Escaped Shrimp :(

[pippoodle]

i've had my amano shrimps for about 6 months now
we moved them into a temp tank and moved the tank into the kitchen on saturday .
i transferred the shrimp over to the other tank today and i only had 5 amanos not 9
Then i found some crispy bodies near the microwave , there's a tiny hole in the top of the tank for wires etc - i usually seal up holes cos of snails escaping but seeing as the hole was so small i never bothered .
It looks like they got out on the light wires poor things .
I have no idea why they did it , they were only in the kitchen for one week and had been in that tank for 3 months so i tested the water and

15 nitrate
0 nitrite
0 amonia
7.2 ph
temp 25

Has anyone any idea why they did this ?

 

[Corleone]

It's possible for some reason there was a small ammonia spike and they fled the water conditions, and in the time before you noticed, the filter caught back up.

It's also possible they just went for a stroll - they're pretty adept escape artists.

Out of interest, how do you seal your holes against snails? I occasionally find dead ramshorn snails all over the living room, but now that I have a few more expensive invertebrates trying to explore the outside world, I think I need better measures to keep them away from my cat.

 

[pippoodle]

to seal the hole i just use grease proof paper taped over the outside of the holes
any thing else i try usually disintegrates but i've had the grease proof there for months and it's still fine
the holes are at the back of the tank so can't be seen

 

[nitro7]

i've had my amano shrimps for about 6 months now
we moved them into a temp tank and moved the tank into the kitchen on saturday .
i transferred the shrimp over to the other tank today and i only had 5 amanos not 9
Then i found some crispy bodies near the microwave , there's a tiny hole in the top of the tank for wires etc - i usually seal up holes cos of snails escaping but seeing as the hole was so small i never bothered .
It looks like they got out on the light wires poor things .
I have no idea why they did it , they were only in the kitchen for one week and had been in that tank for 3 months so i tested the water and

15 nitrate
0 nitrite
0 amonia
7.2 ph
temp 25

Has anyone any idea why they did this ?

i thnk they were just after a late night snack pip,hope they left the microwave clean after them selfs lol

 

[pippoodle]

i thnk they were just after a late night snack pip,hope they left the microwave clean after them selfs lol

ah !! i blamed hubby for that
now we know the real culprits

 

[Shrimper]

I've probably got over 100 shrimp in my community tank now thanks to the cherrys breeding like mad and i've never found a dead shrimp outside the tank despite two big holes for the to escape through. Leaving the water for any length of time is just as lethal for a shrimp as it would be for a fish... They wont of left the water for no reason.

i'm wondering if from the tank being in the kitchen if some cleaning product or cooking fumes has accidentally got into the water making it uncomfortable for them but not showing up on the standard tests? Not an easy one to prove but possible.

Also were they being kept with any fish in the tank? One of the other reasons shrimp leave a tank is if they are being harrassed.

 

[eschaton]

Leaving the water for any length of time is just as lethal for a shrimp as it would be for a fish... They wont of left the water for no reason.

Sorry, but this just isn't true. In my experience, dwarf shrimp like cherries do just flop over when they're taken out of water. However, you quickly discover when you net an amano that they'll instinctively climb out of the net unless you immediately cover the top with your hand.

I think it's more accurate to say amanos are amphibious than aquatic. I wouldn't be surprised if, provided they were in a moist vivarium, they would forage on land if they couldn't find enough food in the water.

 

[Shrimper]

Leaving the water for any length of time is just as lethal for a shrimp as it would be for a fish... They wont of left the water for no reason.

Sorry, but this just isn't true. In my experience, dwarf shrimp like cherries do just flop over when they're taken out of water. However, you quickly discover when you net an amano that they'll instinctively climb out of the net unless you immediately cover the top with your hand.

I think it's more accurate to say amanos are amphibious than aquatic. I wouldn't be surprised if, provided they were in a moist vivarium, they would forage on land if they couldn't find enough food in the water.

Sorry, but this just isn't true.

Shrimp are fully aquatic animals, not amphibians. They do not have the organs to breath air directly so cannot survive out of water for very long.

Amanos climbing out of the net is them trying to find its way back to water to help it survive not crawling around the land trying to find food, similar to a fish flopping about in the net just with legs.

 

[pippoodle]

i test the water twice a week and all normal tests were clear the amanos were the only ones that escaped
they had no fish in the tank with them and none of the cherrys got out .
i think its just going to be put down to one of those unknown things
little buggers

 

[~T~]

Shrimp will flee the tank if their is something wrong with the water.

 

[Corleone]

Could be something test kits don't cover - this summer I had a mass exodus of trumpet snails after the township replaced a water main down the street from me, and lost most of my apple snails around the same time. I'm not entirely sure, but I still wonder if the new water main leached copper or something into the water.