How should I introduce Cherry Shrimps to a tank with a Betta

I just received my Cherry Shrimp by mail and I’m stuck. The tank I’m putting them in is a 10 gallon tank with Amazon Frogbits, Cholla wood, moss balls, fake grass carpet, sponge filter. The thing is that a betta lives in the tank already and I’m scared if add them, the betta is gonna have crunchy treats How should I introduce the shrimps to the tank?

 

Greetings, Each Betta is different. Some will hunt down anything they see and some are very passive. Tips to increase chances of success are taking the Betta out of the tank temporarily and changing up the decor while adding the shrimp so the Betta would need to reestablish its territory. You could add the Cherry Shrimp while the lights are off, but the Betta would eventually find them one way or another. Do you have a seperate tank in case something happens?

 

Greetings, Each Betta is different. Some will hunt down anything they see and some are very passive. Tips to increase chances of success are taking the Betta out of the tank temporarily and changing up the decor while adding the shrimp so the Betta would need to reestablish its territory. You could add the Cherry Shrimp while the lights are off, but the Betta would eventually find them one way or another. Do you have a seperate tank in case something happens?

I have a community tank with live bearers mainly

 

I have a community tank with live bearers mainly

What type of livebearers? Is the tank heavily planted and/or decorated?

 

Hah, "crunchy treats!"

Anyhow, all Bettas are different, although most (especially females, in my experience) can be aggressive if they've been kept alone for awhile. The best way to avoid stressing out them all is to completely change the "scenery". Keep the substrate where it is (you don't want to disturb the bacteria), but move the filter, heater, plants, decor...everything, just until the tank looks completely different! Afterwards, add the Shrimp first. If you want to be extra careful, keep the Betta in a hospital tank until a week flies by. All of this will ensure that he/she doesn't feel that the entire tank belongs to them, whilst allowing the shrimp to get comfortable

 

What type of livebearers? Is the tank heavily planted and/or decorated?

Somewhat yes. There caves and long plants with gentle water flow. Mainly Mollies, platys, guppys

 

I would follow JustAFishServant's advice for introducing the Shrimp to your Betta tank, and it is questionable whether the Shrimp would get eaten by the Livebearers in your other tank in case the Betta goes carnivore. I have seen setups work with livebearers and Shrimp, but the tanks were densely planted for the shrimp to hide if they were harassed.

 

I had a betta at one point and when I added cherry shrimp the betta chased them as they fell down but he didn’t even try to eat them. Like everyone else said, every betta is different, and mine was already kept with other fish so I knew he was relatively peaceful. I don’t know what you’ve already decided but I would recommend to try adding just one or two shrimp to see how your betta reacts. It is possible there will be no problem.