how often will this work?

well depends where you live, im sure its never impossible but it is certainly more risky in the winter! here in Fl im positive fish can be shipped year round with a heat pack. I dont know about freezing temps however I just have no xp with it!

I've had fish shipped in the winter all the time. actually, I prefer to ship in the winter, because IME the heat packs they use to ship fish work better than the cold packs they use. I would never order during a heat wave, but I have ordered multiple times in the dead of winter- so long as you're not expecting any snow storms, I'd go ahead with it.

as for bettas and shrimp together, its really a crap shoot.

what you could do is find a breeder that would be willing to test the bettas out with the shrimp; you could try ultimatebettas forum, there are a lot of (IMO helpful) breeders there. but I doubt any betta it going to be able to coexist with a breeding colony; they'll likely think of the shrimplets as tasty snacks...

moonstream said:

but I doubt any betta it going to be able to coexist with a breeding colony; they'll likely think of the shrimplets as tasty snacks...

Click to expand...

:iagree: Your betta will appreciate that set up. Your shrimp on the other hand not so much.

Yummy, Shrimp cocktail. My betta munches up any RCS I put in his tank right away.

liek I said, dependson the betta. some may actively hunt the shrimp- adult and shrimplets alike. others may harass them, or pick off a few. most all will eat the shrimplets.

if you have the shrimp/money to spare, you could try it. ordering from aquabid is going to be a major crapshoot as to whether the fish likes shrimp snacks or not.

personally, I would choose between the shrimp and the betta. if you do cherries, introduce a few first, see how they are received, and if they do alright for like a month, then add more.

I've had mixed results with betta's and RCS, some have left the shrimp alone others hunted downed every single one in the tank. I have a shrimp only tank for breeding them, and transfer some into my community tanks once they're big enough.