# Can Tetras kill shrimp?



## Chriso (16 Apr 2018)

Hi Everyone, I'm new to the forum so I'm sorry to post with a question like this, but I'm really puzzled...
Two days ago, I bought six Queensland Algae Eating Shrimp for my 45cm nano cube. They weren't fully grown but I'd say around 15mm long. I found two of them dead this afternoon and wondered whether they might have been bullied by the Black Neon Tetra's I have in there too? I've spotted the remaining shrimp, but they seem to be in hiding, whereas yesterday all six were out and busy. I've read mixed reports about keeping shrimps and fish together and have seen numerous examples where they seem fine. These I bought were also supposedly quite robust in terms of water parameters etc. and I try to be very careful about ensuring that no other chemicals are introduced into the tank inadvertently.
My set-up is a follows:
Tank: 45cm cubed Nano, established 3 months ago.
ADA Aquasoil Amazonia.
Filtration: Eheim 250 Classic
Lighting: Fluval Aura for 8 hrs (Upgrading to AI Freshwater Prime in a couple of days)
Ph 7.2 (before CO2) 6.4 (after CO2)
KH 3
Temp 24ºC
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate <5
CO2 1bps for 8hrs staggered by 1 hr with lighting (gives round 30ppm by my estimation).

Any advice or thoughts would be great! Thanks.


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## Chriso (16 Apr 2018)

Here's the tank, please excuse the planting scheme, it's a bit haphazard as I'm still learning about plant habit etc.


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## tam (16 Apr 2018)

That's quite a bit of cover, I'd guess the issue was acclimatisation related.


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## kadoxu (16 Apr 2018)

How did you acclimate the shrimp? 
How hard is your water?


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## Chriso (16 Apr 2018)

Thanks, tam and kadoxu. I acclimatised the shrimps by placing their bag in the top of the tank for an hour with some holes pierced in the sides to allow the waters to mingle gradually. Not sure about my GH as I don't have a test kit at the moment. I do know it's not a particularly hard water area though. 
I did some plant pruning/replanting and a partial water change yesterday, do you think the disturbance might have caused problems as they'd only been put in 24 hrs before that?


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## tam (16 Apr 2018)

If you use tap water then your supplier may publish reports for hardness - were they from a local fish shop i.e. likely to have come from the same water? 

CO2 can be an issue sometimes too, if they aren't used to it - turning it off and then gradually increasing again can help them adjust gradually.


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## Chriso (16 Apr 2018)

Thanks tam, I didn’t think of that. The breakdown on the supplier website says a GH of 5.9, which I’m thinking is quite soft. The shop where I bought them isn’t immediately local—about a hour’s drive, their GH seems to be 4.3. That said, perhaps they use RO as well? It sounds like  acclimatisation could be the issue, as you say. Is there anything I should do now, or should I wait to see if they come round?


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## tam (16 Apr 2018)

In future you could consider drip acclimatising them - it pretty easy and gives you a bit more control over the speed of change. It doesn't sound like your water should be too drastically different though.

I'm not familiar with Queensland Algae Shrimp - the normal amanos do like it a little harder so if you water is closer to 4 than 6 a GH booster may help. That's probably more of a longer term issue though.

You could turn it down temporarily and see if that helped make them a bit bolder/more active. If it did then just build up again slowly. If you are worried about the effect on your plants, turn the lights down to match to keep things balanced.

Fingers crossed the remaining ones adjust with a bit more time


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## Chriso (17 Apr 2018)

Thanks again tam, I'll try what you suggest. Unfortunately, we can't get Amanos here in Aus. There are many here who'd love some but our biosecurity is pretty strict, and rightly so, I think.


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## roadmaster (17 Apr 2018)

Might not be anything but expected loss of a couple of the shrimp due to transport?
With established three month old tank ,perhaps the other's are just busy munching on hardscape /substrate, for the abundance of biofilm/microbial critter's/infusoria that has developed with age.?
If all of the shrimp however begin to die,then I might become suspect of water chemistry ,and or damage from the fishes that maybe would not need to actually eat the shrimp's,,but only nip at them whenever they are seen out and the shrimps succumb from the damage.
Me thinks small shrimp are on the menu for near all species of fishes.
Fishes with tiny mouth's, such as  Threadfin Rainbow's might be better choice?.


