We have published a number of articles recently going over the popularity of shrimp increasing within the fish keeping hobby due to seeing so many questions from the community.
With pygmy corydoras also becoming more and more popular, we have also noticed a number of people asking for advice on keeping pygmy corydoras and shrimp in the same aquarium as each other.
Although you can usually keep pygmy corydoras and shrimp together with minimal issues, if you are specifically trying to breed your shrimp then going with a 1 gallon or even a 2 gallon shrimp tank will be better in almost every case.
Still, we wanted to publish this article going over keeping pygmy corydoras and shrimp in the same tank as each other to try and help as many of our readers as possible.
Will Pygmy Corydoras Eat Shrimp In Their Tank?
The first and most important question to answer is if you need to worry about your pygmy corydoras eating any of the shrimp in their tank.
The good news is that pygmy corydoras are not going to actively seek out and try to eat the shrimp in their tank.
This is due to the average, fully grown, adult pygmy corydoras usually being around 1.3 inches in length.
As most types of neocaridina shrimp are usually around the same size as a pygmy corydoras or larger and the vast majority of caridina shrimp easily being larger, the pygmy corydoras simply can’t eat them with their tiny jaws.
Now, you have to keep in mind that pygmy corydoras are fish and they will forage from time to time and although their tiny mouths cant eat an adult or even juvenile shrimp, they can usually eat the shrimplets (baby shrimp) of most shrimp types so keep that in mind.
That’s why we would always recommend that you go with a dedicated shimp tank if you are specifically wanting to breed your shrimp to keep all predators away from your shrimplets.
Will Pygmy Corydoras Harass The Shrimp In Their Tank?
Another thing to consider is if your pygmy corydoras will actually harass the shrimp in their tank and make their lives miserable.
As we briefly mentioned above, as long as your shrimp are fully grown then they shouldn’t really have much to worry about from a size perspective with most pygmy corydoras only growing to be an inch or so.
Still, in small tanks some pygmy corydoras can start to bump and try to nip any shrimp that they find in their tanks.
This is very rare and unlikely but there are documented cases where photographs and videos have been shared on social media of pygmy corydoras nipping at a shrimps antenna.
The odds of this happening in your tank are minimal though and the majority of our readers should not have problems with this, we just wanted to make you aware of the possibility.
Will Shrimp Be Stressed If They Have Schooling Pygmy Corydoras In Their Tank?
The final question we wanted to answer for you today is if the shrimp in your tank will actually be stressed by having pygmy corydoras school in their tank with them.
This is a valid concern as, depending on what type of shrimp you keep, even just a few pygmy corydoras could quickly outnumber them.
The good news is that most types of shrimp do not seem to mind this at all and they will actually often school right alongside the pygmy corydoras in their tank.
Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule with some types of shrimp being more skittish than others but, for the most part, you shouldn’t have to worry about your shrimp being stressed by the pygmy corydoras in their tank.
Even though some larger tanks can have huge pygmy corydoras schools in them that can move around rapidly, even in close proximity to your shrimp, the vast majority of shrimp just tend to go about their business and not pay much attention to the pygmy corydoras.
What Size Tank So You Need To Keep Pygmy Corydoras And Shrimp Together?
Although you can technically keep a pygmy corydoras in a tank alone, they really do well in numbers of 5 and more due to being a schooling fish.
This means that you will usually need to factor in the space requirements of all five fish but thankfully, pygmy corydoras and shrimp occupy different areas of the tank so you don’t have to drastically increase the size requirements for you tanks in most cases.
This usually means that you are able to keep five or six pygmy corydoras in a 10 gallon aquarium with most types of neocaridina shrimp (cherry shrimp, blue dream shrimp, neon yellow shrimp) with minimal issues.
In some cases, you can also keep some types of caridina shrimp in a tank with pygmy corydoras that is 10 gallons but ghost shrimp and amano shrimp are larger than most types of pygmy corydoras.
Ideally though, just for the general well being of your pygmy corydoras, we would recommend that you aim for a 20 gallon tank if possible.
What Type Of Shrimp Can I Keep With Pygmy Corydoras?
There are a wide range of different types of shrimp that you are able to keep in a tank with your pygmy corydoras and here are some of the most popular shrimp types:-
- Cherry Shrimp
- Blue Dream Shrimp
- Neon Yellow Shrimp
- Amano Shrimp
- Ghost Shrimp
We would always recommend that you choose ONE type of shrimp and stick to them rather than try to mix the shrimp up that you keep in your tank with multiple types.
This is partly due to the neocaridina shrimp often being small enough for the caridina shrimp to eat. You may worry about your pygmy cories eating your shrimp but as we covered in this article about having cherry shrimp and amano shrimp in the same tank, the amano shrimp are more likley to eat your shrimp than your fish.
You have to keep in mind that most types of neocaridina shrimp can actually cross breed with each other too. As we covered in our article on keeping neon yellow shrimp and cherry shrimp in the same tank, their offspring are almost always the brown wild type color rather than the bright colors of their parents.
This can quicky transform your tank of brightly colored shrimp into normal brown shirmp that look dull and boring.
Should You Add Shrimp Hides And Plants To The Tank?
This really depends on the type of shrimp and fish that you keep in your tank. If your shrimp are skittish or you have a lot of pygmy corydoras in your tank, then it might be a good idea to add some extra hiding places for your shrimp.
You can do this easily by adding some plants to your tank or by using shrimp hides. We would recommend that you read our article on the best plants for shrimp tanks which covers some of the best plants for providing hiding places for your shrimp.
You could also add some java moss to your aquarium which is a type of plant that is really easy to care for and it can act as a great hiding place for your shrimp.
Final Thoughts
We hope that you have enjoyed reading this article and that you have found it helpful. As we covered, there are a wide range of different types of shrimp that you can keep with your pygmy corydoras but we would always recommend that you just choose one type of shrimp to avoid any issues.
If you have any questions or comments about keeping pygmy corydoras and shrimp together, please do not hesitate to leave us a comment below. Alternatively, if you want to read more articles like this, please check out our homepage for our latest articles.
