Added New Amano And Betta Is Chasing It

HI everyone,

About 15 minutes ago I added an Amano shrimp to my 5 gallon Walstad tank that houses a female plakat Betta and some ramshorn snails. The Betta has been chasing the new Amano quite aggressively, but the shrimp always jets away, and doesn't appear to be injured. After the shrimp evades her she loses interest until she notices it again. Do you guys think that she will just lose interest once the Amano has been in with her for a little while? I know that Bettas are usually thought to be more aggressive than they really are.

Edit: the shrimp is about 2/3 the length of her body right now, and she's fully grown but on the small side at a little less than 2" not including her caudal fin. I'd say the shrimp is slightly longer than 1"

 

Mine did that at first too. I always recommend to keep the lights off for the day after adding shrimp. It lets them acclimate to their surroundings without being pestered every few minutes. My bettas soon realize that they can't catch it. My amano do hide quite a lot when with fish so make sure there are areas they can get into for respite.

 

Sounds to me your betts is going to continue to hunt it till it gets its snack. Also bein a plakat its going to be quicker than a longer finned betta so eventually it will catch it. A shrimp that has to hide its entire life isn't the way it should be. I would rehome the Amano personally. Just my opinion.

 

Ok, hopefully my experience is that the Betta just loses interest. Tbh I'd sooner rehome the Betta than the shrimp

 

Ok, hopefully my experience is that the Betta just loses interest. Tbh I'd sooner rehome the Betta than the shrimp

That's my experience too. I have had amano in all my tanks. Never have I lost one. They seem to be fine with a lot of fish that cherries aren't. Mine also don't have to hide all day. They hide quite a bit more than they would in a shrimp tank, but they are still out the majority of the time. They hide most in my larger community tank - they aren't really supposed to be in there. They were just to small/fast to catch. Either way for me at least they seem robust and fast enough for fish that aren't too big. Even so I'm sure it doesn't work out for many people. If things go sideways I'd also advise to rehome or rehouse one or the other - my males or females never got them though.

 

How planted is your tank? Maybe if it has enough cover the betta won't bother it after awhile?

 

The betta will likely kill the Amano at some point.

I had a betta that hated ghost shrimp. I'd buy more, only to find parts and pieces of shrimp all over the gravel. I eventually came home from work to find a ghost shrimp in the mouth of my betta, and I stopped buying them at that point...

That is a behavior I've had issues trying to get my betta to get over. If a betta is territorial, it will likely never lose that.

 

I guess I'm lucky- my girl doesn't bother her tank mates.

 

Thanks everyone for all the input. Seven hours of lights out and the shrimp is doing fine, and I think my Betta might be losing interest. The tank is also quite heavily planted (and getting heavier as I continue propogating) so the shrimp can get away very easily. I think I'll also add a little rock pile with some channels large enough for him to hide in when he moults. He did find a nice little niche inside my driftwood that I saw him in earlier too. Now I just hope he can get to be a little more outgoing. I think my Betta will get more tolerant as time goes on. She was aggressive with snails when I first added them too. Now she just stares at them for a second and then moves on, hahaha.

I attached a photo of the shrimp hiding in some rotala. Let me know if you can find him

 

Thanks everyone for all the input. Seven hours of lights out and the shrimp is doing fine, and I think my Betta might be losing interest. The tank is also quite heavily planted (and getting heavier as I continue propogating) so the shrimp can get away very easily. I think I'll also add a little rock pile with some channels large enough for him to hide in when he moults. He did find a nice little niche inside my driftwood that I saw him in earlier too. Now I just hope he can get to be a little more outgoing. I think my Betta will get more tolerant as time goes on. She was aggressive with snails when I first added them too. Now she just stares at them for a second and then moves on, hahaha.

I attached a photo of the shrimp hiding in some rotala. Let me know if you can find him View attachment 572687

I found him. He looks quite like a she It's bigger than I was expecting initially too

 

I found him. He looks quite like a she It's bigger than I was expecting initially too

Haha, good work! Good to know as far at it looking like a female. I wasn't sure of the gender, but the guy at my LFS thought it was a male. Do you look for the saddle the same way you would in n. Davidi?

Quick update: the betta has totally lost interest in the shrimp, and all is well

 

Haha, good work! Good to know as far at it looking like a female. I wasn't sure of the gender, but the guy at my LFS thought it was a male. Do you look for the saddle the same way you would in n. Davidi?

Quick update: the betta has totally lost interest in the shrimp, and all is well

Checking the saddle is one way. But the quickest way just at a glance is to look at the dots on its side. The males will have even dots while the females will have dashes. Some dashes are quite long and thin, my amanos are shorter and thicker than some. I'd take what I say with a grain of salt though as my phone is cracked. It could very well be a he.

 

You are very fortunate. I had an amano for about two years with one betta, that betta died, added a new betta, and had the amano for another forty seconds. :\
Glad you had better luck than me!

 

You are very fortunate. I had an amano for about two years with one betta, that betta died, added a new betta, and had the amano for another forty seconds. :\
Glad you had better luck than me!

Haha, thanks. I've become really interested in shrimp and would probably be looking to trade in the Betta at the LFS if it hadn't become a family pet, so I'm glad it's working out. Currently I'm wanting to do some brigittae rasboras and maybe another amano too.