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## kadoxu (17 Apr 2018)

With shrimp, water changes should be as minimal as possible (10% weekly is the usual recommendation), as they are really sensitive to changes in water parameters.
With low GH you may also have molting issues. 
As for acclimating, drip acclimation is best, the next best one is to add small bits of tank water to their bags every 30mins for at least 2 hours, when the bag gets too full, you dump half the water out and keep adding small bits of water every 30 mins.
Like @roadmaster mentioned, it may also be just transport stress. 
I have Tetras with shrimp and never had an issue.


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## lucaz koh (21 Apr 2018)

Personally I think it’s a hit and miss kinda of thing. All comes down to size and who was there first. 

Case in point, introduced rummy nose tetras before shrimp, all shrimp got chased around and eaten. 

Removed rummynoses, added shrimp, then some cardinals, the cardinals grew to full size without ever touching the shrimp


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## alto (21 Apr 2018)

Maybe ... 

Rummy's are quite different character than cardinals, & with any of 3 species being sold under the common name, even more disparate 

I've had plenty of fish coexist apparently peacefully with various shrimp species, only to develop a sudden intense consuming! interest after weeks - months of the former


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## lucaz koh (22 Apr 2018)

Agreed. Nothing broke my 20 year old heart more than watching my £5 worth of cherry shrimp being held in the rummynoses’ mouths.


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## sciencefiction (22 Apr 2018)

I've kept corydoras, hillstream loaches, platies and ottos successfully in a fish tank without the shrimp population being affected in the slightest.
I also once ended up adding my large enough clown loaches in a large tank that had run for years with corys, platies and shrimp, which tank ended up gushing on the floor one day. Upon taking up everything apart, I rescued hundreds of shrimp and I had to leave many to die, The clowns decimated the slow snails but not the fast shrimp, meaning that the entire issue is related to 1st, shrimp population is not introduced and left to establish first before predatory fish are added. 2nd. The fish tank is too small for shrimp to escape. Shrimp are actually rather fast but in a 45cm, 60cm tanks, etc... there's nowhere to run...


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## Jessica sergeant (28 May 2018)

Yes tetras can kill/ try an eat shrimp. My neons and serpae have attacked a few of my shrimp before now. And have found one without its head not long ago too. Although i usually find its the smaller ones they will attack such as babies or cherry/dwarf shrimps. I have amanos in my community tank and none of the fish bother with these as they obviously too big for them to fit in its mouth.


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## Keith GH (30 May 2018)

I bought the Darwin Algae Shrimp which is exactly the same and possibly all breed from the same variety.
Mine came from Dave in Darwin and never a failure and 99% arrived within 24hrs 3,700+klm, road, air and road again.
You say you live in Adelaide and that is known for not having the best of waters.
I always floated the bag in a net and kept adding a little tank water over many hrs.  (lights off) as they had been in darkness for a long time.
Water changes I did 2x35% weekly.

Keith


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## ukracDecember (4 Dec 2021)

WoW. Your aquarium is awesome. It says here that the most important thing for shrimp in an aquarium with tetras is multiple hiding spots. And you got plenty of those. The only remaining problem is future baby shrimps that have no chance against tetras. So make sure to transfer female shrimp for hatching.


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## Kelvin12 (4 Dec 2021)

Awesome tank I am a real fan of the jungle look.   Keith GH might have something here about your water.  My DAE's are tough as boots although full grown now and have survived a few different fish in their time.   If you keep loosing them can you pull them out, (I know thats near impossible in tanks like you have) and get hold of some RO water and remineralizer.  I think it has more to do with your water like Keith GH says.


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## ScapingScotsman (5 Dec 2021)

I've had cardinals before now, and they went to town on the few cherry shrimp I had, pulled them to pieces. A very sad and painful learning curve to watch.


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## Sean Scapes (3 Jan 2022)

I have cherry shrimps and multiple types of tetras in my tank. I actually added my cherries after I had the tetras. I have x-ray, black phantoms, glow lights and neon tetras of which none bother the shrimps. I have found a few cherries with heads missing or dead but normally its a failed moult is the cause or a corydoras has bashed it mid moult will rummaging. With breeding I never remove the females I let nature take its course so to speak and now from 5 cherries I now have a population well over 200+ in 6 months i've had them. Moss is a perfect place for new born cherries to hide and feed. 

