# Missing shrimps



## Rob Dahl (12 Jan 2015)

I have been unable to find any of my shrimp since Friday 11/9. Here is a breakdown:
2–_Palaemonetes spp. glass shrimp
2–Cardina multidentata amano shrimp
2–Neocaridina heterododa var. Rili,_red rili shrimp
_2–Neocaridina heteropoda var. Rili,_orange rili shrimp
_4 Caradina japonica, _Amano shrimp
On Sunday I did my 40% weekly water change with the usual distilled water in my Fluval flora 7.9 gal. along with a usual post WC Flourish Excel treatment (liquid CO2). Tested my water this morning and the only unusual reading was 0ppm. KH. & (Ph 6.5) It usually varies from 20-80. Everything else normal- nitrates less than 10, nitrates 0, GHppm=75, Chlorine=0
*update: my wife just spotted two ghosts or Amanos good sign. I didn't mention that there are lots of hiding places. Here's my tank:


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## alto (12 Jan 2015)

Likely if you removed the fish, you'd see the shrimps out more - definitely very hard to do a count with that much plant mass; most shrimps will come out to collect tasty treats though so if you feed frozen brine shrimp etc, I'd expect some action.
When I want to do a shrimp count I settle next to the tank for a good while, toss in the bbs & watch for what comes


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## Michael W (12 Jan 2015)

I don't know when you have taken this picture but from a quick glimpse right now I can see 4 shrimps, 3 shrimps down in the left corner (Red Rili, Orange Rili, Amano or glass shrimp), another shrimp just below the tail of the Neon furthest to the right.


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## Rob Dahl (12 Jan 2015)

Thank you ?
Too hard to remove shrimp. I will try the brine shrimp method


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## Rob Dahl (12 Jan 2015)

Thank you Micha,
Picture was taken before the shrimp were missed.


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## Rob Dahl (12 Jan 2015)

Added some frozen brine shrimp and noticed a red and an orange rili and a couple of Amanos snooping around. So the rest are probably just hiding out. Whew!


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## Rob Dahl (13 Jan 2015)

They're back! Just took patience:





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## Rob Dahl (13 Jan 2015)

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## Jason Burk (15 Jan 2015)

Hi Rob
if you ever cant find any shrimp and are concerned,  one of the best things to do is once the lights turn off, wait a while and have a look for them then - obviously giving yourself enough light to be able to look for them. From my experience, Shrimp tend to be more confident exploring when its darker, they likely feel less vulnerable. 

For example, I have only Caridina cantonensis shrimp in my aquarium, so even with zero predators in the tank, they seem to prefer the lights out. 
This is some spinach I gave them, and after a couple hours only a few are on it.. 



And this is 5 minutes after the lights turned off... 




Remember, shrimp like to hide 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Rob Dahl (15 Jan 2015)

Thank you Jason. I'll give it a try (with frozen brine shrimp to lure them)


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## X3NiTH (15 Jan 2015)

It's hard to believe sometimes that there are about 500 cherry shrimp in my main tank, you see a few here and there, if I chuck some pellets in then about 100 or so will brave the fish to appear from out underneath my plants for an easy meal. I have it in my head that If I were to lift the bogwood up a cloud of shrimp would appear like flies from a fresh cowpat on a summers day! I thought all my Red Rilli had been eaten by the fish until I started seeing hybrids with the cherries I had chucked in there (had zero RR males all were female). 

Hide and seek champions, the more places you give them to hide the better they get at it!


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## Rob Dahl (15 Jan 2015)

Thank you X3NiTH,
I always enjoyed hide and seek when I was a kid. Learning to enjoy it once again.
BTW- What do you feed them?


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## X3NiTH (15 Jan 2015)

At the moment the pellet food I use is JBL Novo Prawn (all I could find locally) and maybe once a week throw in a couple of wafers of Shirakura Ebi Dama Special, though I've just run out of that so I'll need some more. Fresh foods that occasionally go in are a Baby Spinach leaf or two or a slice of Red Bell Pepper. These things break down quickly and can make the water TDS rise if they are left uneaten, the pellet breaks down in a couple of hours if untouched, the Ebi Dama doesn't break down but will go off after a couple of days if uneaten, if it's continualy fed upon it will last until it's gone (I feed just enough that none is left next day and then maybe skip a day), fresh food lasts a little longer if uneaten but after a couple of days if it looks ignored I'll remove it rather than it break down in the tank. I have found that Cattapa bark can be left in the tank long term (it's supposed to be beneficial) that gets eaten continually and one stick in my tank has been reduced to the width of a sheet of paper, dried leaf litter will get eaten also. 

Every now and then I'll use a pipette loaded with Spirulina and Chlorella mixed in a drop or two of water with Aminovita-P and Biozyme, forms a nice paste that I can lace a piece of Cattapa bark, that gets devoured pretty quickly.


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## Rob Dahl (16 Jan 2015)

Thank you X3NiTH,
I have been feeding flake fish food, Hikari micro pellets, AZOO Max breed, & frozen brine shrimp alternating foods each day. The fish (10) eat most, I think. I try to see that all is eaten over about 1/2 hr. Have been considering fasting them (and myself?) once a week. NEWS ITEM: One of the two female orange rillis is now berried and I think I can see some eyes. I enclose an image.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/16293985265/in/photostream/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/129377489@N05/16293985265/in/photostream/[/IMG[/IMG


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