As an aquarium keeper, have you thought about keeping shrimps and guppies together? It could be cool and awesome to keep both mixtures together in a tank because, the shrimps do help to keep the fish tank clean by eating algae, leftover foods, and dead animals and plants in the tank, thereby making the tank safe. It is very beneficial to keep them in a fish tank, such as a guppy tank, but the issue is, will guppy fish kill shrimps? In this article, we will talk about the possibilities of shrimps living together with guppies.
Do Guppies eat Shrimp? Shrimps are one of the best foods for Guppy fish, and it serves as a good source of protein for them. Guppies will kill shrimps and eat them if they have the chance to, especially smaller shrimps.
One of the main reasons why aquarists frown at the idea of keeping fish with shrimps of any kind is because they could easily be taken down by fish.
Shrimps are weak, both small and big, that’s why they are easy prey to so many aquatic animals, including fish.
Although there are only a few fish that could overlook them and mind their business, when it comes to fish like the guppies, they just love killing and harassing them.
So, if you want to keep both shrimps and guppies in one tank, then there is a high risk of losing the shrimps, maybe one after another because the guppies will be picking on them, especially when they are small.
Guppies are kind of peaceful with so many fish and some other aquarium animals, but when it comes to smaller and weaker animals they ain’t.
Guppy fish, just like so many other fish are omnivores and could eat anything including plants and animals.
In fact, they could eat anything that could fit in their mouth, including their fry ( babies), keeping shrimps with such creatures is highly dangerous.
Will Guppies Eat Baby Shrimps?
Guppies love to kill and eat shrimps, baby shrimps are far easier for them to eat, hence they could easily fit perfectly in their mouth.
One funny thing about baby shrimps and guppies is that they are far easier targets than the grown-up or adult shrimps.
Even baby guppies (fry) could easily take down and eat baby shrimps.
So, Guppies will eat baby shrimp as food because they are an easy target.
Will Guppies Eat Amano Shrimps, Ghost Shrimps, and Bamboo Shrimps?
Looking at how big these species of shrimps are, you might be wondering if they could make good tank mates with guppies, or if they could also kill them too.
Will Guppies eat Amano Shrimps? Although Amano Shrimps, Ghost Shrimps, and Bamboo Shrimps are big, guppies could still pick on them on many occasions, although they would go for smaller shrimps as an alternative.
We know that guppies could eat anything that could fit in their mouth, but having to take on a big shrimp is what they didn’t bargain for.
They could only go for these types of shrimps as an alternative, but normal, they stress themselves trying to kill and eat such big Shrimps.
They could easily do this as a group, but only one guppy fish will find it very stressful to take down a big shrimp, and so, may ignore them.
Can Shrimps and Guppies Live Together?
Knowing that shrimps are weak and easy prey to so many aquarium animals including guppy fish, you may still be wondering if they could live together with guppies.
Can Shrimps and Guppies live together? Shrimps are a favorite meal of guppies, but if a certain process is followed, they could live together in the same tank.
Although shrimps of all kinds will indeed face danger when kept with guppies, when the right process is followed, they might stand a high chance of survival living together with guppies and some other fish too.
To successfully keep guppies with shrimps, here are the simple tricks that would make them stand a chance of survival:
Having the tank planted and with hiding places: The simple trick of keeping these two different creatures together is getting their tanks heavily planted, and introducing so many good hiding places like caves, pipes, gravel, etc.
Putting all these in place is very beneficial to both the fish and the crustaceans, especially the crustaceans which are shrimps, because it will give them so many opportunities to hide from their predictors, which are the guppies, and so stay safe.
Getting the tank heavily planted will not only protect the Shrimp but also provide them with food, as they will eat decaying plants and leaves, and also provide the guppies fry with protection and food too.
So, if you must have these two creatures, then, the first step is to get a big tank that will be able to contain many plants, so that you could get it heavily planted.
Get them the best plants and avoid toxic ones.
Getting them a big tank: Getting them a big tank should be your priority so that they could have enough rooms to stay out of each other’s way, and also to contain the plants and hiding places too.
So, tank size is very important, so get them a tank depending on how many of them you want to keep.
Keep more shrimps than guppies: Limiting the number of this fish is one step closer to protecting the shrimps.
Keeping more shrimps will make them stand a chance of survival against the guppies.
Not that they could fight nor attack the fish, but they will have more chances of existence.
Keeping only big Shrimps: As I stated above, bigger shrimps have more or higher chances of survival against any fish, especially small fish like the guppies because they won’t want to stress themselves trying to get a big shrimp down.
Although they could still eat big shrimps, the chances are low, unless they don’t have any other alternative.
A small fish like guppies can not kill big shrimp unless it is very hungry or they attack in a group.
So the best is to keep big shrimps with a few guppies and they will be okay together.
Although they will be okay with big Shrimps, but, when the shrimps have babies, those babies will face danger, unless they learn how to stay behind plants and in caves.
Introducing the Shrimps first: When you keep the shrimps first in the tank before getting the guppies, it makes a huge difference.
This difference is huge, as it will limit the chances of the fish killing them and boost their chances of survival.
This is because when they first master the tank, it could be very easy for them to hide and protect themselves when danger comes, so this could keep them alive.
Separating them: This article is all about guppies killing Shrimp and keeping them in the same tank. So when I say separating them, I mean in the same tank.
It’s possible to separate them in the same tank, but it depends on the size of the tank anyways.
To separate them, buy a tank Separator and Separate them by keeping the shrimps on one side and the guppies on another side.
I think this is the surest way to keep the shrimps safe from being killed, hurt, or bullied.
So, get a tank Separator on Amazon or any other store and keep them from each other to avoid casualties on the side of the shrimps and their babies.
Conclusion
Although many people could frown at the idea of keeping shrimps with fish like guppies because guppies will kill and eat them, with the right steps as I explained above, they will be safe.