Who's Says Shrimps Don't Attack?

[snazy]

Well, soft water isn't very good for cherry shrimp Do you have any idea what the Gh is as that's what matters with shrimp because they need enough calcium in the water to molt.
But there are way better varieties of shrimp that would do well you your softer water so that's not a downside. Most caridina species prefer it a little softer.

 

[Paradise3]

Well, soft water isn't very good for cherry shrimp

Do you have any idea what the Gh is as that's what matters with shrimp because they need enough calcium in the water to molt.
But there are way better varieties of shrimp that would do well you your softer water so that's not a downside. Most caridina species prefer it a little softer.

 
Don't know my GH unfortunately as my test ran out so I'm having my water tested at my boyfriends shop and he hasn't got time right now as they're busy at the minute so doing any testing for me is out of the question right now I can ask him to next week hopefully though? Won't be getting the shrimp for a while anyway(after September) so I have time.

 

[snazy]

Plenty of time to decide. I'd say you can research in the mean time about the dwarf species which are generally separated in a Caridina and Neocaridina shrimp(cherry shrimp fall into this one). The first group are more sensitive and need softer water the second group are hardier and need harder water too. Both groups are devided into subgroups with variety of colours.

 

[Paradise3]

Plenty of time to decide. I'd say you can research in the mean time about the dwarf species which are generally separated in a Caridina and Neocaridina shrimp(cherry shrimp fall into this one). The first group are more sensitive and need softer water the second group are hardier and need harder water too. Both groups are devided into subgroups with variety of colours.

 
Cool, thanks

 

[DerpPH]

Lets just put it this way:
 
amanos are opportunistic and the often get mixed with macrobrachium, often get confused, But i can say this. They never attack a perfectly healthy fish

 

[ncguppy830]

way to put it derp!

 

[Paradise3]

See that's my thoughts too but apparently they have been seen attacking perfectly healthy fish
 
You can tell the difference between Amano's and Macrobrachium.

 

[Donya]

So yeah, if you do not feed these shimps and they are in an adult form with a good number of them, strange things can happen sometimes.

 
I just want to highlight this point that was made earlier in the thread. I have kept many amanaos in the past as others have and seen no problems - but they got plenty of prepared foods that were also protein rich. And indeed, they ate rather a lot for what some might expect of a small shrimp. However, the events in this thread also aren't too surprising to me. Although shrimp attacking fish may come as a shock in the freshwater world where such reports are fairly uncommon, it is actually VERY common to hear about this sort of stuff in the marine world with similar animals. Various shrimp and other normally peaceful Crustaceans such as small hermit and true crabs are accused all the time of going bonkers and predating on other animals (small fish, other inverts, corals, etc.), but the common theme is that they are used as tank janitors (inappropriately so in some cases) and not given access to the same type of broad and plentiful diet that an ornamental specimen would have access to. It results in a lot of aggravating marine myths about the behavior of the inverts because people tend not to investigate the matters to find the root causes and correct them. When trying to figure out what's going on in weird predation cases, it is very important to consider the health and diet of the predator in addition to the health of the prey and general physical plausibility of the situation. Desperate animals do not act like healthy ones.

 

[snazy]

Yeah,some people don't even feed their corys and plecos as they think they should live off scraps. And shrimp are largely advertised as algae eaters, people don't feed shrimp only tanks for ages for that reason, when in fact shrimp love a piece of meat more than the fish do, and are scavengers that would like a taste of everything.

 

[DerpPH]

Yeah,some people don't even feed their corys and plecos as they think they should live off scraps. And shrimp are largely advertised as algae eaters, people don't feed shrimp only tanks for ages for that reason, when in fact shrimp love a piece of meat more than the fish do, and are scavengers that would like a taste of everything.

 
 
very true!! 
 
The only reason they buy those fish is for cleanup crew. The pleco becomes very thin, very hungry and very aggressive. Just like our friendly amanos, they have a dark side only if you do not feed them enough.

 

[Paradise3]

I will admit I've seen hungry cory's get desperate before... And a hungry pleco... My friend had both in her tank(2ft with a common pleco, what a surprise) and she never fed any of them because they "eat the poo from the other fish and the algae that grows" The Pleco started eating her black widows(horribly stocked tank...) and the cory's started picking at the eyes of her guppies(one of which I bred for her!) so yeah... If you don't feed them(mine were very well fed) they do get desperate.

 

[DerpPH]

When times get tough. The fish/shrimp get tougher