# Fish ate all my shrimp ?



## davesnothere (Oct 14, 2008)

I put in about 10 cherry shrimp that I got yesterday. As these were shipped, they were kinda small. I made sure I fed the fish and turned off light before releasing the shrimp. This morning I do not see a single shrimp. I found an empty shell of one in the front against the glass. Did all my "peaceful" guppies and tetra eat the shrimp ?  I do not see any more shell, but since these were small it would be very difficult spot empty shell in the back of the tank. Unless these are extremely good hiders, there is no hope. Has this happened to any of you out there ? How do you release shrimp in a mixed tank ? From what I have read, it seems shrimp is almost always shipped small / juvi. I am almost itching to go and order more, but do want to make sure they wont end up as dinner again.


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## tfmcder (Feb 22, 2006)

You say you saw an "empty shell"? Is it just the exoskeleton from them shedding and growing? If that is the case they may have survived and just be hiding. I watched one of mine shed and the little bugger was out of the skin in less than 30 seconds and darted to the back of the tank and nestled into some tall hairgrass. 

Of course it is always possible that they could have been eaten if they were small enough. In my experience keeping them in a community tank, some of the babies would always survive. I had mine with various tetras, corys, danios, and even a betta. The shrimp were usually too fast and too good at hiding to get picked off. I have no idea where they were hiding because many times they would disappear for days on end and i thought they were eaten but presto, they would reappear and then disappear again.


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## JohnPaul (Aug 28, 2006)

*"They were kinda small."*

Depending upon how small "kinda" is, then yes, I can completely see it a possibility that your guppies wiped out your shrimp overnight. Shrimp babies & juvenile shrimp actually make up a portion of guppies' food in their native habitats; hunting & killing small shrimp is "in their genes," so to speak.

A fully grown (1" or longer) RCS should..._should_...be able to survive in a guppy tank. Anything less than full-grown adults, all bets are off. Even if they do survive, they will likely do so by staying as hidden as possible for as much of the day as possible--not exactly a formula for maximizing the enjoyment of your shrimp, is it? [smilie=f:

This is why those of us who love dwarf shrimp emphasize again and again how much more enjoyable it is to keep shrimp in a shrimp-only tank. When there are no fish in the tank, shrimp are much more active--you will see them crawling around on every single surface in the tank (substrate, driftwood, plants at all heights of the aquarium), you'll see them freely swimming in the water column, all sorts of things. The amusement factor goes up exponentially. It doesn't even take a huge investment in tank size; a 10 gallon tank could easily support 250+ (adult & juvie) shrimp. On one of the shrimp forums I regularly visit, someone in there is successfully keeping over 75 alive & breeding in a 2.5 gallon tank (!!!) Now that's perhaps overkill but the point is, you don't need a "huge" amount of space to keep a thriving shrimp colony.

It costs almost nothing to set up a small 2.5 gal desktop shrimp tank. I buy the 2.5 gal tanks (including cover) from my local PetSmart for $11.99. You can buy a small pack of Estes Marine Sand (which, despite the name, is not only for marine tanks--it is merely a colored, inert sand) for $4 or so. (Note: sand is better than gravel for a shrimp tank, IMO, as it is easier to keep clean. And also, keep in mind red cherry shrimp display darker, more vibrant colors when in a tank with a dark substrate). A small sponge filter (like the Hydro Sponge Mini) would put you back no more than $7 or so, and honestly, if you put some relatively fast-growing live plants in your tank and were good about doing regular small water changes, you might not even need a filter at all. If the temp in the room stays at least 70º all day and night, you wouldn't even need a heater on the tank (though a small heater keeping the temp around 76º or so is preferable).

Another advantage of this setup is you could use such a tank to "start up" your RCS colony, and then after you're producing generations of babies you could take the largest of your adult shrimp and try putting them into your community fish tank.

Just a thought, at least.


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## davesnothere (Oct 14, 2008)

These were all juvenile, about a quarter inch each. I had a bunch of fully grown ghost shrimp in the tank before, the fishes never seemed to have cared for those. Two of those are still hanging out.


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## Squawkbert (Jan 3, 2007)

If you've got some tight cover, they're probably just well hidden.


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## info scavenger (Jun 25, 2008)

When I first put my cherries into a community tank I didn't see them again for two weeks. As soon as I took out the betta, they slowly started showing themselves. Now the males roam all over the tank, but the females stay more hidden. I think they need time to adjust to their new surroundings. Good luck.


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## oblongshrimp (Aug 8, 2006)

The shell is just a molt most likely. Shrimp will mass molt when there is a sudden change in their water (like moving them to a new tank). I don't keep my shrimp with fish so I can't really comment on that.


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

same here, when I first put them in I thought they all got eaten. After a while they came out.


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## praxis5624 (Apr 22, 2006)

It's an educated guess to say your shrimp survived or fell prey to your inhabitants already occupying your aquarium. Time will tell and if you choose to add more, pay a little more for sub to adults to improve their chances.


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## JohnPaul (Aug 28, 2006)

praxis5624 said:


> ... if you choose to add more, pay a little more for sub to adults to improve their chances.


If he is ordering them by mail, that might not be an option. The reason shrimp breeders normally sell tiny ones is because they have a much higher survival rate in shipping than adults do. Most breeders I know who do a lot of shipping prefer to ship shrimp at 1/4" or 1/2" at the absolute max because you start seeing higher DOA rates once you get into shrimp larger than that. For some reason the adults just don't take the stress of shipping nearly as well as the juvies do.


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## davesnothere (Oct 14, 2008)

That is my biggest problem right now, finding someone who will sell me shrimp larger than 1/2 inch. The ones I got were probably 1/4 inch. After almost 10 days I see a lone survivor camouflaged in Rotala Indica. I would be really surprised if I see more. I want to give it a second try with 10-15 more of bigger size and maybe get a higher number of survivors.


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