Don't Mix Your Shrimp!

[Rosemarie]

I'm new at fish keeping, so rely on the internet for advice. The advice about keeping different species of shrimps appears to be wrong. I was having a problem with algae, so decided to get some shrimps. I bought 4 red cherry shrimp (it's only a 5gallon tank). Five weeks later, they all looked healthy and were growing but weren't having much effect on the algae, so I decided to add some amano shrimp. I checked first that they would be compatible and the advice was that all varieties of shrimp will live peacefully together. That was a week ago and I have just found the bodies of two of the red shrimp and the others have disappeared. I haven't done anything differently so the conclusion seems to be that the amano shrimp killed them.

 

[TTouch]

Amano Shrimp and Red Cherry Shrimp will live just fine together, although Amano Shrimp are quite aggressive about gathering food at feeding time so it is important to put enough food to fill the Amano Shrimp and allow the Cherries to get some as well. .... my thought is were the Amano you purchased healthy, could they have introduced a bacterial infection that affected/killed the others

https://www.vivofish.com/amano-shrimp/

 

[LittleGoldSnail]

I wouldn’t blame it on the Amano shrimp. There are tons of things that can go wrong with shrimp. IMO Amano shrimp are not aggressive. They are actually one of the mellower varieties of shrimp. IF your cherries were killed by the Amano shrimp, then that probably means you were sold large ghost shrimp, not real Amano shrimp.

Amano shrimp and cherries are both super peaceful, so my guess would be a water quality issue or internal issues.

I would test your water hardness. Really hard water can kill cherries. Shrimp shed fairly regularly. Hard water often effects cherry shrimps ability to shed.
When you first add them to a tank with hard water, they can often appear fine, but if the water is hard enough to make it difficult for them to shed, the will often die off after a few weeks.

Another possibility is ammonia poisoning. I don’t know what your tank parameters are, but shrimp are really sensitive to ammonia and nitrite poisoning. The addition of the Amano shrimp may have caused and ammonia spike.

Next would be internal issues. Usually internal problems happen with shrimp from petcos, petsmarts, etc. I don’t like buying shrimp from chains stores because they always sell really inbred shrimp that will die after a couple months no matter what you do. Get your shrimp from a good LFS or private breeder.

In order to figure out what is wrong, I’d recommend posting your water perimeters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, KH, GH, PH etc) and what store you got the shrimp from. Also, some more details about the tank would be very helpful to figure out what is wrong (I.e type of filtration, heating, what kind of plant life you have, etc).

 

[TTouch]

IMO Amano shrimp are not aggressive.

Not what I said!

Amano Shrimp are quite aggressive about gathering food at feeding time so it is important to put enough food to fill the Amano Shrimp and allow the Cherries to get some as well

 

[LittleGoldSnail]

Not what I said!

Amano shrimp are quite mellow and very rarely would ever show aggressive behavior. If you have “aggressive” Amano shrimp, they are most likely a type of ghost shrimp that had been mislabeled.

I’ve kept Amanos, and they behave quite similarly to cherries. They are pretty mellow.

Just because a shrimp is being a little pushy when it’s eating and is hungry and trying to get food is not “aggressiveness”
Aggression is when it gets territorial or preys on other shrimp. I’ve never seen an Amano shrimp do that.

 

[TTouch]

Disagree all you want....... research the terminology I used , "Aggressive" and "aggression" mean different things.... and below are several sites which use the same terminology as I have

Amano Shrimp and Red Cherry Shrimp will live just fine together, although Amano Shrimp are quite aggressive about gathering food at feeding time so it is important to put enough food to fill the Amano Shrimp and allow the Cherries to get some as well. .... my thought is were the Amano you purchased healthy, could they have introduced a bacterial infection that affected/killed the others

https://www.vivofish.com/amano-shrimp/

I think I made it VERY clear how I framed the use of the word 'aggressive' ie "quite aggressive about gathering food at feeding time"
Aggressive means "behaving or done in a determined and forceful way"

Just because a shrimp is being a little pushy when it’s eating and is hungry and trying to get food is not “aggressiveness”
Aggression is when it get territorial or preys on other shrimp. I’ve never seen an Amano shrimp prey on another shrimp.

nor do I use the term "aggression" which which means something different "the action of attacking without provocation "

So you are arguing about something that was NOT SAID!

