My skunk shrimp died yesterday. I have no idea why. He has been very active, even trying to clean my hand a few weeks ago when I was hand-feeding a fish. Monday night I did a 1/3 water change, but he was still happy as heck afterward. Salinity was 1.022 and I used the proper amount of water conditioner. No, I don't have an RO/DI unit yet, but still - this was a pretty hardy shrimp. None of the other animals had any problems.
There are two peppermint shrimps in there now, but the skunk tended to dominate them. There was no apparent trauma to the skunk. He was just dead. Water parameters were good. No ammonia or nitrites and a tiny, tiny nitrate reading. pH was good, too.
Anyway, he's dead and I mourn for him. So where do I go from here? I've been looking at other types of shrimp, but with three already I didn't want to overdo it. I'm thinking now of a pistol/watchman combo. Problem could be, though, that I already have a yellow headed goby and two engineer gobies. Would adding a 4th gobie cause any problems? Also, what purpose do pistol shrimp serve? I had heard that some people consider them to be nuisances. Is the noise they make annoying? I hate being annoyed; it annoys me.
Also - would a pistol shrimp be considered an "ornamental" shrimp? And should I get a cleaner wrasse or go back to another skunk? Maybe a coral banded or something?
About the only thing good about a fish dying is that it opens up some new possibilities for getting something new.
There are two peppermint shrimps in there now, but the skunk tended to dominate them. There was no apparent trauma to the skunk. He was just dead. Water parameters were good. No ammonia or nitrites and a tiny, tiny nitrate reading. pH was good, too.
Anyway, he's dead and I mourn for him. So where do I go from here? I've been looking at other types of shrimp, but with three already I didn't want to overdo it. I'm thinking now of a pistol/watchman combo. Problem could be, though, that I already have a yellow headed goby and two engineer gobies. Would adding a 4th gobie cause any problems? Also, what purpose do pistol shrimp serve? I had heard that some people consider them to be nuisances. Is the noise they make annoying? I hate being annoyed; it annoys me.
Also - would a pistol shrimp be considered an "ornamental" shrimp? And should I get a cleaner wrasse or go back to another skunk? Maybe a coral banded or something?
About the only thing good about a fish dying is that it opens up some new possibilities for getting something new.
