Will my fish eat my shrimp?

Almost any fish will eat a baby shrimp. The real question is whether adults survive and whether enough shrimplets make it to keep the colony going. Those are two different bars, and shops rarely separate them.

The three groups

Safe with adults and babies

Otocinclus and most snails — nerites, ramshorn, trumpet snails. They physically can't hunt shrimp. This is the only combination where a colony grows as fast as it would alone.

Safe with adults, will eat shrimplets

Small peaceful fish with small mouths: chili rasbora, ember tetra, celestial pearl danio, green neon tetra, pygmy corydoras, kuhli loach. A colony still grows in a planted tank, just slower. Give the shrimplets somewhere to hide — moss, a dense carpet, a pile of stone with small gaps — and the numbers work out.

Not worth the risk

Bettas, gouramis, angelfish, rams and other dwarf cichlids, neon tetras once they're full grown, and anything with a mouth wider than a shrimp. Some individual bettas ignore shrimp for months and then clear the tank in a week; you can't tell in advance.

Ghost shrimp are not dwarf shrimp

Ghost shrimp are sold cheaply as feeders and are often a mix of species, some of which grow large and hunt. Don't add them to a cherry shrimp colony.

Making a colony work anyway

• Start with shrimp. Let a colony establish for a couple of months before the fish arrive.
• Plant heavily. Moss is the single best shrimplet nursery. A tangle of java moss or subwassertang hides hundreds of them.
• Feed the fish properly. Well-fed fish hunt less.
• Numbers. Start with 10–15 shrimp, not 5. A bigger starting group absorbs losses and breeds sooner.
• No copper. Many fish medications contain copper, which kills invertebrates. Check the label before you treat a tank with shrimp in it.

The builder flags this automatically: add shrimp and a fish that isn't shrimp-safe, and the checks will warn you before you buy anything.

General hobby guidance, not veterinary or engineering advice. Sources disagree on specifics, so watch your own tank.