Cherry Shrimp

[giddygid]

hi,

i bought 50 cherry shrimps yesterday, and all of them seem to be doing really well. the thing is: some of them seem to really like swimming about the tank a lot. is that considered normal? it's an all-shrimp tank.

i'm using a regular internal box filter (small one), but the current it gives out seems to be quite strong. is that ok for the shrimp? those that swim in front of the outlet get swept away.

also, with the ac fan blowing on the surface of the water, and the contribution from the filter's current, the duckweed on the water surface keep moving about. on the whole, the tank doesn't look v. peaceful/still at all. any suggestions?

[Robert]

Hi,
50 shrimps is a lot. I hope your tank is well cycled and the filter is effective because of the high bioload. If not the high bioload leads to a lot of ammonia, nitrite and later on to lots of nitrate. These poisons stress your shrimps and an kill them. It could be the reason for the fast swimming through the tank.

The males also swim fast through the tank if they want to breed. It happens from time to time without any visible reason. But then almost only males swim through tank while looking for females. So observe your tank and if you can see any death ones, check your water parameters. I recommend to check them even today to see what is the reason for this behavior.

The current of your filter should be no problem if there are some places to hide like driftwood etc. . Shrimps often like a strong current from time to time. In their normal habitat they live in brooks and small rivers, so they are used to current if they want to find need sources of food in other parts of the brook. Give them some places to hide from the current e.g. pieces of driftwood or pebbles, so that they can decide.

regards

Robert

[giddygid]

hmm..something strange happened today.
most of the shrimp seem to be in hiding, and when i fed them blood worms, only a few are in the open eating. any explanation for this?

[silane]

Did you cycle the tank before putting in the shrimps? Robert has pointed out many valid points, perhaps you should let us know if you have done what he suspect you have not or vice visa, so we can then help you further. There are just too many reason why shrimp would die.

When they don;t eat and don't move, it is certainly a bad news for you, the water has turn bad. Do a water change. Stop feeding them, the waste food will make the water worse.