Shrimp have seen a huge increase in their popularity in recent years with both the Caridina shrimp and Neocaridina shrimp genus becoming very popular within the fish keeping hobby.
In addition to that, over the last couple of months there has also been a large increase in the popularity of keeping platies within the hobby we more and more people have been asking if they should keep a platy and amano shrimp in the same tank or not.
In the majority of cases, most people should easily be able to keep both amano shrimp and platies in the same aquarium tank as each other without having many problems with a platy eating their amano shrimp.
You will have to keep in mind that a platy is large enough to eat a baby amano shrimp though so they should never be kept in a shrimp breeding tank but they are fine in a general tank together.
You also have to keep in mind that just because a platy is unlikely to be the reason your amano shrimp disappeared, there are still plenty of other fish species that can and will eat amano shrimp.
If you are keeping a community aquarium tank with multiple fish species inside of it then you definitely should check that all species of fish that you plan to keep within your community tank are safe to keep in a tank with a platy.
Will A Platy Eat An Amano Shrimp?
It is rare that a platy will eat an adult amano shrimp due to the size of the shrimp when fully grown.
A fully grown, adult amano shrimp is around two inches in length where as a fully grown adult platy is only around three inches in length making it very difficult for a platy to eat an adult amano shrimp.
Platies can and will eat baby amano shrimp though but some fish keepers use this as a method of population control in their tanks for their shrimp.
One thing to note about platies is that they are livebearers meaning that they give birth to live young rather than eat eggs.
If you are looking for symbiotic population control where the amano shrimp will eat the eggs of the fish in your aquarium then the trusty platy is a bad option due to the species not laying eggs.
If one of your amano shrimp are injured then it may attract the attention of multiple platies at the same time who may be able to break and adult amano shrimp down into smaller parts and then eat it.
For the most part though, this is definitely unlikely and in normal conditions, a platy will usually not even pay much attention to any amano shrimp in its aquarium.
Can Platies Live With Amano Shrimp?
Platies and amano shrimp are able to live in the same aquarium tank as each other with minimal problems provided that the amano shrimp are already fully grown when added to the aquarium.
The similar size of the amano shrimp and platies prevent the fish from being able to eat the amano shrimp and if the platies do come across the amano shrimp while foraging for food, they usually just ignore them and go about their business.
With the Neocaridina and Caridina shrimp genus’ being such a great option for tank clean up due to how much algae, detritus, and leftover fish food they will eat, there are a large number of people out there who keep amano shrimp in the same tank as their platies without issue.
Due to both animals also being very beginner friendly, they also make an excellent start to a shrimp safe community tank too with many beginners to the fish keeping hobby keeping the two animals together in the same tank without issue.
We have seen some people on social media claim that adult amano shrimp will attempt to attack a sick or injured platy but this is very rare and there are very few reports of this.
We would suspect that if there is any truth in this that the platy was so weak that it was resting on the substrate and the amano shrimp were able to get onto the fish and start feeding but this is far from normal.
How Can You Protect Baby Amano Shrimp From Your Platy Fish?
Adult platies can and will eat baby amano shrimp that they find in their tanks while foraging for food but there are a number of things that you are able to do to protect your baby amano shrimp.
Both shrimp tubes and ceramic hides are probably the best option as they allow the baby amano shrimp to hide without the platy fish being able to follow them.
We have a more detailed guide going over a number of different shrimp hiding places that may be useful to you if you are looking to breed your amano shrimp in the tank.
Ideally though, if you are specifically wanting to breed your amano shrimp and have a high yield of shrimplets then you should be looking to set up a totally separate, shrimp breeding tank and then you move the amano shrimp over to your community tank with your platies once they are over 1.5 inches long.
Some people will use live java moss or fish fry grass as hiding places for their baby amano shrimp in an aquarium that also contains fish that may eat them too.
This can be hit and miss if you have a hungry platy or two in your tank that are foraging for food though and we would not recommend that this type of cover is the only option you opt to use for your amano fish fry in a community tank.
Should You Keep Amano Shrimp In A Tank With Platies?
It can be a great idea to keep amano shrimp and platies in the same aquarium tank as the platies bright colors and patterns help draw the eye and offer viewing pleasure while the shrimp help to reduce the amount of tank maintenance the aquarium requires.
A huge number of people keep amano shrimp in aquariums with platies and this is only increasing with each year that goes by.
As we mentioned earlier in the article though, most people who are specifically wanting to breed their amano shrimp or setup a self-sustaining colony of amano shrimp should be using a planted shrimp bowl or a shrimp biorb with no fish in it.
This removes the risk of the fish eating large numbers of your amano shrimplets and helps increase the survival rate of the baby shrimp to make the shrimp population self sustaining.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over keeping platy and amano shrimp in the same aquarium tank to an end. We hope that we have been able to help as many of our readers as possible better identify the various options available to them as well as that in the majority of tank setups, amano shrimp and platies will make great tank mates for each other and not cause problems.
