RTR, I noticed that you seem to have a lot of knowledge and experience with fan feeder shrimp (atya) like bamboo and vampire shrimp.
I tried my hand at a couple bamboo shrimp and one vampire shrimp with no success. I was concerned about these shrimp getting enough to eat in my planted tank (10g, mature fine gravel substrate, planted, shared only with one male betta at the time). But I was also concerned about nitrates rising from uneaten food. These guys aren't the most efficient eaters.
None of the lasted more than a month. I noticed that a couple of them molted pretty quickly, and in fact, the vampire shrimp apparently died from an unsuccessful molt. The longest lived one molted successfully within a couple weeks of introduction to the tank, and he eventually died by escaping the tank entirely.. he crawled into my sink drain and was there for over a day and a half. I was able to pull him out and reintroduce, but he died a few days later (understandably).
Could there be something in my tank that is forcing these molts and killing my shrimp? I've kept PH at around 6.6 to 6.8 and acclimated each shrimp very slowly to water parameters by a slow drip water mixing process to their bag water. Ammonia, nitrites have always been zero, though through feeding I was concerned about fluctuating nitrates. I normally don't measure KH, but our local muni water is moderately soft at most. Temperature was kept at 78-80F. Now that I reliably keep nitrate levels to 10-20ppm or less, I've considered trying it again.
Nobody I know has had longterm success with these critters. In fact, the LFS has stopped carrying them altogether, presumably from unhappy customers.
I think this type of shrimp is very cool and fun to watch, though they are apparently not easy to keep.
TIA,
Dave
I tried my hand at a couple bamboo shrimp and one vampire shrimp with no success. I was concerned about these shrimp getting enough to eat in my planted tank (10g, mature fine gravel substrate, planted, shared only with one male betta at the time). But I was also concerned about nitrates rising from uneaten food. These guys aren't the most efficient eaters.
None of the lasted more than a month. I noticed that a couple of them molted pretty quickly, and in fact, the vampire shrimp apparently died from an unsuccessful molt. The longest lived one molted successfully within a couple weeks of introduction to the tank, and he eventually died by escaping the tank entirely.. he crawled into my sink drain and was there for over a day and a half. I was able to pull him out and reintroduce, but he died a few days later (understandably).
Could there be something in my tank that is forcing these molts and killing my shrimp? I've kept PH at around 6.6 to 6.8 and acclimated each shrimp very slowly to water parameters by a slow drip water mixing process to their bag water. Ammonia, nitrites have always been zero, though through feeding I was concerned about fluctuating nitrates. I normally don't measure KH, but our local muni water is moderately soft at most. Temperature was kept at 78-80F. Now that I reliably keep nitrate levels to 10-20ppm or less, I've considered trying it again.
Nobody I know has had longterm success with these critters. In fact, the LFS has stopped carrying them altogether, presumably from unhappy customers.
I think this type of shrimp is very cool and fun to watch, though they are apparently not easy to keep.
TIA,
Dave
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