ghost shrimp

Ghost shrimp killed 2 of my female guppies in my 29g... tore up a few more..

Caught all I could and put a few in my 55 Community tank, next morning my cory Julie is dead....

I fed all of them to Oscar.

Well, it kinds of sounds like your Ghost shrimps were actually machrobrachium shrimps, a predatory specie of shrimp that will feed on small fish and shrimps in your tank.

They are very similar in appearances to ghost shrimps when young, the only real telltale sign is the long pincers arms they have, much longer than ghost shrimps.

But am sure the oscar appreciated the snacks


Machrobrachium Shrimp Left Picture and Ghost Shrimp Right Picture

Note the difference in the length of the forearms with pincers. Almost double in length on the machro.
But one difference is that the machrobrachiums can grow pretty big, 6 inches or larger is not unknown and they will go through a slight colouration change as they grow into full adults.

An interessting specie to keep in its own right but not for the community tank

Toney said:

Ghost shrimp killed 2 of my female guppies in my 29g... tore up a few more..

Caught all I could and put a few in my 55 Community tank, next morning my cory Julie is dead....

I fed all of them to Oscar.

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Yikes! Sorry about that! And I think Ch4lie is correct in what he said.
Shrimp are pretty scrappy little critters...even my amano will snag a freshly dead fish and run off with it...I've witnessed many times, even wondering if he hadn't quite waited until they were allll the way dead.

Lesson learned...but I bet your Oscars were super thrilled!

Indeed Amanos have a reputation for this as well, though am never quite sure if the amanos were mistaken for Machros or not but it has been known.
I belive that amanos will finish off a dying or nearly dead ill fish and scarper off to have a bit of a feast.

This is one of the reasons why I keep my amanos in a shrimp only tank set up as suspect they would eat the little celestial Pearl Danios in main tank given half a chance, expensive snacks

But to be honest ALL shrimps, snails and most fish will snack on fresh dead tankmates, lots of good extra protien and nutrients. Perfectly natural and does mean not anything will go to waste but kinda grisly I know.

Ch4rlie said:

never quite sure if the amanos were mistaken for Machros

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I think in some cases they are mistaken but my guy is def an amano and he is one scrappy little fella.
He steals stuff all the time and runs off and hides with it, leaving the fish wondering what just happened.

And there was a good while that I wasn't quite sure if he was catching my endlers but it turned out that my water was off and and right after a water change my fish were sluggish and resting on the bottom.

I've since cleared that all up and since haven't seen him with any of them (well, and no deaths....knock wood).

Great Pic

Ch4rlie said:

Great Pic

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Thank you!