It’s a 50/50 chance with Bettas.
some will eat them all as fast as possible.
Some won’t
If you do try just get cheap culls to start with and see what happens.
I’ve added shrimp after a betta and this is what i have learned:
1. Your betta will likely eat all your shrimp if you add them as is. The betta will see them as entering his territory and attack them.
2. I avoided this by taking the betta out, rearranging the tank (emphasize cover/hidey holes for shrimp) and adding some more leafy plants for hiding spots. Then, add the shrimp and let them get situated/comfortable so they find good cover if needed.
3. Then add your betta and turn off the lights for the day. The following day, your betta won’t see the tank as the home it’s familiar with. This increases the chance they won’t eat the shrimp.
Tricking your betta sounds dumb but it worked for me perfectly and is definitely worth a try. I had a very aggressive betta that ate all 6 of my shrimp when I first experimented. I decided to try again with the method above and he didn’t not care afterward!
5g is perfectly fine for 20-50 shrimp, but in my experience, bettas will eat them. You have lots of plants in your tank though, so the shrimp might be able to hide. If your fish is peaceful, it could work.
Although, getting some colourful snails (like red ramshorns) would be safer (For the snails) and still add colour!
It depends on the temperament of your betta, he’ll either be chill and leave the shrimp alone or he’ll kill and eat every single one, it’s a coin toss.
They’ll likely be eaten, if not right away, when hunger/opportunity strike.
Also smell/taste predator in water so stress hide, not seeing as much as species only tank, defeating your purpose.
i had like 20 with my betta for like 6 month before it passed away. he was lazy af, so it worked out well for me. i started by testing him out with ghost shrimp simply because they were cheaper. moved to cherry shrimp after i found out he was lazy
What a beautiful tank! There are a lot of plants so you could try. Maybe get some culls/wild types since they will have better camouflage and will be less easy for the betta to find. That and they will be cheaper so it will be less of a strain on your wallet if the betta makes them all into snacks. I really like my amano shrimp too. They would be hard for the betta to spot. They are quite large and a bit more fiesty than neocaridina as well which could make them a good option. They won’t breed in freshwater though.
Like other people mentioned, it’s a 50/50. If you have an extra tank juuust incase the betta isn’t too happy with the new roommates lol.
From my experience with the 2 bettas I have, one is more aggressive than the other so I naturally assumed the aggressive one would chase my endler guppies but I was wrong!! The “calm” one ended up being the aggressor towards the fry 😅
Have a back up tank juust incase lol
Our Betta in a 5 gallon loved them! Most expensive snack ever. Our other Betta in a 20 loved them too, but only with his eyes. They have cohabited peacefully for 8 months with no issues.
I think everyone can agree that the best way to do it, if you’re willing to risk it, is to:
A. Put the shrimp in before the betta so they can scope out the tank and find places to hide.
B. Take out the betta, make some changes to the layout of the tank, add the shrimp, wait a while, and then add the betta.
I think the key is to make the betta as less territorial as possible. They’re probably not eating the shrimp cause they’re hungry. It’s cause they think the shrimp are a threat to their food source, which the betta thinks is limited
Each Betta will be different. I have kept amanos with my Bettas no problem, but I only ever added cherries once and they vanished. Though I think if you had a way to introduce the shrimp to the tank without the Betta they may stand a much better chance because they’ll know how to get away in times of need.
Though I honestly don’t think that there are many places a shrimp can hide from a beta in many tanks, I had a heavily planted soil tank. With a single large chunk of driftwood in the center. I once watched my Betta dive face first into the soil, I had no idea where he thought he was going. I watched his whole body disappear into the substrate. And about 5 or so minutes later I saw him come back out from under the driftwood, so somehow he had discovered he could tunnel his way under the driftwood. And it wasn’t a small area he was covering, he traveled at least 6-8 inches under soil to get into the driftwood
People will say no, but with that much plant and hard scape, your shrimp will have no trouble evading the fish. You will lose some now and then, but their odds are good in that tank.
