won't be putting them back with any other fish anymore. I lost 3/4 of mine being in my community tank. I never saw my tetra's bothering them but the platy was snooping about the java moss constantly and I'm sure he picked off most of the young ones."

- Lady Hobbs on dwarf gourami and cherry shrimps

[Pr0eve]

The shrimp perts around here all seem to think otherwise, just cause you got lucky isnt a reason to risk kriscos cherry shrimp, you said it best if it can fit them in their mouth, they will eat them.
Also, even if the adult shrimp make it, babies wont which means soon you will have no shrimp as them being able to reproduce is important as they dont live terribly long.


to quote hobbs....hope she doesnt mind

"I think they will always be food for the gourami's. I doubt you will ever be able to keep them together. I am going to add some neon's """"no neons do not go good with cherrys """"to my shrimp tank but won't be putting them back with any other fish anymore. I lost 3/4 of mine being in my community tank. I never saw my tetra's bothering them but the platy was snooping about the java moss constantly and I'm sure he picked off most of the young ones."

- Lady Hobbs on dwarf gourami and cherry shrimps

well, I do keep dwarf with cherry's, and I am saying they are getting along just fine. but I also have a lot of places for the baby's to hide.

but I must say I really like it when you all completely continue to shoot down every thing I say. I offered my experience, I’m not saying I am an expert, just what I’ve witnessed

I did a lot of research before hand, and dwarf are shrimp friendly. but the rule of thump is if it can fit into their mouth, then that is were it will end up. you all should know that, that goes with every thing in a tank...

dwarf gourami have very small mouth,,

If you want to breed cherrys then you should have a shrimp only tank.

[MandyL]

I've never seen my thick-lips eating a shrimp... Only the keyholes. But believe me, if a fish wants some shrimp, it doesn't have to fit in their mouth to be pecked at until it's all gone.

[Wild Turkey]

well, I do keep dwarf with cherry's, and I am saying they are getting along just fine. but I also have a lot of places for the baby's to hide.

but I must say I really like it when you all completely continue to shoot down every thing I say. I offered my experience, I’m not saying I am an expert, just what I’ve witnessed

I did a lot of research before hand, and dwarf are shrimp friendly. but the rule of thump is if it can fit into their mouth, then that is were it will end up. you all should know that, that goes with every thing in a tank...

dwarf gourami have very small mouth,,

If you want to breed cherrys then you should have a shrimp only tank.

My interest is the shrimp, i voiced my opinion and sited my sources, i dont see what you are getting all up in arms about. Just because i disagreed with you. Its a forum.
If the fish will eat anything they can fit in their mouth then why recommend putting them into the tank with them? Even if you didnt care about the shrimp, theyre still $1 a pop if you are lucky.

When you dont have an option, im all for giving them a lot of places to hide and hoping, but putting things that can easily eaten by other things into one tank when you dont have to...?

In my ten gallon a blackskirt thats smaller than a gourami ate off at least 20 shrimp, the other black skirts ignored them completely. And if you dont think i have enough hiding places, literally 50% of the voume of the aquarium is java moss.

The fish sat at the edge of the moss not moving, and when shrimps get to the end of a strand of moss, he plucked them off, very easily. And if you look you will see black skirts have small mouths as well. And im talking about full size females, around an inch in size, the BS was a little under 2"

Obviously, as always personality comes into play. IMO its best to wait and get a dinky little tank for your shrimps or something to that effect.

[krisco]

Either way i can say this......

I never saw my dwarfs eat a shrimp. I'm not really sure if they did. However, I did notice odd behavior. The dwarfs spent their first few days at the top of the tank as per the norm. I have a big piece of driftwood on the left, with a small one next to it. When algenco sent the shrimp, it came with java moss. So i postioned the moss in between those pieces which are only about an inch apart. It was a perfect fit, course, giving the shrimp a hiding place.

Well, after about a week, the dwarfs stopped hanging at the top and begun hanging out in the driftwood right beside the java moss.

Of course, when the shrimp entered the aquarium, they scattered, and inevitably ended up inside the nooks of the driftwood or in the java moss.

