I have a large amano shrimp also that my betta seems fine with. (Although it's only been two weeks.) The funniest thing was when they were meeting and greeting, and the betta sat there while the shrimp worked his antennae all over the betta - it looked like he was getting a professional massage. Ha.
My cherry shrimp is currently living in an enclosed fry box. I hope he grows larger... I am not even sure driftwood and plants would keep a determined betta at bay. I thought my shrimp could hide in my plant roots in and small caves, but actually the betta moves roots, pebbles, and loves to see how many tiny spaces he can get himself through. (My shrimp saved himself by climbing into the HOB filter.)
I think if you bought a larger shrimp (have you seen those neat whisker ones! Wow), or a nearly full grown amano/algae eating shrimp, you could probably do it. Depends on the betta but I do think most of them find the larger shrimp boring?
I know Amanos would be fine in my setup with a betta. But, not sure if I wanna risk the smaller Cherries and my small Black Babaulti colony. A bamboo shrimp looks pretty neat and would probably be an awesome addition to my tank, but there's really no water flowing in the main area, just a filter in the back.
You can also add a little shrimp cave on the bottom so when the cherry shrimp are molting or hatch a new batch, they have a safe place to hide. Here's an example...
Appropriate Home
Ghost Shrimp can live in fish bowls and aquariums with and without an aquarium heater at a temperature between 65 and 82 degrees F. Every few months a Ghost Shrimp molts its exoskeleton. When this happens, it's soft body is exposed, and it's vulnerable to being eaten. You can protect your Ghost Shrimp by putting a piece of a broken flower pot on the bottom of your Ghost Shrimp's home to form a small hiding place for the Shrimp.
Put the piece of the broken flower pot with it's inside facing down on the bottom of your Shrimp's home, so there is a small cave for your Shrimp to crawl under. If this cave is not big enough for the Shrimps, prop the piece of the flower pot up with a small rock or piece of gravel, or another piece of the broken flower pot. The idea is to give the Ghost Shrimp a hiding place that is too small for the other animals. So the Shrimp will be safe while it molts.
Thanks for the idea! In my paludarium (link in my sig), there is a rock structurel blocking the sponge filter from view and what I might do is cover up the holes so only the shrimps can go in and not the betta!
Dario Dario:
Pros: Small, Low-bioload, Less likely to hunt for shirmp
Cons: Hard to feed
Betta: Perfect fit for the 4g of water, pretty
Cons: Will most likely attack shirmp
Thought I've seen a lot of microworms in my tank, and maybe the Darios would be able to hunt those. That would be really cool!