One betta did great and gets along well with my shrimp for months now (after a couple of days of testing boundaries and maybe trying a snack bite or two)… one Betta ate all of them in one day and I have never been brave enough to try again! Lol edited to say I think it looks like you have tons of hiding spots for shrimp and that may be exactly what they need!
I would raise the shrimp separately at first. The care is harder than fish in some ways. Also it doesn’t look like enough hiding spots for shrimp (from a Betta) but I’ve never kept them together before so idk
I tried the same thing, with a slightly less planted tank. And the shrimps that didn’t immediately get slaughtered when introduced were dead within a day. It’s 50/50. Try feeding your betta first, turn off the lights, and be sure to drop in the shill away from the fish. Other than that, it’s up to shrimp jesus
I’ve got Cherry Shrimp in my betta tank and they do great, but it is a crapshoot whether they’ll get along or not. If you’re in the continental-US and you want to privately message me I’ll mail you some Cherry Shrimp if you tell me how many make it to you alive and healthy. I’ve got a few breeding tanks going and I’d like to know my ratio of DOAs before I start shipping them around to other people.
Add some full grown amanos/fan/vampire/bamboo shrimp instead of cherries.
I also get the most elaborate large finned/tailed bettas because they look amazing but are slow as hell. They can’t even catch my minnows/guppies/mollys/platys (or their fry).. and certainly can’t catch shrimp. It’s also so expensive for them to swim, they just hang out near the surface and chill and wait for pellets.
Asleep_Independent38 
It’s a 50/50 chance with Bettas.
some will eat them all as fast as possible.
Some won’t
If you do try just get cheap culls to start with and see what happens.
I’ve added shrimp after a betta and this is what i have learned:
1. Your betta will likely eat all your shrimp if you add them as is. The betta will see them as entering his territory and attack them.
2. I avoided this by taking the betta out, rearranging the tank (emphasize cover/hidey holes for shrimp) and adding some more leafy plants for hiding spots. Then, add the shrimp and let them get situated/comfortable so they find good cover if needed.
3. Then add your betta and turn off the lights for the day. The following day, your betta won’t see the tank as the home it’s familiar with. This increases the chance they won’t eat the shrimp.
Tricking your betta sounds dumb but it worked for me perfectly and is definitely worth a try. I had a very aggressive betta that ate all 6 of my shrimp when I first experimented. I decided to try again with the method above and he didn’t not care afterward!
I tried recently and it ended up with my betta eating almost all of them and dying 🙁
It’s doable but stay aware of the risk of overeating.
Beautiful tank. I’m afraid I can’t add to the helpful comments but wondered if you could say where your tank is from/make? Thanks
5g is perfectly fine for 20-50 shrimp, but in my experience, bettas will eat them. You have lots of plants in your tank though, so the shrimp might be able to hide. If your fish is peaceful, it could work.
Although, getting some colourful snails (like red ramshorns) would be safer (For the snails) and still add colour!
Larger shrimp like amano, bamboo, or vampire would probably be a better fit with a Betta.
I’ve seen people have success with keeping shrimp with Betta… I’ve also seen the Betta hunt every shrimp in the tank.
It depends on the temperament of your betta, he’ll either be chill and leave the shrimp alone or he’ll kill and eat every single one, it’s a coin toss.
They’ll likely be eaten, if not right away, when hunger/opportunity strike.
Also smell/taste predator in water so stress hide, not seeing as much as species only tank, defeating your purpose.
This is beautiful
i had like 20 with my betta for like 6 month before it passed away. he was lazy af, so it worked out well for me. i started by testing him out with ghost shrimp simply because they were cheaper. moved to cherry shrimp after i found out he was lazy
What a beautiful tank! There are a lot of plants so you could try. Maybe get some culls/wild types since they will have better camouflage and will be less easy for the betta to find. That and they will be cheaper so it will be less of a strain on your wallet if the betta makes them all into snacks. I really like my amano shrimp too. They would be hard for the betta to spot. They are quite large and a bit more fiesty than neocaridina as well which could make them a good option. They won’t breed in freshwater though.
