Cherry Shrimp Jumping Ship!

[Darkehorse]

Folks,

I have a Cherry Shrimp in my 20 gallon community tank. When I first got him, he did great! He cleaned all of the algae off of one of my air hoses and molted within 2 days. After that, you could see him in various spots on the tank fanning the water for food. Now, he's not doing so great. I'm not sure he's even eating. I assumed he would be great at eating leftover food, but I'm not sure he's getting any. I think my cleaning crew of 2 ottos, a blue mystery snail and him are too much for my 20 gallon tank. His color is good for the most part, so it doesn't seem like he's too stressed. I throw 1 algae pellet in the tank every couple of days for him and my upside down cat, but he doesn't seem to have any interest in it. I've even placed him in a floating breeder tank with some food (flake, crushed peas, cichlid pellets, algae tablets, thawed blood worms), but again, he has no interest. So I'm wondering if he is literally starving.

That leads me to my actual question. This morning, my kids ran and got me because Luigi (the shrimp's name is Luigi) was running along the carpet. Now this is the second time Luigi has jumped tank. Last week, he took a little vacation from the tank (he couldn't be found anywhere in it) and was gone for three days, but returned sometime in the night. Is he leaving the tank in search of food? Obviously I need to get a lid for my tank, but I think he will still be able to get out using the holes for the heater, filter and air stone. Lately he's been sitting out on the top of the heater and nowhere else. My Leopard Ctenopoma has been eyeing him lately, and I think he's feeling a little threatened. I'm going to get some slate rock soon to offer him and the other fish more hiding places.

At any rate, any suggestions to improve his quality of life? I ordered an assortment of floating plants (Fairy Moss, Water Velvet, 2 types of duckweed) for the tank. Will he eat any of that?

Here is my current setup:

20 Gallon Freshwater
1 Upside Down Catfish (Synodontis nigriventris), 1 Spotted Climbing Perch (Ctenopoma acutirostre), 5 dwarf rainbows (Melanotaenia praecox), 2 Bolivian Rams (Mikrogeophagus altispinosus) : all juveniles, 2 ottos, 1 cherry shrimp and 1 blue mystery snail.

The tank was sold to me as a 30 gallon (it was preowned) and I didn't realize until I did an online tank volume calculator that it was a 20. I plan on rehomeing the Upside Down cat and the 2 ottos (anyone in Columbia, South Carolina want these guys)?

Thanks in advance!
-Darke

 

[Invader Xan]

Hmmm... Instead of trying to keep him in the tank, I'd test your water and try and find the cause.

There's one big reason in my experience, why shrimp will ever attempt to leave the water -- and that's if they don't like something in the water. They're a little finickity, you see. Trouble is, there's a lot of things they might not like... bad levels of acidity or hardness, ammonia/nitrites, chemicals leaching out of plastic tank ornaments (it can happen), pesticide contamination from aquarium plants or fish meds are among the more common causes of upset.

My advice would be to load your filter with carbon or purigen to remove any nastiness in the water, test the water for any abnormalities and wash those plants thoroughly before you add them. Plants are often treated with pesticides, which your shrimp won't enjoy.

As for keeping him happy, when your tank's all sorted out you might consider buying him a companion. Shrimp are happiest (and most fun to watch) if they have company. Otherwise they get lonely and become rather withdrawn. A plant you might want to invest in is a marimo. Mine love them.

 

[Darkehorse]

Hmmm... Instead of trying to keep him in the tank, I'd test your water and try and find the cause.

There's one big reason in my experience, why shrimp will ever attempt to leave the water -- and that's if they don't like something in the water. They're a little finickity, you see. Trouble is, there's a lot of things they might not like... bad levels of acidity or hardness, ammonia/nitrites, chemicals leaching out of plastic tank ornaments (it can happen), pesticide contamination from aquarium plants or fish meds are among the more common causes of upset.

