My endlers no longer cohabitating with RCS

I had popped some endlers into my RCS tank, figuring the fry had a better chance of surviving at least their first few months there. Things were going fine, or at least I thought. Everybody looked happy, lots of endler fry were being born.

Last night, my husband says to me "There seem to be a lot less shrimp in there than there used to be." I had never seen any interaction between the endlers and the shrimp and everybody else in there has been in there a while with no issues. But I took a head count and realized he was right. There was a whole lot less RCS than there had been. As I'm doing my head count, I see the largest female endler zoom after a shrimp. That shrimp got away, but it certainly gave me a start. I didn't think anything like that was going on. I can certainly understand now why she's been shooting out so many fry. She's on a high protein diet. okey:

So, last night I netted up all the endlers that I could, including the fat female, and put them all into the 46. The largest male gave me a run for my money and I had to plan a sneak attack on him this morning to catch him. I've already got endlers plus endler fry in the 46. Hopefully, I have enough java moss cover for the fry that they survive. I'll work on making that area more secure this weekend.

It's kind of disappointing that I can't use the 16 for them as well, but I love my RCS too much and never planned on them being a buffet for the endlers.

Oh well, the best laid plans, as they say. og4

 

Sorry to hear that Lynda, I was contemplating putting my endlers that I received into on of my shrimp tanks this weekend but reading this I just made up my mind that they will go into their own tank.

 

Well, I've had Endlers and RCS in my 29 gallon, heavily planted tank for over a year. I think the key thing is you needs lots of cover. Endlers are too small to eat adults, they don't mess with them. I have seen my Endlers eat little baby shrimp from time to time.

Najas is great at providing hiding places for fry and for RCS. I've got a ton of RCS living in my Najas.

 

Looks like I need some najas then..... hmmmmmmmm, wonder where I can get some.

 

I know a guy who knows a guy.

 

Me too, I know a guy who has them, do you want me to PM him for you?

 

I think I'm all set Amazon, but thanks!

Phew, finally got the last 3 fry out of the RCS tank. It's amazing how even those little fry were holding the RCS back from their normal behavior. Once the last one came out, the RCS were flying all over. It definitely made a huge difference.

 

Num num num...shrimp dinner!

 

I had about 20-30 shrimp in a 5.5 gallon at one point and threw some endlers in there to be QT'd till till I figured out where I wanted to put them long term. A week later I came back from a vacation and I found out that I was now down to 5 shrimp. All males naturally, so now I have to buy more. Apparently being fed by my friend was not enough, they decided to make up for their lack with a shrimp feast >.<

 

I really was shocked. I'd heard from many people/articles that it was a safe combo. Now, I just need to wait for my shrimp colony to build back up. Looks like I've got lots of deep red females ready to get busy.

 

This is my 29 gallon Endler/Shrimp tank. I've got a huge RCS population! Endlers should pose no threat to Adult shrimp! I've got tons of hiding places so my shrimplets do great.

 

I love your endler tank cichlidnut it's like an underwater forest

 

Well, this is not what I wanted to hear. Was thinking of getting RCS for my guppy tank. Maybe I'll just need a ton of java moss.

(2000th Post!!!)

 

I think it also depends on the size of the tank and hiding spots.

My 100 gallon community tank, I have a thriving RCS colony who are getting more brazen every single day by swimming out in the open in front all the fish. I've seen some shrimplets in the moss...

In my 10 gallon shrimp tank, I wouldn't put any fish because it is a lot smaller and not enough places for them hide and evade the fish.

 

Well the tank I'm thinking about is 55g. May work? Maybe I should test run with ghost shrimp?

 

I forgot to mention, I built up my colony first in their own shrimp tank, once I got a big enough colony I transferred them over to the community tank where they continue to breed.

 

I definitely don't have that much plant cover, which I'm sure was a factor in my situation. The endlers were even picking the shrimp off of the prefilter. That's just wrong!

 

That is just plain wrong......

I would pick my shrimps over my fish

 

And that's why all of my endlers are now living in my 46 gallon community tank, although, I should've taken the shrimp eaters and tossed them into the blood parrot tank, just to give 'em a little taste of their own medicine.

 

And that's why all of my endlers are now living in my 46 gallon community tank, although, I should've taken the shrimp eaters and tossed them into the blood parrot tank, just to give 'em a little taste of their own medicine.

Hillarious....

I was planning on putting my endlers in my shrimp tank until you posted your experience. My endlers will be going in their own tank now.

 

Yeah but like cichlidnut said, in his densely planted tank, it works beautifully. I might try it again someday after my colony beefs back up, and if I'm able to plant my tank like that.