Could My Guppies Have Eaten My Cherries ?

[bullgoose]

I have 4 male guppies and added 4 adult cherry shrimp last week. The shrimp were good for a few days, seemed not bothered by the guppies and swam about in the open but now there is only 1 cherry left !!  I have checked the filter nothing in there.
 
Is it possible the guppies have eaten the missing three. ?
 
Its a small 54 litre tank, i doubt they could hide long and i have looked at the tank periodically for quite some time.
 
one disappeared first but thought nothing of it assuming it was hiding somewhere, next day only two, and today just the one. 

 
I cant think of any other explanation and one of the guppies (biggest of the three) seems to have a very round stomach compared to the others !

 

[Elrohirthehasty]

How planted is your tank?  Those suckers are pretty dang good at hiding.  I have 5, albeit younger ones, and I only ever see 3 maybe 4 at most.  I am pretty sure that all 5 are still living since I think I've noticed 5 different coloration patterns.

 

[Ch4rlie]

I have 6 Red Cherries in my 90 litre tank, only ever see 3 or maybe 4 at any one time, never them all at the same time.
 
Especially the the smallest 2 shrimps, they are very rarely seen and are darned good at hiding!!
 
The biggest shrimps I have are cocky little things and roam around my tank at will so assume when shrimps get bigger they get more confident, so am sure they will come out more often, just give them time 

 

[fm1978]

Agree with above. Not only are the wee buggers good at hiding, but, I'd find it strange if your guppies ever made a meal of them as well. Keep your eyes open for them, I'd put money on them all being just fine...

 

[bullgoose]

Not heavily planted but there are a few. Just done a 20 minute scour of the tank and have confirmed there are two alive. Also spotted what is either a discarded shell (whatever you call it) or a corpse sticking to the filter.
 
Does anyone know if certain types of filter are more dangerous to shrimp than others ? mine is the basic  one that came with the tank. EHEIM its called.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Am assuming the filter came with your tank set up when you bought it, so its probably something like a Eheim Pick Up 2008, a green internal filter basically.
 
Hmm, no idea if filters kill shrimps or not. A good question that hopefully someone an answer.
 
I have a powerful external filter on mine, if filters kill shrimps due to suction on intake then I'll be a bit concerned but nothing has happened to my shrimps so far. Touch wood!
 
Shrimps are notoriously sensitive to any medications for fish or even a little copper from your tap water can kill them. Have you treated your guppies for  anything recently? Wonder if you use hot tap water to warm up the water for water changes, copper can get into the tank in this way.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

If your shrimp are alive, then they can hide super well.
 
But... if they died for any reason, yes your guppies could have eaten dead shrimp and you may never find them.  I've witnessed one of mine eating a dead cherry a few times.

 

[Meeresstille]

Check for them after feeding time. Mine always come out after I've fed the fish. Or drop an algae wafer, or a piece of zucchini in there, that should attract them.

 

[bullgoose]

Things just seem to get worse. Still I can only see two of the four cherries. Now though one of guppies looks like he is on his way out. Lying on the bottom panting with a hugely bloated stomach ?
 
I have been thinking he is sick as a result of over eating. IE having eaten my shrimp !  Is this too far fetched ? what else could a swollen stomach be a result of ?

 

[snazy]

I read on your other thread that you are doing a fish-in cycle. Shrimp are highly sensitive to unstable conditions, ammonia/nitrite spikes. So are most fish. It's possible your shrimp are dying because of that, the guppy too and obviously any fish will try to eat a dead aquatic animal, so guppy picking on dead shrimp isn't impossible or the other way round.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Things just seem to get worse. Still I can only see two of the four cherries. Now though one of guppies looks like he is on his way out. Lying on the bottom panting with a hugely bloated stomach ?
 
I have been thinking he is sick as a result of over eating. IE having eaten my shrimp !  Is this too far fetched ? what else could a swollen stomach be a result of ?

 
Most likely as Snazy says, you are doing a fish in cycle, that in itself explain a lot of whats happening in your tank.
 
Shrimps are very sensitive to this sort of ph and ammonia swings. Also it explains a bit about your guppies dying, not as a result of overeating but as a result of your tank water parameters.
 
Strongly urge you to read about fish in cycles as well as about fishless cycles and water changes.
 
There is a lot of information about cycling tanks on this forum, there is a quick link at top of page thats says 'Cycle your Tank' done by TwoTankAmin, very informative and very useful to know whats going on in your tank while cycling.
 
By the way, if you ARE overfeeding your fish, there will be a lot of leftover feed all over your tank which will decay and rot and most likely this will affect ammonia and nitrate levels, and high ammonia & nitrates levels are definitely not good for your fish or shrimps.
 
So you will need to do more water changes  and especially vacuuming substrate to remove excess food to help control your levels of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I always find a load of RCS in my filter canister when I clean it out. The tiniest ones get sucked up and then grow in the filter, feeding off the gunk that gets sucked in there.