HeartSick!!!!

[1fish2fish]

We got 5 Amano Shrimp and added them to our tank yesterday. I had such fun watching them scurrying around the tank. This am when we got up they are gone The only other fish in the tank right now are 2 cories and a pleco. Is it possible that the pleco ate them? Or is it more possible that the filter (eheim 2026) sucked them up? The tank is planted with java moss, java ferns and several anubias.

Heartbroken...
Angie

 

[FroggyFox]

Are you SURE they're gone? I keep counting my shrimp and some days I can only find 3...and assume the others disappeared...but then a couple days later I drop in an algae tablet and 5 show up! If your tank is heavily planted then maybe they're just hiding.

That being said...yea the pleco could have eaten them...I somehow doubt that the filter sucked them up if they were fine while you were watching them yesterday.

 

[Angelfish]

How big is the pleco? My vote goes to it eating them (assuming its not a small pleco).
Edit: Although 5 is a lot of shrimp in one night.

 

[1fish2fish]

The pleco is a good 8". I have done everything short of move the one large piece of wood that we have in there looking for those shrimps. The reason I thought that the filter may have gotten them is because they seemed so small. I don't know, I just hate this because I really wanted shrimps, but I don't want to get rid of my pleco either she is like 10 years old!!!

Ugh!
Angie

 

[FroggyFox]

Well the shrimp are like fish, have to get used to their tank also, I'm guessing that they're under that log. lol

Like angelfish said (I didn't even think of it) 5 shrimp WOULD be a lot for even an 8" pleco to eat in one night. Have you opened up your filter and looked to make sure they're not in there?? How small is "pretty small" I have 3 medium sized ghost shrimp and two little tiny ones. the little ones are probably a 1/2 inch long and the larger ones are probably close to an inch and half long.

 

[1fish2fish]

We opened up the filter this am and didn't see anything in there. The reason I think that they were ingested (by fish or filter) is because there has been "stuff' floating around in the tank that wasn't there last night. They were probably 1/2" or so. If all five were in the log though, wouldn't they have come out at some point today, I mean they have to eat don't they???

Thanks!
Angie

 

[FroggyFox]

EWWWW SHRIMP PARTS! lol I don't know. I would THINK they would come out, but if they were that small the pleco might have said "HEY They got me a snack" They don't eat that much...if they're scared out of their minds then nothin says they're gonna come out and eat. My ghosties are usually out and about especially at feeding time because they like going to the surface to try and get flakes.

Why don't you try getting some larger ones?...or if you can only find small ones, pop them into a spare container and feed them algea tabs. I don't know how fast amano shrimp grow...but ghost shrimp seem to grow pretty fast, I see exoskeletons in my tank almost every week.

They are really cool...but I guess if you can't keep the shrimp alive in your tank then you have to choose whether you like the pleco more than the shrimp. How big is your tank? You could also get some more hiding places for the shrimp to get away from the pleco?

 

[Angelfish]

Seen as though the shrimp were only half an inch and the pleco is 8, he probably did eat them. But considering there is "stuff" floating around, it could be that they are decomposing in the tank. Id get the test kit out and see if any of your levels are higher than normal.

 

[1fish2fish]

As far as testing I have been doing that weekly since we set up the new tank. It is a 46 gallon bow front. I also don't think that they would have exploded over night. So my guess is like I said either the filter or the pleco. I guess I will wait for a while before I put anymore in there. It has been a very sad day!!

Angie

 

[catfishmike]

they most likely died and then were eatenshrimps and other inverts. are very sensitive to any changes in their water and died from not being acclimated very well.also considering the lack of conventional dention on a pleco i doubt the pleco at them he would still be sucking on the exoskeletons right now.

 

[1fish2fish]

I don't know how I could have possibly acclimated them anymore then we did. They were left in their bag floating in the new tank, the bag was open, we added a little bit of water from the tank that they were going in, into their bag. They stayed in there for a very long time. What more could we have done. Like I said before the only other fish in the tank right now are two cories and I don't believe they ate the shrimp.

catfishmike are you saying that these things are so sensitive that they could survive a matter of hours??? If that is the case how do you ever get any in a tank????

Angie

 

[Angelfish]

I'm sure they didnt explode either, but if they are dead somewhere in the tank, water testing would show that. Besides all that, I still think pleco.

 

[catfishmike]

no they can be kept.it's just tricky to get shripm right,especialy ones so small.if your water had say maybe 1 ppm of nitrate more than where they came from it could be detrimental to the shrimp.you may want to try a complet test of both the store and your water before adding the next batch of shrimp.also how well planted is your tank?shrimp seem to do better in well planted tanks,or lots of algae.amano shrimps are called amano shrimp because thats what the famed plant aquarium designer amano uses to keep his tank free from algae.so you may want to set up a small tank and grow a heavy amount of algae for the shrimp and let them acclimate there first.

 

[wayne]

Plecos love shrimp - I always feed my bristlenoses shrimp to get them in breeding shape.
Think the natural diet of plecos is algae .... think again.

 

[1fish2fish]

Thanks for the tip catfishmike! After this though it will be a while before I try shrimp again! The tank hasn't been going long enough for algae to be in there yet. Though I have never really had algae in any tank that I have had my pleco in, she does a heck of a job keeping everything clean! The tank is planted, but I wouldn't say heavily. It will take a while for it to get that way with the pleco in there. The only plants that have been uprooted have been the ones that are tied to something! Though she did do a number on the java moss last night, pulled a lot of it loose from the stone that it was tied to!!!

Thanks again!
Angie