My advice would be to load your filter with carbon or purigen to remove any nastiness in the water, test the water for any abnormalities and wash those plants thoroughly before you add them. Plants are often treated with pesticides, which your shrimp won't enjoy.

As for keeping him happy, when your tank's all sorted out you might consider buying him a companion. Shrimp are happiest (and most fun to watch) if they have company. Otherwise they get lonely and become rather withdrawn. A plant you might want to invest in is a marimo. Mine love them.

Xan,

Thanks for the tips. Generally my stats are 7.0 PH, 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, usually 2 PPM Nitrate, 80-82 Fahrenheit. Not sure about my hardness, I'll test it tonight. I don't have any medication in the tank. The only thing I've added recently is salt a few weeks ago when one of my fish got injured. Perhaps I will run the water through the Activated Charcoal anyway.

Thanks for the tips on washing the plants, I'll definitely remember to do that when they arrive. I'll also look into him getting a buddy, which may be tough as I've only ever seen Cherry shrimp the one time that I bought him (and he was rather expensive, 12 dollars!) Can it be a different type of Shrimp? Maybe an Amano? I'm also looking into getting one or two moss balls. They look awesome. Thanks for pointing them out to me. What's really interested is that I'm discovering that you can actually have a planted tank without actually planting anything, which kind of scared me away from planted tanks to begin with.

-Darke

 

[NEONCORY]

And I think you have too many potentially predator for the shrimp. I don't think not many fish can live safely with shrimp especially small cherry red shrimp. I have some small tank for my cherry shrimps. At this moment, I am experimenting if I can raise some small Cory frys with Red Cherry Shrimps. So far, they seems ok nobody become someone else's meal. But I would not keep my Cherry Shrimp with even small Neon Tetras. I know they would get eaten eventually. The shrimps are just too vaunable when they molt. And almost all the fish except total hervinous fish have taste for shrimp. If they eat kril or brine shrimp, I'll say they will eat shrimps.
It maybe the water parameter is case of shrimp jumping out of the tank but it is more likely he is jumping out to escape from some hungry mouth. That is why he is hanging around on the top of the heater.
And yes they do need some aged water to grow them well. They do not like any trace of chlorine or many other chemicals. Once I did notice my shrimps start swimming crazy few minutes after I put my hands in their tank to remove something. Anyway, I am pretty sure the problem was, my hands had some trace of dish soap from earlier washing dishes. I thought I washed well my hands before I put it in the tank but it wasn't enough. I did the emagency water change and they stop panicking. So any time you see them overly active swimming around the tank, they do not approve the quality of water and try to escape from the poisonus element. Looking for the fresher/safer environment.

I only kept for short time, so I am by all mean the shrimp expert. So you might want to check the link below. I found it useful.

http/www.shrimpnow.com/
http/www.petshrimp.com/neocaridinaspblue.html

Good luck with your shrimp(s), they are certainly interesting creature.

 

[Darkehorse]

Brief Update, water stats:

Temp: 81 F
PH: 7.0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5
GH: < 1
KH: < 1

Neon:

Thanks for the advice and the links. I'll consider putting him in another tank. I have an idle 2.5 gallon hex that I can use if absolutely necessary.

-Darke

 

[Invader Xan]

So any time you see them overly active swimming around the tank, they do not approve the quality of water and try to escape from the poisonus element. Looking for the fresher/safer environment.

Well... Not quite any time. They get quite energetic when they're excited as well... Mine always swim about happily if I give them food or a water change. If they're stressed, the swimming changes to a more desperate manner, and you'll probably notice them scrambling at the sides of the tank or the waters surface.


I've never personally kept cherries, so I don't know how well they handle salt. Some, like amanos, can manage a little salinity. Others are much more sensitive. Could be an idea to do a couple of water changes and reduce the salt level. Other than that, your water looks ok... One other thought -- what fish food are you using? Some types contain copper sulphate, and shrimp don't like copper one bit.
TBH, if he was in serious danger of being eaten, he'd probably already have become a meal... I'm not a fish person, but I suspect when those fish get bigger, they wouldn't think twice about eating poor Luigi.

