Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping => Invertebrates - Shrimps and Snails => Topic started by: AdyDnt on January 08, 2016, 01:44:10 PM
-
After fighting what seemed to be a losing battle with shrimp mortality I thought I may of had it sorted by adding a plant that was taking care of my nitrates, with 2 shrimp left I was thinking it may be time to increase numbers, thought I'd give them a treat of half a cappata leaf but within less than 24hrs my big red female has died, this seems to have happened twice now with regards to cappata leaves. After 8 months of trying I think when the last one dies it's going to become a fish only tank.
-
I'm sorry to hear that.
Sometimes we can never work out what has gone wrong. I tried twice last year with red crystal shrimps and they all died. It seems I can keep cherry shrimp, and amanos, but not crystals.
If you mean the 22 litre tank in your signature, it would make a nice tank for a betta.
-
It's currently got a female guppy and 3 CPD's in so think I will increase the CPD's number, the guppy was a freebie in a group of shrimp I bought form a local fish stockist. If I get more shrimp in the future I will have them in there own tank. A betta does sound good but I wouldn't want the other fish to suffer.
-
A betta would probably try to eat cpd's so I agree, not a good idea.
-
I did read that if the betta's are introduced after other fish they don't see them as food, but I still wouldn't like to try that theory out
-
Well as a strange twist of fate, I came home on Monday night after spending the weekend at my fiancΓ©e's and peered into my tank to see a small red shrimp walking about, at the other side of the tank there was a larger one, now the larger one is the only one I'm supposed to have left, so after much tank scrutiny it turns out I have 2 small baby shrimp now boosting my numbers from 1 to 3, so my pregnant female that passed away recently must of managed to produce offspring. Now I'm thinking do I bite the bullet and get some more.
-
That's more or less what happened to me. I had the last cherry shrimp, a berried female, in my quarantine tank. I found her dead one morning with no signs of eggs, and when I started to take the tank down I found about a dozen babies.
I would be inclined to wait a few weeks to see if your new ones make it, and if they do get 2 or 3 more.
-
Ill see how things are at the end of the month, hopefully, they'll be less shy
-
I confess I'm struggling with cherry shrimps this time round. I found 2 of the biggest, bright red males dead yesterday. The lights havent come on yet today but fingers crossed no more casualties.
-
Well after having my 4 shrimp alive and well for a month or 2 I bit the bullet and went to my local fish supplier and bought 12 more shrimp, fingers crossed these will be a good base for a colony.
-
Adding new stock is a good idea from the genetics point of view as well. If you do get a thriving colony, I was advised to add 'new blood' every 6 months, from a different shop so they are not related. That doesn't include a different branch of the same shop as they will use the same supplier. I just get 1 berried female as those eggs will hatch to give me lots of unrelated babies :)
-
Ive got about 7-8 babies swimming round now :) I'm seriously thinking about setting up a spare 50l tank as a shrimpery, I really fancy having black sand and slate in it, I'm sure it'll enhance their colour.
-
That's good news Fiona. My thriving colony started with the babies from the last adult I bought so if I can do it, you can.
-
What are the benefits of shrimps in a community fish tank? Are they beneficial to cleanliness and the chemistry of the water? Something I'm researching for when I begin to build my own fish stock shopping list.
-
Most shrimps eat algae, though they won't keep a tank algae free. They also eat food that ends up on the bottom of the tank. And they are cute ;D
In a community tank you have to choose shrimp species according to the fish in there. Small shrimps like cherries will be eaten by any fish over about 2 inches. This is why I have mine with small fish. Larger shrimps such as ghost shrimps and amano shrimps will be OK with fish a bit over 2 inches, but again they will be eaten by big fish. Amano shrimps are in the fish profiles on here as japonica shrimps, in the miscellaneous section. The downside to ghosts and amanos is they are quite plain.
The shrimps to avoid are the filter feeders such as bamboo shrimps. They may grow bigger but they are hard to feed and commonly die of starvation.
-
They are also entertaining.
I have 4 Amano shrimp who can't wait for the food to sink to the bottom, they launch themselves to the surface and grab what they can.
They are also very strong for their size. I started breaking up the algae wafers after a I saw one drag a whole wafer across the tank to a nook where she could eat it undisturbed.
Maybe mine are just food obsessed!
Anne
-
I saw one drag a whole wafer across the tank to a nook where she could eat it undisturbed.
Maybe mine are just food obsessed!
Anne
Wee fatty! Lol that sounds really funny to see actually. I'm intrigued by shrimps so I'll find out more about them and see how I feel :D
-
Shrimp are really nice to watch, they dart all over the place or sift through the sand looking for food, I now have a thriving colony growing.
-
I now have a thriving colony growing.
That's good to hear. You were all for giving up on shrimps a few months ago.
-
Great to hear of your turnaround Ady, you must be pleased 8)
-
I now have a thriving colony growing.
Excellent news :) any chance of piccies?
-
Yes I'm very happy my tank is doing well, recently found some of my shrimp had escaped into the back filter areas due to my filter floss been a bit out of place, got a few of the larger ones out but still got a few babies back there.