When designing your home aquarium it is very important that you research and understand which creatures you can keep in the same tank. The last thing that you want is to invest money into creatures that bully each other or worse still that eat each other!
As soon as different species are involved then a bit of research is required. Certain pairings of shrimp, fish, and snails will live in perfect harmony with each other in your home tank whereas others will simply cause you a lot of grief. Knowing beforehand which creatures get along will save you a lot of time and money.
Here we will look at a combination of fish and shrimp to determine if they can live together in the same tank. Specifically, we will examine placing scarlet badis and shrimp together.
Can scarlet badis live with shrimp in the same tank?
Unfortunately, scarlet badis will not make for good tank mates with shrimp. This is because your shrimp will quickly and easily become a snack for your scarlet badis.
Although you can try to avoid this problem by making sure that you provide the scarlet badis with a sufficient amount of food, it is still a danger that they will get hungry and eat your shrimp.
Scarlet badis are actually recommended to be kept in a species-only tank, meaning that they are not going to make good tank mates for any other creature. They will eat anything smaller than them, such as shrimp. Anything bigger than them may quickly become bullish in nature as the scarlet badis is very timid and shy in its nature.
This means that the larger fish will consume most of the food and essentially bully your scarlet badis. They may even do this to the extent that your scarlet badis will not even attempt to compete for food. There is no good outcome of this situation.
What do scarlet badis eat?
Unfortunately, scarlet badis are well-renowned for being particularly picky eaters. Typically they will prey on smaller creatures such as shrimp, worms, and insects. They also normally prefer to eat live food over premade or packaged and formulated food.
This means that if you are only feeding your fish dried fish food then you may find that your scarlet badis are starting to eat the shrimp or smaller crustaceans in your tank.
They are also particularly prone to becoming obese and contracting diseases as a result of overconsumption. This means that you should ensure that you are only feeding them good-quality food and adjust the portion sizes according to how much food is leftover.
Can different species of shrimp live together?
Yes, you can indeed have different species of shrimp living together in the same tank. However, this does still depend on which species you want to mix. Certain pairings, such as dwarf shrimp of the same genus, should be avoided as this can cause cross-breeding.
For example, you can keep dwarf freshwater shrimp in the same tank as nerite and other snail species and a caridinia with a neocaridinia.
Although you may be ok combining these two types of shrimp you should still check how they will interact with the other inhabitants of your home aquarium.
Although one of the two types may fit well into your tank, the second type may not. Although the two types of shrimp will get along fine together they may not get along with the snails and/or fish that you already have.
Can shrimp and fish live together?
Yes, shrimp and fish can live together in the same tank. Most of the time you will find that the shrimp simply eat the food that is leftover by the fish. This will reduce the amount of pollution in your tank and help to keep it nice and clean.
However, there are exceptions to this. Although typically the shrimp will not cause your fish any problems and will not make a nuisance of themselves, you should consider the size of the shrimp in comparison to the fish in your home aquarium.
If you are adding small shrimp into a tank full of large fish then they will very quickly become dinner. However, if you only have a tank full of smaller fish, comparable in size to the shrimp, then the chance that they will get along fine is greater.
Similarly, some larger species of shrimp have been known to be carnivorous and eat smaller and slower fish. Ensuring that your tank creatures are similar in size and temperament is the best way to make sure that there are no casualties.
Are scarlet badis cichlids?
Cichlids are a type of fish in the cichlidae family. Scarlet badis is from the family badidae. However, they are often mistaken for dwarf cichlids due to their vibrant coloring and unique nature.
Conclusion
Although shrimp are very docile creatures to add to your home aquarium it is very important that you fully understand how they will interact and live with the other creatures already in your tank.
If you are adding small shrimp into a tank with scarlet badis then it is very likely that they will quickly become a meal for these fish. In this case, it would simply be a waste of time, money and effort to attempt to keep small shrimp with scarlet badis in the same tank.
Although larger species of shrimp stand a better chance of not becoming dinner for your scarlet badis, they may still be a bad choice as a tank mate. They will certainly clean up any excess food or waste leftover by the scarlet badis, but they may also become aggressive to other fish in your tank.
Size is the most important thing to consider here. If your shrimp are a similar size to your scarlet badis then this is as close to a good pairing as you will get. The larger the difference in size between the two the more likely it is that you will run into problems placing them in the same planted tank.
