Disappearing Tetra Trick ... Could it be Shrimpy?

[quakermomma]

Hi, anyone have any idea where my new neon tetras are going? I have a fully cycled 29 gallon freshwater tank that is moderately planted with mid-light level plants. It has three platties, two flying foxes, one white cloud minnow (left-over cull that has hung around), and one freshwater shrimp that the lfs called a "passion shrimp", but it looks alot like pictures of amano shrimp. I added 9 neon tetras yesterday and was careful to let their bag adjust to the tank temp and then mix part of the tank water with that in the bag before releasing. All looked great and were schooling nicely. But two hours later one was missing and the shrimp was lurking behind the filter intake. I couldn't see a body anywhere. This morning there were three more missing, and now there are just three left. All the remaining ones look very healthy and I have yet to see a body.

Is it common for shrimp to go after tetras? He has never bothered my minnows before and I feed him algae wafers regularly. The shrimp is about three inches long, greyish-brown in color, has a set of long arms at the front with big pinchers, and has a long red "snout" coming from the middle of his face. Could he be some type of freshwater prawn or something? Any input would be appreciated. Those poor little neons are too expensive to keep buying for feeders!

Thanks!

-Faith

[Veneer]

Is it common for shrimp to go after tetras? He has never bothered my minnows before and I feed him algae wafers regularly. The shrimp is about three inches long, greyish-brown in color, has a set of long arms at the front with big pinchers, and has a long red "snout" coming from the middle of his face. Could he be some type of freshwater prawn or something? Any input would be appreciated. Those poor little neons are too expensive to keep buying for feeders!

Thanks!

-Faith

Your shrimp sounds like it belongs to the genus Macrobrachium, the only piscivorous FW variety commonly available in North America. The red "snout" - mostly hydrodynamic in purpose - is known as a rostrum. For a more specific ID, images would be appreciated.

[Roan Art]

I have far more success in keeping otos alive than neons. Over the past 3 months I have purchased 23 neons and 2 glo-lights. I currently have, in total: 2 neons and 2 glo-lights.

I have 8 otos out of 14 that I bought. I can account for three of the 6 oto deaths. The rest are mysterious.

I don't think Amano shrimp are killers. Ghost shrimps, now that's a different story. I've seen mine hovering over rock ledges and taking swipes at the fish going by. I've seen them crawl over an oto -- who doesn't move! -- and grab him near the head like he's going to eat. THEN the oto moves.

I've seen a shrimp floating down from the top of the tank with an eyeless oto in its claws. Did they kill the otos? I don't know. Do I think they did? Yes. Have I ever actually witnessed a ghost shrimp killing an oto? No.

I think that it's possible that my ghost shrimp offed my neons. I have no proof, however, and never saw anything. I do know that I did not find all the bodies.

[OrionGirl]

What you're describing is not an amano shrimp. Amano's have very tiny pinchers, and their body is closer to translucent than any specific color.http://a1272.g.akamai.net/7/1272/1121/20050105143236/www.liveaquaria.com/images/products/large/p_80211.jpg

[quakermomma]

Here's the best picture I could get - he's pretty busy chasing the last couple of tetras. One of them is missing part of it's tail fin. The Shrimp-prawn was fun to watch, but if he's going to make a habit of this I may be taking him back to the store ... ! What do you think he is?

Thanks!

-Faith

[Mr Fish]

Shrimp looks like a long armed prawn. Very deadly and grow quite large. They are cold-blooded killers, period. I would *be angry with the* person who sold him to you, they KNEW better. Did you get him at petco? They passed two off on me as Bamboo shrimp of all things. *What an insensitive person*, they do it on purpose you know. They don't give a *hoot* about your fish or your tank, AHHAHAAHH I hate them

(edited in italics to clean up some of the salty language used prior)

[OrionGirl]

Could have been an ignorant mistake by the LFS, but that is most definitely NOT an amano, nor is it at all safe in a community setup. You will eventually start losing larger fish to it, I'm afraid. Very cool animals, though--if you can give it a tank of it's own, probably at least a 30, you'll have a cool specimen tank.

Mr Fish--please watch your language, as this is a family site. As for mistaken identities--as a consumer, you should educate yourself rather than relying on the sellers to do the research for you. I'm sorry, but honestly, these shrimp look nothing like an amano, so had you learned to identify the shrimp before purchase, you would never have bought these animals.

[quakermomma]

Well, thank you all for the help. I googled Macrobrachium and every photo looks just like my monster. Shucks - and here I was thinking I had finally found an amano shrimp! Poor old thing. I did notice that he did a lovely job of keeping the tank snail-free though. :) But this sett\les it ... he's going back to the store first thing tomorrow - maybe even tonight! Thanks so much!