Depends on the betta. My betta leaves mine alone. Started with 5 cherries and currently in the hundreds.
Like other people mentioned, it’s a 50/50. If you have an extra tank juuust incase the betta isn’t too happy with the new roommates lol.
From my experience with the 2 bettas I have, one is more aggressive than the other so I naturally assumed the aggressive one would chase my endler guppies but I was wrong!! The “calm” one ended up being the aggressor towards the fry 😅
Have a back up tank juust incase lol
Our Betta in a 5 gallon loved them! Most expensive snack ever. Our other Betta in a 20 loved them too, but only with his eyes. They have cohabited peacefully for 8 months with no issues.
just wanna say- your tank is absolutely gorgeous!!
This tank is so beautiful
I think everyone can agree that the best way to do it, if you’re willing to risk it, is to:
A. Put the shrimp in before the betta so they can scope out the tank and find places to hide.
B. Take out the betta, make some changes to the layout of the tank, add the shrimp, wait a while, and then add the betta.
I think the key is to make the betta as less territorial as possible. They’re probably not eating the shrimp cause they’re hungry. It’s cause they think the shrimp are a threat to their food source, which the betta thinks is limited
My betta never bothers my shirmpy. I have about 30 shrimpy and keep goring
Edit: growing
Each Betta will be different. I have kept amanos with my Bettas no problem, but I only ever added cherries once and they vanished. Though I think if you had a way to introduce the shrimp to the tank without the Betta they may stand a much better chance because they’ll know how to get away in times of need.
Though I honestly don’t think that there are many places a shrimp can hide from a beta in many tanks, I had a heavily planted soil tank. With a single large chunk of driftwood in the center. I once watched my Betta dive face first into the soil, I had no idea where he thought he was going. I watched his whole body disappear into the substrate. And about 5 or so minutes later I saw him come back out from under the driftwood, so somehow he had discovered he could tunnel his way under the driftwood. And it wasn’t a small area he was covering, he traveled at least 6-8 inches under soil to get into the driftwood
People will say no, but with that much plant and hard scape, your shrimp will have no trouble evading the fish. You will lose some now and then, but their odds are good in that tank.
One betta did great and gets along well with my shrimp for months now (after a couple of days of testing boundaries and maybe trying a snack bite or two)… one Betta ate all of them in one day and I have never been brave enough to try again! Lol edited to say I think it looks like you have tons of hiding spots for shrimp and that may be exactly what they need!
You got enough advice on the shrimp here, I just want to say that is a lovely tank!
I would raise the shrimp separately at first. The care is harder than fish in some ways. Also it doesn’t look like enough hiding spots for shrimp (from a Betta) but I’ve never kept them together before so idk
Had a betta that killed 6 shrimp in one night, and she was added after the shrimp had been in there
That tank is incredible omg
It’s tanks like this that made me decide to redo my whole setup. This is really good!
Throw some cholla wood into the back of the tank for extra security. Shrimps love it and there’s 0 way for the betta to get to them in there.
I tried the same thing, with a slightly less planted tank. And the shrimps that didn’t immediately get slaughtered when introduced were dead within a day. It’s 50/50. Try feeding your betta first, turn off the lights, and be sure to drop in the shill away from the fish. Other than that, it’s up to shrimp jesus
I’ve got Cherry Shrimp in my betta tank and they do great, but it is a crapshoot whether they’ll get along or not. If you’re in the continental-US and you want to privately message me I’ll mail you some Cherry Shrimp if you tell me how many make it to you alive and healthy. I’ve got a few breeding tanks going and I’d like to know my ratio of DOAs before I start shipping them around to other people.
Shrimps should be added in every tank
You could certainly try. Your betta will decide if they’re snacks or not.
What are the floating plants :)?
Add some full grown amanos/fan/vampire/bamboo shrimp instead of cherries.
I also get the most elaborate large finned/tailed bettas because they look amazing but are slow as hell. They can’t even catch my minnows/guppies/mollys/platys (or their fry).. and certainly can’t catch shrimp. It’s also so expensive for them to swim, they just hang out near the surface and chill and wait for pellets.