Can Black Skirt Tetra live with Blue Bolt Shrimp?
Caution — with care
Why
- Black Skirt Tetra is not on the verified shrimp-safe list, so we will not recommend it over a breeding Blue Bolt Shrimp colony. It may well be fine — it simply has not been confirmed by a source, and an unverified guess is not worth the colony.
- Black Skirt Tetra is recorded as taking adult shrimp and is 2.5× the length of Blue Bolt Shrimp. Dense cover helps and some individuals ignore them, but expect losses.
- Black Skirt Tetra will eat Blue Bolt Shrimp shrimplets. The colony still grows if there is moss or another dense hiding place for the babies.
- Only a narrow water hardness overlap — keep both around 3–5 dGH.
Sweet spot: both do well at 70–74°F and pH 5.8–6.6 — aim there.
Side-by-side
| Black Skirt Tetra | Blue Bolt Shrimp | |
|---|---|---|
| Temperature | 70–82°F | 68–74°F |
| pH | 5.5–7.5 | 5.8–6.6 |
| Hardness (GH) | 3–15 dGH | 2–5 dGH |
| Adult size | 2.5" | 1" |
| Temperament | Semi-aggressive | Peaceful |
| Min tank | 20 gal | 5 gal |
Together, plan on at least 20 gallons.
How to make it work
- Keep a large, established shrimp colony in a heavily planted tank with moss and cover so enough survive to breed.
- Target the overlapping water-parameter range and acclimate slowly.
Sort it with: GH remineraliser
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Design a tank with Black Skirt Tetra, Blue Bolt Shrimp →Everything compatible with Black Skirt Tetra · …with Blue Bolt Shrimp