-Faith

[Veneer]

Shrimp looks like a long armed prawn. Very deadly and grow quite large. They are cold-blooded killers, period. I would *be angry with the* person who sold him to you, they KNEW better. Did you get him at petco? They passed two off on me as Bamboo shrimp of all things. *What an insensitive person*, they do it on purpose you know. They don't give a *hoot* about your fish or your tank, AHHAHAAHH I hate them

(edited in italics to clean up some of the salty language used prior)

The beauty and intelligence of these invertebrates is the primary reason I maintain aquaria.

[ParadoxLiz]

While I agree that we should be responsible for our own aquariums, I also think that if you told the LFS what you were gonna do with this shrimp (that part's important) and they sold it to you anyway without any warning about their nature, then they owe you a bunch of neons. And if they were negligent, it's just all the more reason why we need to educate ourselves - one of us ought to know what we're doing <g>

Liz

[Mr Fish]

The beauty and intelligence of these invertebrates is the primary reason I maintain aquaria. Yea, I liked the look of the two I briefly had - my beef is that these LFS jerks sell these wolves as sheep and I nearly lost a beautiful bristlenose pleco (that they sold me WITH the prawn). I tell you, I can still picture that monster shrimp closing on my pleco - if you've never seen a shrimp taking down it's prey, it's not pretty and that pleco is one of my favorite fish, as you can tell it slightly tramatized me and really angered me that they would lie and sell me this prawn as a harmless bamboo shrimp.

But yea, while I thought they were harmless I loved them and maybe wouldn't mind getting a species only tank for them some day... probably not, they get HUGE by the research I did on them...

[quakermomma]

Yes, I agree about the prawn-shrimp being a fascinating aquarium inhabitant. I was thrilled with him up until yesterday. The ways he'd find to sneak every algae pellet away from the other fishes and keep it all to himself was amazing to watch. If he would stop growing and stay this size I'd probably keep him, but I have my heart set on a peaceful community for right now, and it just isn't fair to the platties and tetras to keep getting mauled that way. I'm still kinda new to fishkeeping (only a year now) and I can't get past the, "to be a sucess all your fish have to live happily together", stage. Maybe later on I'll be up for an agressive tank and can find a way to keep one of these guys.

I'd had the prawn for about four months and he was purchased in a different city before we moved so I can't take him back to the same shop. I ended up listing him for free on craigslist and got a ton of offers (surprised me since I was honest about what kind of critter he was going to grow up to be). I'll miss him.

Just wondering ... do any of you have a recommendation for a replacement shrimp that would still be fun to watch but won't mess up my fish and plants? I've had ghost shrimp, but they don't seem to live very long in my tank.

Thanks!

-Faith

[pwrflpills]

Just wondering ... do any of you have a recommendation for a replacement shrimp that would still be fun to watch but won't mess up my fish and plants? I've had ghost shrimp, but they don't seem to live very long in my tank.

Thanks!

-Faith
I dropped 8 ghost shrimp into my 20 gal about 2 months ago and after losing 2 in one day, the remaining 6 are going strong! They're pretty fun to watch as they provide a contrast to the fish and the females get pretty big! With the number that I have, you can almost always find one or two swimming or running around doing something cool. They also put a big dent in the dark algae that had cemented itself on my substrate in just a day or two. I think that large food supply may have contributed to their survival.

Also, I've treated for fungus twice since they've been in the tank and all have survived!

One note, when you put some in, give them a while to get familiar with your tank and start moving around. The day after I put mine in I thought they had all disappeared!! I couldn't beleive it, but had assumed they had become Mollie food or something. A few days later, there they were!

[pwrflpills]

Um, update time.

I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden about 4 of my shrimp have died in the last few days. I saw one of the large females last night walking around with missing legs and she looked a bit roughed up. Could this be the Mollies doing this? Besides her I've found one head, 2 dead whole shrimp, and my inability to see more than about 2 live ones leads me to believe at least one other is gone.

After about 2 great months they're dying rapidly! One of the remaining ones is a female with eggs.

Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrite 0ppm, Nitrate 20ppm, ph 7.2.

Oh well...I guess they ARE hard to keep. :huh:

[CBTF]

i'm not sure what type of shrimp i have, but it's been VERY easy to take care of. he simply eats flakes that fall to the bottem.. i've got fish much larger than him in there and a dwarf frog, and nobody nips at him.

maybe im lucky, lol