In the meantime, setting up a little 2.5g as a temporary tank might be an idea. I had to house a couple of shrimp in a similar emergency tank once. They produced so little waste that cycling wasn't even an issue! As for companions, if cherries are hard to come by, I'd imagine any other kind of caridina sp or neocaridina sp should be fine... So amanos, crystal reds, tigers, ninjas, bumblebees... Just bear in mind that a few of these species might interbreed.

 

[Galedav]

So any time you see them overly active swimming So amanos, crystal reds, tigers, ninjas, bumblebees... Just bear in mind that a few of these species might interbreed.

what would that do? give some weird patterns or change the size of them a bit?

 

[Invader Xan]

Size and colouration are very unpredictable things... To be honest, there's no real reason not to hybridise your shrimp. It's just that a lot of people find these things undesirable. A crystal red hybrid, for instance, wouldn't have the same striking colouration as a thoroughbred CRS.

 

[GoldLenny]

Brief Update, water stats:

Temp: 81 F
PH: 7.0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5
GH: < 1
KH: < 1

Neon:

Thanks for the advice and the links. I'll consider putting him in another tank. I have an idle 2.5 gallon hex that I can use if absolutely necessary.

-Darke

Do you have normally soft source/tap water? I've only started keeping Red Cherry Shrimp recently but I did read up almost everything I could find on them and like most inverts, they like harder water to build harder shells. I'm not saying that is your problem but it's something to consider.

Here is a little cave you can make that will provide a place for it to hide.. especially when molting. You do have a lot of fish that wouldn't mind a shrimp snack. I'm surprised he made it this long. This little snip is from a Ghost Shrimp page but the same cave would work for Cherry Shrimp.

Appropriate Home -
Ghost Shrimp can live in fish bowls and aquariums with and without an aquarium heater at a temperature between 65 and 82 degrees F. Every few months a Ghost Shrimp molts its exoskeleton. When this happens, it's soft body is exposed, and it's vulnerable to being eaten. You can protect your Ghost Shrimp by putting a piece of a broken flower pot on the bottom of your Ghost Shrimp's home to form a small hiding place for the Shrimp. Put the piece of the broken flower pot with it's inside facing down on the bottom of your Shrimp's home, so there is a small cave for your Shrimp to crawl under. If this cave is not big enough for the Shrimps, prop the piece of the flower pot up with a small rock or piece of gravel, or another piece of the broken flower pot. The idea is to give the Ghost Shrimp a hiding place that is too small for the other animals, so the Shrimp will be safe while it molts. Of course you must always be sure that everything, such as a piece of a broken flower pot, that goes into your Ghost Shrimp's home, is clean and not contaminated.

I haven't had to do this yet since I just got my order of 25 cherry shrimp, a BN pleco and 6 different plants, including Java Moss, for $35.00, including shipping. It was a great deal that I couldn't pass up when I saw it. I'm sorry you had to pay so much for yours. You should try places like Aquabid for buying them next time. I got mine from another person on a forum but I've seen them on Aquabid for $1.00 each. That new pre-set price for Priority Mail packages makes shipping certain things pretty cheap. Cherry shrimp are pretty tough, as you know so the 2 day shipping worked fine for them but the BN pleco didn't make it. It was only $5.30 for my package which included the box. Two of my cherry shrimp are holding eggs already so who knows.. I may be in the cherry shrimp business soon as well. I'll post in the forum if I ever decide to sell some.

