PlanetCatfish.com

I was over on ebay poking around to see what they had, as I had just gotten some great little pandas from a guy on there the other day. I came across a listing for some freshwater shrimp. I've always liked the idea of having some shrimp in my tanks, but didn't know if my fish would be safe - or if THEY would be safe with my bettas.

In the listing, the guy said that they eat pond snails - oh boy! I'm having a heck of a hard time with pond snails in my two small tanks. (My fault, I let it get out of hand...)

So... I wanted to know if anyone had shrimp in their tanks. I actually want to move all the fish in my small tanks to the new tank I just set up, but until then, would they be safe with eachother in the same tank?

Here's the link to the listing, in case anyone wants to see exactly what shrimp I'm talking about. I wrote the guy and he said they *should* be fine, but I want to know for sure. I'm mostly worried about my otos which are quite small
thanks for any help!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... AQ:US:1123

didnt actually bother looking at the link but never heard that shrimp ate pond snails
i have cherry shrimp corys will not bother them. the shrimp would usually get out of the corys way if they pass by
but i think bettas would attack shrimp thinking they are live food
but i know that red clw shrimp will attack fish

With the red claw shrimp they will also eat small fish that they can catch. Which usually happens at night. It wouldn't surprise me if they try to catch the pandas. I have seen a picture of one eating a tiger barb.

Yes, it's a Macrobrachium, I can't tell which one. Although some species are said to be "fish-safe" they are as a rule NOT safe with fish, even small species like M. lanchesteri can - I know this from experience - catch and kill fish up to the size of a platy. I have not seen any Macrobrachium eat snails, but it's not impossible that they do.
I do not think I would put Macrobrachium shrimp with fish I cared about, unless they were much bigger than the shrimp.

Thanks guys!! I had a feeling... I'm pretty inexperienced with shrimp, although I'm fascinated by them. I see them in the aquarium shop all the time and would love to have them, but was always afraid they'd eat or be eaten by my fish. It's bad enough I had one of my bettas eat the oto I put in with him! That alone traumatized me! LOL!

Guess I'll be passing on these guys then. Too bad - thought I'd have a real snail assassin or 3!

Oh, and most of the pandas I have are very small, they're babies that I just got the other day, so I can definitely see these guys having a midnight buffet with them - AAACCCKKK!!!