Amano Shrimp Problem!

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MyShrimpDied

Freddie Freeloader
Jun 2, 2004
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Hey guys, glad to see the boards are back.

Anyways, a few days ago I picked up 4 caridina japonica from my LFS. That day when I acclimated and put them in the tank, they went into hiding towards the back behind the heater, I assumed they were just scared and would get used to their surroundings. The next morning when I checked on them I could only find 2, My guess was the other 2 had died somehow. The 2 that I could find continued to hide behind the heater not really doing much of anything.

Then yesterday, one of them molted and got a little bit more active, and the strange thing is, once he molted I could find all 4 of the shrimp that I purchased, weird. But now all of them are still hiding and it sucks because I was counting on these guys to help me with the a;gae problem that's been choking my plants.

I used to have a ghost shrimp in the tank which had been eating my Glow Light Tetras (I had no idea about it). Could it be that the glow lights see any shrimp as a threat and will attack it? Any info on keeping Amano shrimps happy would be helpfull.

~ MyShrimpDied
 

johnnyxxl

fishy friend of many
Mar 1, 2004
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I have never seen any of the shrimp in FW get large enough to attack tetras or any other fish but I would suspect that it is more than possible. I wish I could find Amano shrimp around here. The only ones here are either SW or ghost shrimp.
 

anonapersona

Reads a lot, knows a little
Mar 7, 2003
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Molt to grow

The shrimp are probably busy eating, as they grow they have to molt, so the fact that one did already is a good sign. They must hide when they are molting, they are so tender and tasty then.

If your shrimp is eating fish, then it is not a ghost shrimp. Occasionally I've read of freshwater prawns being sold as ghost shrimp, but they get big and have claws.

search here for "shrimp eating fish" thread.
 

happychem

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Dec 9, 2003
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I had a ghost shrimp once that would attack my cories over food. When I'd drop a shrimp pellet into the tank, if the ghost shrimp found it, he'd thrash at the cories with his tiny claws. I don't think he ever harmed them, but he did manage to chase them away.
 

cdawson

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Jan 6, 2003
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MyShrimpDied said:
Hey guys, glad to see the boards are back.

Anyways, a few days ago I picked up 4 caridina japonica from my LFS. That day when I acclimated and put them in the tank, they went into hiding towards the back behind the heater, I assumed they were just scared and would get used to their surroundings. The next morning when I checked on them I could only find 2, My guess was the other 2 had died somehow. The 2 that I could find continued to hide behind the heater not really doing much of anything.

Then yesterday, one of them molted and got a little bit more active, and the strange thing is, once he molted I could find all 4 of the shrimp that I purchased, weird. But now all of them are still hiding and it sucks because I was counting on these guys to help me with the a;gae problem that's been choking my plants.

I used to have a ghost shrimp in the tank which had been eating my Glow Light Tetras (I had no idea about it). Could it be that the glow lights see any shrimp as a threat and will attack it? Any info on keeping Amano shrimps happy would be helpfull.

~ MyShrimpDied
the shrimp was not eating your tetras, shrimp are neither fast enough or strong enough to take down a healthy tetra. Chances are the tetra died and the shrimp was just doing it's job.

It is possible however that when the shrimp are molting that the tetras are taking this opportunity to pick on them while their shells are soft and weak. My angels and dwarfs frequently do this in my community planted tank. If the tank is large enough (over 40 gallons), stock the tank to proper japonica stocking levels (1 per gallon or every 2 gallons, depending on stocking levels) and they'll breed enough to pretty much sustain a colony.
 

tomm10

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Oct 15, 2003
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I agree with cdawson on this. I doubt it was your shrimp causing problems. My shrimp (ghosts and amanos) are greedy little buggers and will steal whatever they can but even the tiny pygmy cories scare them off.

As far as hiding goes, when shrimp are molting they hide...well. There are times when I question how many shrimp I have left because one or two are molting. Adding a few drops of marine iodine to the water at changes seems to help the molting process along. The life span of my shrimp has increased dramatically since I started doing this.

Tom
 
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