Ghost shrimp and Betta

[robin]

Hi. After my old Betta died, I decided to leave the tank Betta-less
for a while. In the interim I got some ghost shrimp, because they
looked interesting. This morning I got another betta. However, I've
noticed the ghost shrimp being very agressive with the Betta - grabbing
onto his fins with their claws. He swims around violently for awhile
and eventually shakes them off. My question is, should I get rid of
the ghost shrimp, or just trust that the betta can take care of
himself?

I've put the shrimp in a small bowl by themselves for now, until I
decide what to do, but I don't want to keep them in there permanently.

Thanks,

-RN

[IDzine01]

Hmm. I've had my bettas attack my ghost shrimp before but never the
other way around.

http://www.nippyfish.net/Flashshrimp.jpg

Perhaps they feel threatened. Are there places for the shrimp to hide
and enough room for everyone to keep away from each other?

[John D. Goulden]

> Hi. After my old Betta died, I decided to leave the tank Betta-less
> for a while. In the interim I got some ghost shrimp, because they
> looked interesting. This morning I got another betta. However, I've
> noticed the ghost shrimp being very agressive with the Betta - grabbing
> onto his fins with their claws. He swims around violently for awhile
> and eventually shakes them off. My question is, should I get rid of
> the ghost shrimp, or just trust that the betta can take care of
> himself?

Interesting. I've had ghost shrimp attack and kill small mollies and guppies
before, but never anything as large as a betta. We tried the ghost-shrimp +
betta combo a few times when we were first starting out with aquaria, but
both times the betta developed quite an appetite for shrimp and we
eventually lost them all (the shrimp, that is). One of those bettas was an
avid snail eater as well, which is unusual for bettas, so our experience may
not be typical. Perhaps the snail-eater was a French betta :)

--
John Goulden

[Tynk]

Here's the thing with Ghost shrimp.
When small, they are considerd food to Bettas.
When they get larger, they can become the predator and go after or down
right snatch a fish that was swimming by. I've seen more than once.
Your Shrimp are trying going fishing and sounds like they caught one!
Size doesn't matter much, becuase if they can hold onto the fish, they
start eating right away...the fish still being alive too!
Being that the Shrimp as already been able to catch your boy, I'd keep
them out.
Are these shrimps special to you? If not,and you have larger fish that
you can feed them to, they'd love ya for it.Or you could kill the
shrimp and feed it to the Betta, or find them a new tank to live in. A
bowl isn't going to be fine for the Shrimp, so you've got to do
something with them ASAP. = )