Boraras and crystal red shrimp?

[Zante]

I have a 52 litre shrimp tank in my study, but this summer I've had some serious temperature issues, even with the fans going, and I've pretty much lost half of them. The issue is twofold: this is not an unusual summer here (Italy) so I can't write it off as an unusual heatwave, and I will be having soon a large discus tank in this same room, which is not going to help with the temperature.

So I decided to get a shoal of boraras brigittae instead. I will plant the tank quite heavily before I get them, and let the grow out before getting the fish.

Now here comes the question: chemistry-wise are the boraras going to be fine with the shrimps' water? Can I keep the maintenance as it was for them? I want to keep the surviving shrimp as far as they will go in the hopes that they will recover.

Asking here because both shrimps and fish are aquascaping favourites, so there should be plenty of people with direct experience.

 

[doylecolmdoyle]

What are your water parameters? I keep boraras with standard cherry shrimp in a blackwater tank, so fairly low PH, KH and GH and they do fine, I feel they are pretty hardy fish so you shouldnt have any issues.

 

[zozo]

I have the B. maculatus adn the R. kobutai with regular cherry shrimp.. My parameters are kH 10 , gH 7, +/- pH 8,3 this summer temps up to + 28°C and they do fine some are over 3 years old by now.. Shrimps breed like rabits, but lately noticed a decline in shrimps and a incline in ramshorn snails, i guess they are competing.

Since i keep boraras now for several years, sometimes a buy a new small batch to keep to numbers up. I learned to be very selective in the LFS and look very closely at their condition in the lfs. Don't by them when they are pale color, don't fall for the story they will color up at home. And look at their belly and overall shape. Don't buy them is they show a concave belly or a bit concave body shape. Not sure if its a sickness or a internal parasite. But pale and misshaped specimen changes are high they die within weeks.

Only buy them if they are in full ornate color with a round silvery shiny belly. That's how a healthy Boraras should look than they are pretty lively, hardy and strong little fish. That live a few years.. As said i have a few over 3 years old, no idea what their maximum lifespan is.

Top!

Already very suspicious in shape. WOrse than this definitively no go..

 

[Zante]

What are your water parameters? I keep boraras with standard cherry shrimp in a blackwater tank, so fairly low PH, KH and GH and they do fine, I feel they are pretty hardy fish so you shouldnt have any issues.

I'm using RO water remineralised with CRS specific minerals.
I'd have to check the params now but they should be around Ph 6.5 - Kh 2 - Gh 8 if my memory serves me well.

 

[Zante]

I have the B. maculatus adn the R. kobutai with regular cherry shrimp.. My parameters are kH 10 , gH 7, +/- pH 8,3 this summer temps up to + 28°C and they do fine some are over 3 years old by now.. Shrimps breed like rabits, but lately noticed a decline in shrimps and a incline in ramshorn snails, i guess they are competing.

Since i keep boraras now for several years, sometimes a buy a new small batch to keep to numbers up. I learned to be very selective in the LFS and look very closely at their condition in the lfs. Don't by them when they are pale color, don't fall for the story they will color up at home. And look at their belly and overall shape. Don't buy them is they show a concave belly or a bit concave body shape. Not sure if its a sickness or a internal parasite. But pale and misshaped specimen changes are high they die within weeks.

Only buy them if they are in full ornate color with a round silvery shiny belly. That's how a healthy Boraras should look than they are pretty lively, hardy and strong little fish. That live a few years.. As said i have a few over 3 years old, no idea what their maximum lifespan is.

Thanks for the advice, I will look out for those signs. I don't have any experience with fish this small, so any info is more than welcome.

Unfortunately my shrimps are crystal red, which are very temperature sensitive, that is why I'm looking for something else that will be happy with warmer water. Might look at red cherries in the future if I decide I want more than a species tank.
I've had red cherries even with jaguar chiclids and they were doing fine.

( yes, I know I know I was only kidding. I had some jag fry and dropped them in the shrimp tank as I had nothing ready for them, and took them out before they grew big enough to do any harm. It's still something that's impressive until it's explained )

 

[Ray_Norwich]

Hi Zante, I'm running a 50 litre dennerle tank (journal link in my signature) with a good breeding population of RCS and 15 Boraras. They get along fine with no problem. The fully grown female shrimp are actually larger than the fish. Despite their small size, they're active, inquisitive and playful. A lovely fish for the size of tank.

 

[mort]

You shouldn't have any issues as they are a blackwater species so prefer soft acidic water (very soft).

I had trouble with the heat this summer and my neo colony (just boring near wild types) that's 8 years+ has massively declined. The tank is unheated and frequently reached 28c.

 

[Zante]

Since I have people here who have boraras, so direct experience: what is their breeding rate when unaided?

Consider I come from a community tank with a self-sustaining colony of corys that were regularly breeding despite discus and tetras in the tank, discus that successfully bred in that community tank with no help, BN plecs in that tank that bred too and I suspect the rummynoses also must have bred, because by the time I dismatled it they should have all dies of old age, and I still had some.

Also I have had a couple of surprise ember tetras in my current tank with rams.

This I'm looking at making into a species tank with just boraras.

 

[doylecolmdoyle]

Personally I have never noticed my boraras breed, I have about 15 B.maculatus and 15 B.Urophthalmoides in my 12g blackwater tank, I have had the fish for a few years now and still have about 30, have not lost any of the boraras in a long long time, perhaps they have bred but I not that I have ever noticed.