I do large water changes every week as shrimp need the hardness with moulting.


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## AlecF (3 Jan 2022)

Beautiful tank. I've even had Least Killifish eating shrimp. Now that I have moved them and the tank is shrimp only I have babies, not before. I'd imagine tetras would take shrimp.


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## Garuf (3 Jan 2022)

I was about to post that I have least killis and even the tiny males will take baby shrimp. I haven’t seen a single baby shrimp in the tank with galaxies, they’re extremely predatory when you watch their behaviour. Neons exhibit much the same behaviour where if it enters the water column and it can be picked apart, it is. 

I think it’s one of those you might not see it happen, but I bet you it is if you watched for long enough.


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## Andy Pierce (3 Jan 2022)

My (very sad) experience as well, with rummy nosed tetras but also particularly with 5/6-banded barbs.  If you have lots of hiding places that just delays the inevitable.  I don't know about if full-size RCS were given a go but the juveniles were all gone within the week.


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## shangman (3 Jan 2022)

I have noticed my Cardinal tetras eat smaller shrimp, but only if the shrimp are being chased by an apisto or newly added and confused, they seem to realise it's something to chase and hunt if the shrimp is already trying to escape. If the shrimp are just chilling they don't notice them at all, I've seen whole groups of tiny shrimp quite out in the open and obvious to me but the tetras ignore them. 

Apistos will go nosing about the undergrowth to search for shrimps, but my population is definitely increasing so they clearly aren't that thorough. Lots of moss and other plants, especially near the top of the tank seems to help a lot, my shrimp almost exclusively live in the top 3rd of the tank.


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## Jaseon (3 Jan 2022)

When i set up an aquarium for my farther in law i suggested some amanos first to help graze on any algae that might flare up. The tank has been running for several months, and the tank is decently stocked with loaches, tetra, barbs etc, but the amanos are thriving. They are big as well, and seem to be able to look after themselves no problems.

As for the ornamentals Ive kind of gone with a flat out no with adding them in a community tank. At the very least they should always be added first so they can grow to full size, and feel established before adding anything else. I just think apart from the bigger amanos they are just too fragile for me, and should be kept in a dedicated set up.


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## AlecF (3 Jan 2022)

It's true, I never saw the killifish killing them. I found them dead, but mostly uneaten. At first I thought it was water parameters. But as soon as the killifish were gone the shrimp were out more and no more dead ones appeared. I found they especially killed the RCS; they weren't the smallest, but maybe they were the slowest. It's also true that so much behaviour in tanks seems to be learnt, and one species of fish will copy another. Big amanos  are left alone in my experience.


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## Konsa (3 Jan 2022)

Hi
Amano shrimp are completely different "monster" to the other freshwater shrimps.I will be more wary of the amanos if hungry desimating plants or picking small tetras for food than small fish being a threat to them.My fully grown female amanos compete with my SAP Puffers for frozen mysis shrimp and bloodworms and stand their ground fairly well for nearly 4 years living together with them.
Regards Konstantin


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## zozo (3 Jan 2022)

My mate was complaining seeing his Tetra's eating shrimps... I"m not 100% sure I have to ask again, but I believe he showed me these.







Obviously, whit shrimps anytime!!!

I had Embers that weren't really afraid of Amano shrimps...


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## hypnogogia (3 Jan 2022)

@zozo great music. What is it?


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## dw1305 (3 Jan 2022)

Hi all, 


shangman said:


> I have noticed my Cardinal tetras eat smaller shrimp


I think that black-water fish tend to try and <"eat anything that is potentially edible">. I assume it is because they come from nutrient poor habitats, where you can't be too "picky".

cheers Darrel


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## zozo (3 Jan 2022)

hypnogogia said:


> @zozo great music. What is it?


The hint is in the title... The Movie...


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## mort (4 Jan 2022)

I've personally seen a group of glowlights go full piranha feeding frenzy on some yellow cherry shrimp. Admittedly the fish were there first and these were new shrimp being added in a lfs but it was amazingly brutal for what you think is a placid species. The shop setup dedicated shrimp tanks shortly after.


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