Betta With Shrimp? High TDS?

[Danielj2017]

I'm a betta owner Im new to shrimp I have blue velvet shrimp 13 of them in with my betta at the moment, he hasnt done nothing to them, iv actually observed him running away from them, so does that mean they can get along?. Anyway back to shrimp, I bought them online 5 at first, 1 came dead, aclimated the 4 put them in and 1 died, after about a week the 3 where doing really good well look like it anyway, so I ended up buying ten more from somone else, they came yesterday, acclimated them and all 10 seem to be okay so far. I read some storys after and decided to buy a tds meter and iv just had a reading of nearly 440ppm, can they live like that or is that cruel and they will eventually die? Im in london and I'm using tap water that's treated with API Stress coat, tanks a 10 gallon heated, filtered and heavily plated tank with wood and my water has tanins in it from leaching wood. Looking for any advice as I dont want my shrimp to die. Thanks 

[JSak]

Hi! In regards to your first question I've read and heard mixed experiences on keeping bettas with shrimp, so the best advice I can give on that is that it seems to depend highly on the personality of the individual betta and the layout of the aquarium. For example, my dad has a heavily planted 15 or so gallon tank in his office that has a betta, some tetras, white clouds, and shrimp. The tank's been running for at least 5 years now and the shrimp are thriving and reproducing. The betta may be picking off a few babies but I've never seen him attack or hunt the shrimp and there's lots of plants for the shrimp to hide in if necessary. I'd assume if the tank has very few decorations and/or plants the betta may be more likely to attack the shrimp but that's just a guess. This is also an assumption, but I think that if a betta gets a taste for shrimp, for example if they accidentally mistake a swimming shrimp for food, they may be more likely to attack other shrimp. I've read stories of people keeping bettas with their shrimp for a while and then suddenly losing a bunch of the shrimp overnight because the betta started to attack them. The fact that yours have been okay so far is a good sign but I'd just keep an eye on how they interact.

 

As for your second question, the only time I pay attention to TDS is when I'm remineralizing RO water. TDS is a measure of the total amount of solids that're dissolved in the water, which includes GH and KH (measures of hardness in the water), but it also measures things like nitrates, ammonia, tannins (I believe?), etc. so it could be easy to think you're water is harder by reading a higher TDS if you're measuring the tank water directly. The two most important water parameters I measure (aside from temp) is GH and KH as I feel those measurements are more important to shrimps. Neocaridina like blue velvets have become very hardy in the hobby and they tend to prefer harder water so if you got them from a good source they may be able to adapt. If the shrimps are actively eating and scavenging that's a good sign they're doing well, and if they start breeding then I'd think it's safe to say your water's okay. Signs of breeding are the first thing I look for to tell me that the water parameters and the shrimp are doing okay. Hope that helps and good luck!