Is this normal for shrimp?

[Ladykelly]

I tried petsmart to see if they had a food specific for shrimp ... they don't. I did pick up bug bites for bottom feeders. The fish and shrimp seems to enjoy it

 

[FishGuest5123]

You can count them
If you can see 109 I'm betting you have well over 200 and probably a lot more

It was suppose to say over 100. Fat fingers! This is just a corner. Start counting. Lol!

 

[Ladykelly]

Well sadly my instinct was right. It past away last night came home seeing it curl up dead and one of the other shrimp was eating it. I'm now down to 5. Think my shrimp are molting.... one looks done and blood red. So 2 done one successful one not and 4 to go?

 

[seangee]

Sorry to hear that. Sometimes it is just the stress of being moved. I started with 10 and 3 died in a fairly short time. Shortly after the first moult I saw that my females were berried (carrying eggs). I watched on tenterhooks for the next month. The following 2-3 weeks were even worse because I knew the eggs were gone but I could see no shrimplets. Then I started seeing a few at water changes. And suddenly one day I had lots of little shrimp.

Fingers crossed they will be OK and you will soon have a thriving colony. (Technically its called a troupe but colony sounds better )

 

[Ladykelly]

The thing is they don't act stressed...but then again most animals including fish dont like to show weaknesses. The others seem ok when I set up my old tank again only thing I knew I wanted for sure was guppies. Then I got my 1st anubias and the petsmart clerk actually new her stuff....she told me they didnt like to be buried but placed on a rock or driftwood which I have this got me into researching more. Which led to more plants and shrimp which big al had on sale . Never knew they be so interesting. I only had them for 2 weeks if that and I'm attached.

 

[Essjay]

Seangee had the same experience as me.

One thing I should mention - when you clean the tank, go through the old water carefully. Baby shrimps are very tiny and hard to see. My record is about 30 baby shrimps in the old water bucket at one water change. I use a transparent plastic jug to empty the water out of the bucket, and I can see the baby shrimps in that. I just suck them out with a pipette and return them to the tank. That's not possible with juveniles and adults though.

 

[seangee]

One thing I should mention - when you clean the tank, go through the old water carefully. Baby shrimps are very tiny and hard to see. My record is about 30 baby shrimps in the old water bucket at one water change. I use a transparent plastic jug to empty the water out of the bucket, and I can see the baby shrimps in that. I just suck them out with a pipette and return them to the tank. That's not possible with juveniles and adults though.

For me that is a compelling reason to have a sand substrate. My tank has a filter chamber at the back and I siphon and add water there. Occasionally I will siphon from the surface of the main tank but never go near the substrate or plants. My sand stays clean because I also have malaysian trumpet snails. I do occasionally wave my hand above the sand to lift any debris into the water column to allow the filter to remove it.

When I set the tank up I had a little stream (made of pebbles) running through it. That was an absolute nightmare to keep clean as it was a perfect waste trap. It was also the perfect place for shrimplets to hang out until they grew big enough to venture out into the world because there was lots of food in there and the fish could not get through the gaps. I have now taken the stream out