Cherry or amano shrimp

My 40 gallon breeder is currently going through the cycling process and I am trying to plan out the stocking. Originally, I was going to have 3 pearl gourami, 15 Harlequin Rasbora, 2 Bolivians, 15 cherry shrimp, and then later one adding otocinclus if needed. When I planned this out, I knew that cherry shrimp were more likely to get eaten because of their size compared to the amanos, but I figured if I put them in way before everything else they could get a colony going so even with the ones that would get picked off I would still have a good amount of them. But, the more and more I research I just don't think its worth the risk money wise to get the cherries even with a heavily planted tank.
Does anyone have any recommendations because I genuinely am unsure of which to get.
(Also, my water is slightly hard and ph is around 7.3)

 

Amanos are hardier shrimp and are not going to get eaten as easily as cherry shrimp would. With it being heavily planted you could try cherry shrimp and see how it goes, though. They might have enough hiding places to be safe so long as the other fish don't pay them any attention.

 

Keep both..they are fun too watch. As for the cherries...create ample hiding space. Just stack some rocks..they are small and can hide easily.

 

Keep both..they are fun too watch. As for the cherries...create ample hiding space. Just stack some rocks..they are small and can hide easily.

I decided to only keep amanos, I feel like the other fish are just too big to be kept with cherry shrimp and then they would get wiped out

 

if our water level is high is good to have a lid..i have a couple of amanos commit suicide..jump out of tank...one even crawl all to the way to the kitchen...about 3 meters away and found dead there.

 

if our water level is high is good to have a lid..i have a couple of amanos commit suicide..jump out of tank...one even crawl all to the way to the kitchen...about 3 meters away and found dead there.

Theres around a 1/2 inch gap from the water line to the top, but I also have a glass lid with only 1 small opening maybe a centimeter wide

 

I've been keeping Neocaridina (different color morphs of cherry shrimp) in all my tanks. I had gourami's (honey and chocolates) and (all sorts of) rasboras in the past. I've never seen any fish of these sizes go after an adult neo. Neo's in large and heavily planted tanks can actually grow quite big; I sometimes have to look twice to see if a specimen is a male amano or a female snowball (Neocaridina cf zhangjiajiensis).

In all my (very) heavily planted tanks, shrimp populations have grown very slowly but steady; adults survive, some shrimplets do, most shrimplets no doubt serve as fishfood. I'm keeping Amano's as well; contrary to the neo's I need to buy em every once in a while if you only keep em in freshwater. So if you are concerned about your wallet, I would bet on the Neo's.

You can even put some in a large vase filled with javamoss and let nature run its course. Once shrimplets appear, put the adults in your tank with fishes (most likely your fishes will jump straight to the shrimps as they expect you to serve them food, only to become disappointed...).