Cherry shrimps eat each other?

[boobiebutt]

Today, I noticed a larger Cherry shrimp on top of a smaller one and I thought they were playing/mating or something. So I thought I shouldn't disturb them and check on them later. 2 hours later, I go to the tank to see the larger shrimp that was on top eating a shrimp tail.... I could see the shrimp tail with white flesh exposed. I could not find a head or the rest of the body so I assumed it was eaten by the larger shrimp or the other shrimps in the tank.

Do they normally attack and eat each other? I could guess that might happen if there isn't enough food but I feed them once every 2-3 days by crushing the algae wafer into small dust like pieces. I feed them about 5-6 1mm size chunks for 8 shrimps so I don't over feed. Am I not feeding them enough?

If it isn't that, anyone have any clues as to what happens? I thought Cherry shrimps weren't cannibalistic.

 

[msjinkzd]

Are you sure the one being eaten was alive?

 

[Yadokari]

It was probably dead.

Although I have seen one of my CRS walk over a newborn snowball shrimp that was trying to molt at the time. The CRS picked it up and ate it alive.

 

[Temptress]

I have read alot about cherry shrimp and I've read a cpl places that they will eat sick or dead shrimp.. pretty horrifying if I don't say so myself, I had ordered 5 from ebay and i was all like "oooh.. ahhh.. omg WTH is that??" when I seen 4 live shrimp and one that only had tail and legs.. no head, and not knowing ANYTHING about these guys I sent that lady a message so fast.. lol anyway, did some research and it seems they do that *shrugs*

 

[boobiebutt]

Well for a brief history of my shrimp tank. It was originally a 2.5 betta tank that I assumed was cycled cause I've had the betta in there for moths prior to receiving Cherry shrimps as a present. I never did the whole cycling process but I assumed it was cycled because I've never had a spike in ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates and I changed 20-40% of the water every week. I only started testing the water maybe 3 months after having the betta. Not having a cycled tank to set up the shrimps in, I bought a fish breeders net and placed 3 Marimo balls I purchased and the java moss that came with it into the breeders net. The shrimp has been in there since. I assumed the environment was okay for the shrimp if the betta was living there.

On the side note. The betta that shared the tank, died about 1 month ago early to mid march. I removed the betta less then 24 hours of its death so I don't believe it sparked an ammonia spike or anything.

Full history of the tank/situation here (Warning - lengthly):http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182952


I just did a water test on the parameters.
NH3+NH4 - Ammonia = 1.5mg/l
NO2 Nitrite = <0.3mg/l
NO3 Nitrate = color is between the 5 and the 10 mark. I'm not sure what the units of measure is, but it is the Nitrate API test.

So from looking at the results I assume it is not cycled. =|

Also, within the first 2 weeks of having the shrimp int he net, I had 4 cherried females that gave birth to small baby shrimp all over the place. As of today, there is only 1 survivor... =| I have no idea what happened to them all. I havent seen any dead bodies anywhere. I've only seen 1-2 exoskeletons from molts since I've had them. Maybe the disappearing babies should have been a hint for me. I increased water changes as soon as I noticed the number of babies dropped...

Any suggestions to fix this problem? I just did a 40% water change...

 

[excuzzzeme]

That would be correct. The ammonia will kill all your critters. You need to do a 50-75% water change right away.

 

[boobiebutt]

What puzzles me right now is how I have Ammonia. If i have such a high Nitrate content, that should mean I have some bacteria converting the Ammonia to Nitrites and the Nitrites to Nitrates. Am I wrong?

 

[dixienut]

you are still cycling the tank keep ammonia levels down use prime to declorinate water it renders amm harmless to them but still needs to be water changed.
shrimp are very much so not good with amm, or nItrate

 

[fl4ian]

you are correct, boobiebutt. however, the bacteria have not developed a large enough qty to handle the load yet. you are getting there.

 

[shawnhu]

I too recently experienced something very similar. I witnessed a yellow shrimp that was especially pale, and looked to have been struggling. I was hoping that it was trying to molt, was it was twisting it's body back and forth. It then layed on it's side, and another shrimp was attacking the back of it's head. I thought that the shrimp would realize that it's another shrimp, and back off, but it looked like it was latching on and trying to eat the other shrimp alive! I had to use a stick to fight off the attacker on several occasions. When it came time for lights out, I was forced to let the poor guy fend for himself, I feared he would not last throughout the night. He was laying on his side, barely moving. Next morning, he was gone. I couldn't even find a corpse, so I'm not sure if he was killed, or he lived.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.