# CPDs murdered a shrimp!?



## ZeeDeveel (1 Feb 2022)

Is this normal? Came home to find a shrimp with its insides everywhere and my CPDs picking at the flesh. 

The shrimp was fine this morning and seemed healthy, I'm quite sure the CPDs have killed it. The tank inhabitants are just CPDs and shrimp. 

The CPDs may have been hungry, they're new and i've been struggling to feed them as they're so shy.  I'm trying to feed them micro sinking pellets that the LFS said they were raised on. They run and hide whenever I try and put the pellets in, I've managed to get some of them to come out and catch the sinking pellets but possibly not all, can't know for sure. 

I'm leaving some of the pellets on the bottom of the tank and they seem to be disappearing so I think they are eating them. 

Is this likely just because they're hungry or is this an expected behavior? I don't know what to do now, I really want shrimp in my tank.


----------



## Nick potts (1 Feb 2022)

They will definitely eat shrimplets, but an adult shrimp should be fine with them.

Chances are the shrimp died and they have  eaten it after the fact.


----------



## ZeeDeveel (1 Feb 2022)

Nick potts said:


> They will definitely eat shrimplets, but an adult shrimp should be fine with them.
> 
> Chances are the shrimp died and they have  eaten it after the fact.


This is what I read before I introduced them, baby shrimp will get eaten but adults fine. 

Now with more Googling i'm finding more stories of people saying their shrimp have been massacred by CPDs


----------



## hypnogogia (1 Feb 2022)

Seriously fish suggest they eat small inverts., but given their diminutive size I’d be surprised if they eat a grown  shrimp.  





__





						Celestichthys margaritatus – Celestial Pearl ‘Danio’ (Danio margaritatus) — Seriously Fish
					






					www.seriouslyfish.com


----------



## MichaelJ (1 Feb 2022)

ZeeDeveel said:


> Is this normal? Came home to find a shrimp with its insides everywhere and my CPDs picking at the flesh.


Hi @ZeeDeveel , How big are those Pearl Danio's and how big was the shrimp and what type?   I've hardly ever seen a CPD above 1 inch. so  If it would be an adult shrimp, say Cherry or Crystal, I find it unlikely that the Diano did it.

Cheers,
Michael


----------



## Garuf (1 Feb 2022)

Oh yeah, they’ll take an unlucky adult cherry if they get half a chance. They’re extremely proficient and active hunters more than willing to take a chance on something many times larger than their mouth.


----------



## MichaelJ (1 Feb 2022)

Garuf said:


> Oh yeah, they’ll take an unlucky adult cherry if they get half a chance. They’re extremely proficient and active hunters more than willing to take a chance on something many times larger than their mouth.


Hi @Garuf, Well, thanks for that insight! I haven't had Pearl Danio's with shrimps so I wouldn't know .. I take it that my very large Cardinal Tetras and  Black Neon Tetras are just lazy   ... I've never seen them show any interest in my RCS shrimps or shrimplets - except for their pellet food dish where they eat side by side.

Cheers,
Michael


----------



## Maf 2500 (1 Feb 2022)

If the shrimp had just molted, or in the process of molting, would be a lot easier for the CPDs  to tear it up


----------



## MichaelJ (1 Feb 2022)

Maf 2500 said:


> If the shrimp had just molted, or in the process of molting, would be a lot easier for the CPDs  to tear it up


Yep! Thats it... more than enough circumstantial evidence to book that Danio for murder!


----------



## swyftfeet (1 Feb 2022)

MichaelJ said:


> Yep! Thats it... more than enough circumstantial evidence to book that Diano for murder!


Book'em Danio!


----------



## ZeeDeveel (1 Feb 2022)

Ah this is super annoying. I googled fairly extensively their shrimp suitability before purchase and everything I read was that they'd only go for babies. Now I've found a thread where someone calls them Murder Minnows and that they've killed over 100 of his shrimp. 

The RCS in question was a fair bit bigger than a CPD. I'd say 1.5 - 2x the size.


----------



## Konsa (1 Feb 2022)

Hi
why don't you try to source some live food on the smaller size to supplement their feed.It may build a habit of them CDP to hunt smaller pray and ignore the rest.My SAP Puffers took liking for certain foods only and refusing to eat snails and don't bother the Amano shrimp living with them.
Regards Konstantin


----------



## ZeeDeveel (1 Feb 2022)

Konsa said:


> Hi
> why don't you try to source some live food on the smaller size to supplement their feed.It may build a habit of them CDP to hunt smaller pray and ignore the rest.My SAP Puffers took liking for certain foods only and refusing to eat snails and don't bother the Amano shrimp living with them.
> Regards Konstantin


Thank you I was thinking about this too. Do LFS stock Daphnia usually?


----------



## KirstyF (1 Feb 2022)

I would second trying live or frozen. Mine love it. Frozen daphnia is a good size for them or even Cyclops if you have any super small ones. It tends to stay up in the water column a bit so is enticing and I also feed with the flow still running. They seem to be much more interested in food that is whizzing about. 

How many do you have in the tank and what is the tank size?

Any chance of adding more or another dither fish to help with their confidence. Might help to get them eating better. 

