After we published our article going over keeping galaxy rasboras and shrimp in the same tank, we noticed more and more people reaching out with similar questions for various other types of rasboras too.
Due to that, we have decided to publish this article going over keeping chili rasboras, brilliant rasboras, harlequin rasboras, mosquito rasboras, and clown rasboras in the same aquarium tank as shrimp.
There are a large number of different types of rasboras that each grow to different lengths with most types of rasbora under 1.5 inches usually being fine in a shrimp tank but anything over that can cause problems.
Although the rasboras over 1.5 inches will not usually be able to eat your shrimp, they can commonly pick at them causing injury to your shrimp that could have otherwise been avoided.
Please note that we will mainly be focusing on keeping the various types of rasbora featured in the article below with adult shrimp.
Even the rasboras that are usually fine with adult shrimp may still eat baby shrimp if they are hungry so always keep that in mind. If you are wanting a tank setup that allows you to breed your shrimp with minimal issues then a planted shrimp bowl can be an excellent option.
Chili Rasbora And Shrimp!
Chili rasboras will usually do well in an aquarium with a shrimp due to the average size of an adult chili rasbora being less than an inch preventing the fish from eating the shrimp in its tank.
The small size of the chili rasboras also makes them a very courteous and skittish fish so it is unlikely that they will pay your shrimp much attention at all reducing the chance of them nipping or biting the shrimp too.
Due to chili rasboras being one of the smaller species of shrimp, you usually don’t have to worry about them eating many baby shrimp in their aquariums either.
Their small size allows baby shrimp to quickly outgrow the jaws of a chili rasbora so you can usually maintain a self sustaining shrimp colony in an aquarium with chili rasboras too with both shrimplets and adult shrimp usually being safe.
The bright colors of a chili rasbora also make them a great fish species to keep in an entry level display tank as they really do catch the eye.
This allows you to mix your chili rasboras with eye catching shrimp such as cherry shrimp, neon yellow shrimp or blue shrimp to make an excellent, cheap, beginner friendly display tank full of colorful tank mates.
Brilliant Rasbora And Shrimp!
Brilliant rasboras are one of the few types of rasbora that are actually able to eat some types of shrimp.
This is why we usually don’t recommend that you keep your shrimp in an aquarium with brilliant rasboras as the fish can hunt down your shrimp and eat them in many situations.
If you are wanting to keep shrimp then opting to keep them in their own shrimp tank is probably the best option while you keep your brilliant rasboras in their own tank.
There are a few things that you are able to do in a tank where you are keeping brilliant rasboras and shrimp in the same tank that uses the large 3.5 inch max size of the rasbora against the fish.
The cheapest and best option is to add some shrimp hide to your aquarium as they allow your shrimp to hide with ease while the hides are small enough to prevent your brilliant rasbora from being able to get into the hide to eat your shrimp.
This small change is able to drastically increase the survival rate of your shrimp when kept in an aquarium with brilliant rasboras.
Harlequin Rasbora And Shrimp!
A number of people within the fish keeping community do keep harlequin rasboras in the same tank as their shrimp but it is controversial as some harlequin rasboras can pick and nip your shrimp.
Coming in at just shy of 2 inches in maximum length, a harlequin rasbora is too small to eat most adult shrimp but the nipping can end up injuring the shrimp in the tank.
Plenty of people do keep harlequin rasboras in their tank with their shrimp with minimal issues but many people also have problems when keeping the two in the same aquarium.
This is why we would always recommend that you try to go with a different type of rasbora featured in our article that is considered a shrimp safe tank mate over the harlequin rasbora.
As we mentioned earlier in the article, both rasboras and shrimp are seeing a huge spike in their popularity within the hobby right now with many people wanting to add them to their aquariums.
The best option for many people may be to add their harlequin rasbora to an aquarium and then setup a shrimp only tank for their shrimp as shrimp tanks are very budget friendly but also keep your shrimp safe from your fish.
Clown Rasbora And Shrimp!
The majority of people who are keeping clown rasboras should not keep them in a tank with shrimp as clown rasboras can grow to a maximum length of around four inches making it very easy for them to eat most types of shrimp.
Clown rasboras will also eat baby shrimp in surprisingly large numbers given the chance too so we would always recommend you keep them in their own tank.
Even a juvenile clown rasbora can be large enough to nip and pick at the shrimp in its tank as they are one of the larger types of rasbora you are able to get.
Depending on your aquarium setup, your clown rasboras may try to hunt the shrimp in their tank if they are not fed enough food and this can quickly deplete your shrimp stocks.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over keeping various types of rasboras and shrimp in the same aquarium to an end. We only decided to publish this article as we noticed many people specifically asking about keeping these types of rasboras in a tank with shrimp so wanted to help our readers looking to keep the two as tank mates.