Even at feeding time, the dwarfs did not have much interst in the typical food. I barely saw a shrimp, and even in fact thought that most had perished or been eaten.

Now, a week after moving the dwarfs, I see shrimp everywhere. The climb the back wall, swim through the water. Frolick around.

I do believe they feel safer, and that with the threat removed, they are as happy as they can be.

So i am happy with my movement and will keep it that way. Especially now with the guppy fry in there. I do appreciate the differing opinions, and am glad that we have a forum that can allow the voices to be heard.

[Pr0eve]

My interest is the shrimp, i voiced my opinion and sited my sources, i dont see what you are getting all up in arms about. Just because i disagreed with you. Its a forum.
If the fish will eat anything they can fit in their mouth then why recommend putting them into the tank with them? Even if you didnt care about the shrimp, theyre still $1 a pop if you are lucky.

When you dont have an option, im all for giving them a lot of places to hide and hoping, but putting things that can easily eaten by other things into one tank when you dont have to...?

In my ten gallon a blackskirt thats smaller than a gourami ate off at least 20 shrimp, the other black skirts ignored them completely. And if you dont think i have enough hiding places, literally 50% of the voume of the aquarium is java moss.

The fish sat at the edge of the moss not moving, and when shrimps get to the end of a strand of moss, he plucked them off, very easily. And if you look you will see black skirts have small mouths as well. And im talking about full size females, around an inch in size, the BS was a little under 2"

Obviously, as always personality comes into play. IMO its best to wait and get a dinky little tank for your shrimps or something to that effect.

first off your comparing a black skirt behaver to a Dwarf behaver. BS are not shrimp friendly, dwarf are. 2nd you attack what I said, I did not attack what you'd said so the one that may have their panties in a bouch may be you. I was only offering what I was able to do. take the info or not.. you do not have to dis some one for what they have done... and my shrimp do play around in the tank...but I do not have any BS in there with them.. BS and dwarf are not even in the same family of fish.. and I have spent over 75$ on shrimp, do you really think I may want them to turn into food?

damn spendy lunch huh? what happen to the friendly forum this once was???

[Algenco]

Ok, I have raised several thousand cherries and thrown them in every tank I have (except 2 fry tanks). I've put them in with Angels , Rams , celestial pearl danios , white clouds , guppies, etc
What I have observed is if there is sufficient cover enough survive to sustain the population , BUT , the majority of the babies will be eaten by even the very small fish.
Newly hatched cherries are only about this _ big.
If you want to breed cherries and possibly sell them someday then you want a species only tank , no fish!

If you just want some in your tanks , provide lots of hiding places and they will survive, even my adult Angels can't wipe them out

[MeganL3985]

The way it seems to me is that it just boils down to your indiviual fish and the hiding spaces you have provided for the shrimp. Obviously nobody can be right or wrong, b/c you cannot clump one fish behavior with another. They have different personalities from what I have witnessed.

So I think its just everyone needs to either agree to disagree.....or just agree on the fact that its a toss up pretty much any time you put a shrimp in a tank of fish.

[Wild Turkey]

first off your comparing a black skirt behaver to a Dwarf behaver. BS are not shrimp friendly, dwarf are. 2nd you attack what I said, I did not attack what you'd said so the one that may have their panties in a bouch may be you. I was only offering what I was able to do. take the info or not.. you do not have to dis some one for what they have done... and my shrimp do play around in the tank...but I do not have any BS in there with them.. BS and dwarf are not even in the same family of fish.. and I have spent over 75$ on shrimp, do you really think I may want them to turn into food?

damn spendy lunch huh? what happen to the friendly forum this once was???

You are the only one being non-friendly. What you seem to think i did to your post, is exactly what you did. I didnt compare BS to DG only their size, and since the behavior displayed by the BS when it was hunting the shrimp is the same behavior the poster was describing in his DG, it is very relevant. Notice how every other sentence in your posts is "you" or "your", thats because you are the one with ur panties in a twist, when i disagree with people, i choose my words because its not that i have something against you, just disagreeing. Its forum. Get over it, then have a nice day :thumb:


"....or just agree on the fact that its a toss up pretty much any time you put a shrimp in a tank of fish."

AGREED, thats the point im trying to make.