Mine are anything but shy but they have quite a few pals and lots of places to hide. Despite the hides holes I see them in the open space even more than my cardinals! 

I only have Amano’s which absolutely dwarf the CPD’s so can’t really vouch for smaller shrimp safety but I’m guessing feeding them up would help.


----------



## KirstyF (1 Feb 2022)

ZeeDeveel said:


> Thank you I was thinking about this too. Do LFS stock Daphnia usually?



Not sure where you are but most LFS will stock frozen at least, even Pets at Home sell it. Live is a little less common.


----------



## ZeeDeveel (1 Feb 2022)

KirstyF said:


> I would second trying live or frozen. Mine love it. Frozen daphnia is a good size for them or even Cyclops if you have any super small ones. It tends to stay up in the water column a bit so is enticing and I also feed with the flow still running. They seem to be much more interested in food that is whizzing about.
> 
> How many do you have in the tank and what is the tank size?
> 
> ...


I have a shoal of 6 in a planted bowl along with a few RCS. So no room for dither fish or a bigger group. No doubt a bigger aquarium would give the RCS a much better chance but as I said everything I researched said they wouldn't attack an adult shrimp and I watched their interactions, they seem to ignore the shrimp for the most part until I see one chewn to pieces today. 

They are getting less shy with each day so feeding will get easier but I do think some tiny live food might be a good option. I wonder if frozen daphnia would still illicit a similar hunting response to live?


----------



## KirstyF (1 Feb 2022)

I see!! Not so easy to whizz it about in a bowl! 
 A very pretty bowl btw. 😊
I’m not sure tbf but as frozen can be much easier to source and keep, I think it’s worth a try. 

If they don’t show an interest you can still try live and I think live is always nice occasionally anyway. 

You could also try a micro worm culture. At least you could keep that going at home and not have to worry about keep going out to get live food….and they wriggle!! 😊


----------



## Jaseon (2 Feb 2022)

I think that bowl is way too small for those fish. Throwing shrimp in the mix means they have no place to escape, and being such a small area all the focus is on them.


----------



## Garuf (2 Feb 2022)

Yeahhhhhh Jaseon is on the money with this one, unless it’s an optical illusion and that’s a 10gallon bowl it’s a bit too far along the nano scale for fish and as he points out, shrimp, when added will be very much victimised given their very strong hunting response. 

I feed mine on a mix of live, frozen and dried and in the year or so I’ve been keeping them they will hunt shrimp, their own fry, shrimplets and basically anything other than what I feed them. 

I haven’t been able to get a stable cherry line going in their tank, they’re too good at picking of babies.


----------



## MrClockOff (2 Feb 2022)

ZeeDeveel said:


> Is this normal? Came home to find a shrimp with its insides everywhere and my CPDs picking at the flesh.
> 
> The shrimp was fine this morning and seemed healthy, I'm quite sure the CPDs have killed it. The tank inhabitants are just CPDs and shrimp.
> 
> ...


I've seen my neons doing this same thing few times but I'm sure my shrimp was already dead.


----------



## Garuf (2 Feb 2022)

MrClockOff said:


> I've seen my neons doing this same thing few times but I'm sure my shrimp was already dead.


Yeah, if already dead all fish will pick at a tasty shrimp inc things we consider algae eaters like otocinclus. I’m gut instinct is that is what the op has observed. 

_deep breath_ howeverrrr, knowing the species in question from daily observation, I know that if they get a chance and get lucky, they can will and do take down cherries as large as themselves. 

I aren’t sure there is a shrimp safe fish, just varying degrees of predation, tiny male least killi, will take shrimp up to as large as themselves, male endlers if they aren’t chasing females will take shrimp up to 1cm, mosquito rasbora will take shrimplets   up to about 6mm… 

I’ve been called out before for coming over as high and mighty, So, Please don’t take this like I’m saying you aren’t an observant fish keeper, I’m not exactly 10/10 one myself. 
But it’s my experience from observation that if it can eat it, it will eat it. My vampire crabs would actively hunt endlers and cherries yet many insist there’s never did. My cpds and least killis I see hunting shrimp, Ive seen otos take a newborn cherry and so on. Just because it hasn’t been seen, doesn’t mean it’s not happening.


----------



## Jaseon (2 Feb 2022)

Garuf said:


> 6mm…
> 
> I’ve been called out before for coming over as high and mighty.



Why are you so high and mighty? 

I like to treat shrimp like any other animal, and they can get stressed like fish do. Some people dont seem to mind their fish occasionally chasing them or nipping away at them or eating there babies, but they deserve like fish to live in a comfortable stress free environment. Why do i get called out for being preachy?....i dunno lol.


----------



## Gill (2 Feb 2022)

As far as I know there is only 1 shrimp safe fish.  And they are the Sundadanio Axelrodi.
Any thing else will take a shrimp if it can.


----------



## dw1305 (2 Feb 2022)

Hi all,


swyftfeet said:


> Book'em Danio!


<"Another one"> for @Hufsa.

cheers Darrel


----------



## pat1cp (2 Feb 2022)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> <"Another one"> for @Hufsa.
> 
> cheers Darrel


I was going to use that line and gave out an audible groan when I noticed @swyftfeet had beaten me to it.


----------

