miraloma

I have a cherry shrimp tank which doubles as my quarantine tank. I wanted to get some fish that will not eat my shrimp. The LFS recommended a trio of dwarf neon rainbowfish. They look nice enough but from difference sources of my reading, they _will_ eat my shrimps. In the same tank, I also have 2 platy fry that are about 1 month old. One female rainbow's even trying to go after a fry.

Does anyone know for sure whether the rainbowfish will snack on my cherry shrimp? Should I continue to keep the rainbowfish in this tank or should I move them out?

Blub

miraloma

My shrimp look very stressed out though. They used to mill about eating and swimming. Now, they are all huddling under a patch of vegetation. No one's hanging on the glass eating algae, or walking about on the gravel, etc. I suppose it's possible that they are stressed out about something else, like higher bio load.

Blub

miraloma

I've finally decided to move out my rainbow 'cause my shrimp population is dwindling. I used to have about 50 now I can barely count up to 20. I've found some dead ones but not all. Not too happy about my dead shrimp.

The rainbow are in the main tank with platys and corys. I think that's a happier arrangement for all.

Shaina

I thought dwarf neon rainbowfish were best in a shoal of 6 or more?

susitna-flower

Sorry your rainbows didn't work in with your CRS.

I have 5 in a 55 gallon tank with platties, dwarf corys and hundreds of CRS. I have lots of java moss though, maybe that makes a difference.

The rainbows don't seem to worry with the shrimp OR fry.

I started off with 25 CRS this past spring, and was concerned with die off of the original group, I lost about half of them, then their babies started reproducing, and they are just all over.

The main thing I worry about is keeping the nitrates down in this tank between 5-10, which takes quite a few water changes, at least 2 per week of 50%!

miker

Dwarf Neon Rainbows can be quite aggressive - particularly towards small fish. I've had them with Ghost Shrimp and they got along ok. Maybe this has something to do with CRS's bright color?

miraloma

I only have 2 neon rainbow and 1 boesemani so it's possible that they are aggressive 'cause they are not in schools. The tank they were all in was a 14G so I didn't think it was a good idea to get more.

My _cherry_, not CRS, are dying! I'm very sad and don't know what to do. The last time I checked my water, the nitrate was about 40. So I changed about 30% of the water. I do a water change every 7-10 days. However, I've been told not to change 50% weekly 'cause it'll put the aquarium in a mini cycle. I'm really conflicted about how frequently and how much to do my water change.

Incidentally, I have 2 shrimp tanks and shrimp in the other tank (10G) are doing just fine. I use the same water and feed them the same things and they are located right next to each other. The only difference was the fish kept with them. The 14G had the rainbow, not anymore though. The 10G has 4 harlequin rasbora. The rasboras don't seem to be bothering the shrimp at all. My cherry shrimp in the 10G are just as happy as can be. The ones in the 14G seem stressed and are dying _fast_!!!

I've made the mistake of using warm(mix of hot and cold) water when I changed the water. It appears that maybe I have copper in my water, which could explain why my shrimp are dying. I'll be doing more water changes, with cold water from now on, and see if things improve.

Again, I just don't get why one tank's thriving while the other's just spiraling down...

Blub

miraloma

Yes, I use Seachem Prime and sometimes Cycle when I put in new fish. I have 5 stalks of bamboo and some moss that came with my shrimp purchase.

Blub

Cherrry123

School

Shaina

Okay I really don't know the difference, lol. What's the difference between a shoal and a school (of fish)?

Cherrry123

Think there they same...

Firecracker

M-W.com:

Sorry, that's all I can contribute to this thread.

Cherrry123

? Confusing...

Firecracker

Just the definition of "shoal," since it was being discussed.

Shaina

According to dictionary.com:

Shoal: A school of fish.

So I guess they are the same after all, unless fish hobbyists have a more definitive definition of each term.

miker