My new shrimp adventure

C

CerenaDaft

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Oct 17, 2011
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So a month or two ago, I bought some red cherry shrimp and put them in a tank.
Good.
They didn't breed.
:(
Then I bought some snails in the tank so that they would eat the leftover food.
Good.
Then I did a water change one day, and my shrimp acted weird and just laid on the bottom of the tank. I think it was because I did not let the water conditioner sit long enough.
The snails ate all the shrimp but one.
So now I am starting with a newly cycled tank and blue pearl shrimp. I just paid for them today so they will come *hopefully* soon.
 
were the RCS fully mature and are you sure you had some of both sex? Its pretty easy to get all females because they are the ones that actually look good, the males have very little red if any on them and moreso in the form of stripes not full body coloration. Also if the RCS didnt breed its likely a problem with your water. Maybe your pH is off from the ideal, was the tank heated to about 75deg? Dechlorinator should work pretty much instantly, iv never had a problem pouring it in and pouring it immediately into my tank. Also you might have heavy metals in your water which would do that. What type of snails? Normal snails (nerite, ramshorn, mystery) will not eat a shrimp so that is really odd are you sure they did it? Shrimp will eat dead shrimp. If you had trouble with the RCS than be really careful with those blues... not as hardy.
 
Shrimp are sensitive creatures and IMO should be kept in tanks that are mature. A month or two really isn't long enough to see if they will breed, too bad you already paid for the others or I would recommend getting use to keeping shrimp with the RCS before moving on, too late though good luck.
 
Water conditioner should rid ammonia and other poisons from the water almost instantaneously. Cherry shrimp are pretty hardy as far as inverts go.

Not sure how strong blue pearl shrimp are but they *can* be okay in a new tank as long as you don't overload it. Pay careful attention to water parameters. Feed less and water change more until the tank has cycled.
 
Over feeding could be the cause. When water parameters go south females (espcially berried ones) seem to go first. Seen it many times in my tanks.
 
I didn't overfeed. I know that because I only fed once a week and I made sure to not let it sit there. I'm going to use distilled water for now on to make sure that the water is ok.
The snails were mystery snails, said the pet store. They were all gone in one night so I don't think the other shrimp did it.
 
One thing I forgot to ask is what kind of water you were using when you did the change. If it was tap water, you might have fluctuating PH from it. My tap was is treated at a local water company and the PH seems to range between 6.9-7.8. It's pretty odd. I always add a little baking soda to it for buffer. Brings PH to ~8.2. One other potential issue being lingering copper deposits if you have older pipes at your house. That can quickly kill off a shrimp tank. :(
 
Snails like mystery, nerite and pond snails are scavengers and if they are omnivorous, will eat decaying fish or shrimp. Pretty sure your shrimp were eaten by your mystery snails. Although red cherry shrimp are hardy compared to other ornamental shrimp, they are not good candidates for a brand new tank that hasn't completed its nitrogen cycle. Any trace amount of ammonia or nitrites left lingering would be enough to poison the shrimp. How long has this tank been cycled that the blue pearls are going in? How did you cycle the tank?
 
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Hey all, I am currently re-cycling the tank the shrimps will go into, and I have a small setup to temporarily store the shrimps in. Their tank should be cycled in a few days because I took filter media from pre-cycled tanks.

I used tap water for a water change, but my conditioner clears chlorine, chloramines, and metals.
 
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