# Tadpoles in Shrimp Tank



## IncogPollywog (Sep 26, 2017)

I skimmed through the forums and couldn't really find anything on this. Forgive me if I've overlooked the answer already but is it possible to house tadpoles in a ten gallon shrimp/guppy breeding tank? The PH typically stays around six and the hardness around eight. There are almond leaves and Malaysian driftwood for tannins and it's filled with Java moss and Java ferns for the guppy fry. I have a big sponge filter covering the back wall that provides filtration and the substance is just a soft sand. I'm not too concerned with diseases since I've seen people keep them in their paludariums or if the tadpoles eat the baby guppies or shrimp. At the end of the day I can just throw them in a breeder box (or boxes for the cannibalistic tadpoles) in the tank. I'm mainly concerned about how the tadpoles would handle the water quality. I figure its fine since I doubt those small cups people keep them in maintain a stable PH/hardness level but it doesn't hurt to double check.


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## Woodswalker (Dec 26, 2014)

IncogPollywog said:


> I'm not too concerned with diseases since I've seen people keep them in their paludariums


Beware the lemmings.


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## IncogPollywog (Sep 26, 2017)

Woodswalker said:


> Beware the lemmings.


To clarify the guppies and shrimp I have are not random specimens from some chain store. Both groups were bought from a reputable local breeder and were quarantined and treated separately for a little over a month. I've had them together for about a year and a half now with no signs of disease. My fault for not mentioning that in the original post. 

"not too concerned" in this case does not mean I am turning a blind eye. That would be immensely silly even if I had them by themselves in their own little cup.


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## Biome (Jun 6, 2016)

Wow, I had not thought of this before. I have a shrimp only neocaridina tank.


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## Entomologist210 (Apr 24, 2014)

I can't really see any issue with it that might cause you difficulties for either the shrimp, the fish or the tadpoles. There's always a chance that something could go wrong, but if you've seen it done successfully in other folks' tanks then go ahead and try it out. As long as you're talking dwarf shrimp and not ghost/glass shrimp. Ghost and glass shrimp can be opportunistic predators on occasion. I think you'll be ok with one note of caution: the shrimp and tadpoles come from different parts of the world and are completely different organisms. _Borrellia burgdorferi_ does not harm mice or lizards or ticks... but it causes Lyme disease in humans. There's always that "x" factor risk and up to you whether or not to take it.


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## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

I would worry more about the cannibalism, myself. My terribilis tadpoles are great roommates (unless there is a big difference in their size), but I have had issues with cohabitating other kinds of tads.

YMMV,

Mark


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## IncogPollywog (Sep 26, 2017)

Entomologist210 said:


> I can't really see any issue with it that might cause you difficulties for either the shrimp, the fish or the tadpoles. There's always a chance that something could go wrong, but if you've seen it done successfully in other folks' tanks then go ahead and try it out. As long as you're talking dwarf shrimp and not ghost/glass shrimp. Ghost and glass shrimp can be opportunistic predators on occasion. I think you'll be ok with one note of caution: the shrimp and tadpoles come from different parts of the world and are completely different organisms. _Borrellia burgdorferi_ does not harm mice or lizards or ticks... but it causes Lyme disease in humans. There's always that "x" factor risk and up to you whether or not to take it.


Yeah, I'm definitely going to have to keep an eye on them especially with the first batch just in case though that's still quite some time away since I don't even have frogs yet. Just trying to figure out how I'm going to have my setup for them when I get them and they start breeding. 



Encyclia said:


> I would worry more about the cannibalism, myself. My terribilis tadpoles are great roommates (unless there is a big difference in their size), but I have had issues with cohabitating other kinds of tads.
> 
> YMMV,
> 
> Mark


Of course! If I keep any cannibalistic species or even if it seems like the non cannibals are going after the guppy fry or baby shrimp I was thinking of just throwing a breeder box in the tank and keeping them in there. They're kept away from the shrimp and it saves me the hassle of keeping up with water changes or having to open individual cups for feeding.


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