 

[Darkehorse]

Okay, after further research, I don't think I have a cherry shrimp at all (he was labeled cleaner shrimp at the LFS), I think he's a wood shrimp! He looks exactly like this:

I was confused about his identity when I get him because all of the previous pictures I had seen of wood shrimps didn't show any of the bright beautiful red color that he had. Now that I have seen these new pictures of wood shrimp, I am certain that's what he is. With that being the case, I can rest a little bit easier about his safety since they can get up to 5 inches in length! Wow. However, now that I see that these shrimp actually filter microscopic organisms as their food, I wonder if he's really eating enough to survive. Can I use frequency of sheddings to determine if his diet is sufficient? I need to do some further research. Perhaps I can grow something like daphnia for him.

-Darke

 

[Invader Xan]

Wood shrimp are lovely creatures! I'm planning on getting one myself eventually.

The big question is, how long have you had your tank? If it's old enough (at least 6 months established), he should get plenty of filter bacteria to eat. Just make sure your tank has a current in it. If he's happy, you should see him feeding sometimes -- he'll stand someplace where the current is good with his 4 fans outstretched. Occasionally, he'll brush one across his mouth. A lot of people like to give their shrimp somewhere to stand near the filter outlet, so they can stand in the current. This is his ideal setup.
Oh, and don't worry about the current being too strong. In nature, they live in mountain streams, often at the bottoms of waterfalls.

If he can't get enough food from filtering, you'll see him brushing his fans across the substrate. Nothing to panic about, as they do this in the wild too. However, if he does it a lot, you might have to think about targeted feeding to keep him healthy. I'm afraid I don't know much about that... As far as I know, it basically involves filling a pipette with food and squirting it in his general direction. Hopefully someone else around here will be able to tell you more.

I'm not sure what kind of food you could give him, but other filter feeders like daphnia like green water or yeast. Anything finely powdered can work too... I've heard of people feeding daphnia with flour/water mixes. Finely powdering some shrimp pellets would probably work well. As for the daphnia themselves, I'm not sure if they might be too big. Moina would be a better option -- they're smaller.

On a final note, wood shrimp are pretty feisty. As long as he has somewhere to hide when he moults, he should be able to take care of himself.

 

[Darkehorse]

Unfortunately my tank is only about 2 months old. However I have seen him fanning the current (he sits on top of the cave ornament) created by the filter, and occasionally he does brush his 'claws' against his mouth. I haven't seen him skimming the substrate for food though. Lately he hides in between the corner glass and the heater almost exclusively which is kind of a bummer. Maybe there's too much activity for him to feel safe. I'm thinking about moving the heater to try and force him to find a new home so to speak. It sounds cruel, but I really do want to watch him.

-Darke

 

[Invader Xan]

When you say lately, how long has he been doing that for? If only a couple of days, he could be getting ready to moult. Either that, or he might've already moulted (your fish would probably have eaten the evidence). Give him some time. They always need a few days to recover from the stress of shedding their skin and let their new skin harden. Plus, if you mistook him for a cherry shrimp, he's probably still only a baby. Young shrimp, I've noticed, tend to be a lot more shy.

If he doesn't venture out for more than a few days, then you might rightly start to be concerned. In the meantime, try and have a good look at him... Clues to if he's recently moulted (at least things I've noticed) include -- his carapace looking shinier than normal, his antennae looking softer or more flexible than normal or just looking plain bigger. If he's young, he'll grow quickly.

 

[Darkehorse]

He's been hiding in between the heater and the corner glass for about 10 days. He moulted the day after I got him. I'm not sure how often they moult, but that was about a month ago. I'm going to move the heater next to the filter to see if he will set up shop some place else. I'm also going to set up one my small flower pot as a place where he can moult safely as advised. Thanks for all the great advice Xan.

-Darke

 

[Invader Xan]

10 days... You're right, that doesn't sound ok. I hope he perks up soon.

Just so you know, since I started using purigen in my filter, my shrimp have all been perfectly happy. Might be worth using it for a little while just to remove anything in the water that might still be affecting him.

For the advice, you're very welcome. I hope I've been some help.