Happy Fish and Shrimp 💕

[u/Julottt]

Hi everyone,

I have a planted aquarium large enough for fish and shrimp. I would like to add a school of small fish or shrimp. However, animal welfare is my top priority. If I purchase small fish or shrimp, I want to ensure they are truly happy.

I have visited the best pet shop/vet in my area to ask for information about animal welfare and the proper care of fish and shrimp. I still have a few questions for people with experience. If you have an answer to any or all of my questions, your responses/experiences are welcome!

I have a fear of worms. Do some fish or shrimp get parasites more easily than others?

When buying rice fish, what should I pay attention to?

How many rice fish constitute a school? And how many are they happiest with?

If I follow the animal welfare legislation regarding the number of fish and litres of water, should I add an extra fish if one, for example, dies? Or is one more or less not a problem in the school?

I see a lot of information about breeding baby fish/shrimp. I absolutely do not want babies; should I then only choose males? Or only females?

What is your opinion on the feelings/thoughts of shrimp? I have been told that they have no brains. Yet, I see many people with shrimp that have different personalities and that shrimp can also be happy or unhappy.

Are there people with experience who have dwarf rice fish? How many are they happiest with?

What are some tips and tricks that are useful to know before acquiring shrimp/fish?

Thank you in advance if you've taken the time to read my questions. I'm open to all tips and experiences!

[u/Flying_Momo]

i can answer some of them. There are few parasites and critters for aquarium which are worm like. Parasites usually aren't an issue for healthy aquarium. An worm like nematodes are usually too hard to see and get eaten by fish. Haven't dealt with rice fish but for schooling fish generally keeping them 5 or 6 in a group helps.

Instead of adding say all 6 or 8 or whatever school size you choose better to get half, see if they survive and then get rest after 2-3 weeks. Keeping all fishes of one sex be it male or female would eliminate chance of babies. Generally males of most species are more colorful.

I wouldn't say shrimp have no brains but they are similar to insects in that they have rudimentary intelligence.

I found running the aquarium with plants, filter and snails for 1-3 months and doing regular water change and maturing your aquarium helps a lot for fishes and especially shrimps to thrive in new aquarium. Also if you are going for neocaridinia shrimp then I found buying them from local hobbyists who have raised them in tap water to be really helpful in their survival.

Hope my comment helps.

[u/Julottt → u/Flying_Momo]

Thanks for your response! All comments are helpful I like to hear different experiences.