https://www.theaquariumguide.com/articles/amano-shrimp-3 "The shrimp is an aggressive food hunter and a powerful swimmer as well. "

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/amano-shrimp-aggressive.327099/ "If they don't have a steady diet they can be highly aggressive to those they feel are getting the food they need."

https://www.plantedtank.net/threads/amano-shrimp-a-not-so-good-shrimp.186594/ "When it comes to feeding time they became too aggressive towards others. "

https://aquariumbreeder.com/amano-shrimp-detailed-guide-care-diet-and-breeding/ "They are not aggressive in general; unless it is a feeding time then they become voracious and ravenous ... "

 

[LittleGoldSnail]

Disagree all you want....... research the terminology I used , "Aggressive" and "aggression" mean different things.... and below are several sites which use the same terminology as I have



I think I made it VERY clear how I framed the use of the word 'aggressive' ie "quite aggressive about gathering food at feeding time"
Aggressive means "behaving or done in a determined and forceful way"



nor do I use the term "aggression" which which means something different "the action of attacking without provocation "

So you are arguing about something that was NOT SAID!

https://www.theaquariumguide.com/articles/amano-shrimp-3 "The shrimp is an aggressive food hunter and a powerful swimmer as well. "

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/amano-shrimp-aggressive.327099/ "If they don't have a steady diet they can be highly aggressive to those they feel are getting the food they need."

https://www.plantedtank.net/threads/amano-shrimp-a-not-so-good-shrimp.186594/ "When it comes to feeding time they became too aggressive towards others. "

https://aquariumbreeder.com/amano-shrimp-detailed-guide-care-diet-and-breeding/ "They are not aggressive in general; unless it is a feeding time then they become voracious and ravenous ... "

My apologies for the misunderstanding. I wasn’t intending be demeaning or offend you.

I was merely saying that Amano shrimp are not aggressive towards other shrimp. Yes the are “aggressive feeders” in that sense of the word, but typically when talking about fish aggression in an aquarium, an “aggressive” fish or invertebrate is one that is territorial or preys on other aquatic livestock.

I was just clarifying to the OP that Amano shrimp are not aggressive toward other shrimp and I believe that something else caused the death of the cherry shrimp.

I sincerely apologize that I offended you and I wasn’t intending to start an argument. This is a forum intended for peaceful discussion, not arguing.

 

[LittleGoldSnail]

Disagree all you want....... research the terminology I used , "Aggressive" and "aggression" mean different things.... and below are several sites which use the same terminology as I have



I think I made it VERY clear how I framed the use of the word 'aggressive' ie "quite aggressive about gathering food at feeding time"
Aggressive means "behaving or done in a determined and forceful way"



nor do I use the term "aggression" which which means something different "the action of attacking without provocation "

So you are arguing about something that was NOT SAID!

https://www.theaquariumguide.com/articles/amano-shrimp-3 "The shrimp is an aggressive food hunter and a powerful swimmer as well. "

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/amano-shrimp-aggressive.327099/ "If they don't have a steady diet they can be highly aggressive to those they feel are getting the food they need."

https://www.plantedtank.net/threads/amano-shrimp-a-not-so-good-shrimp.186594/ "When it comes to feeding time they became too aggressive towards others. "

https://aquariumbreeder.com/amano-shrimp-detailed-guide-care-diet-and-breeding/ "They are not aggressive in general; unless it is a feeding time then they become voracious and ravenous ... "

Frankly though, this post is off topic, the whole point was to tell OP that the Amano shrimp were probably not the culprits and Amano shrimp wouldn’t just go on a cherry killing spree.

If you would like to PM me about the dictionarial definition of the word aggression, then by all means, please yourself. Just please keep it to the private messages so it doesn’t distract from the point of this thread.

 

[TTouch]

My apologies for the misunderstanding. I wasn’t intending be demeaning or offend you.

I don't feel demeaned or offended... I feel frustrated that terminology triggered you rather than reading what I wrote which turned out to be exactly the same as you advised

Amano Shrimp and Red Cherry Shrimp will live just fine together, although Amano Shrimp are quite aggressive about gathering food at feeding time so it is important to put enough food to fill the Amano Shrimp and allow the Cherries to get some as well. .... my thought is were the Amano you purchased healthy, could they have introduced a bacterial infection that affected/killed the others

so really no need for you to post this last post

Frankly though, this post is off topic, the whole point was to tell OP that the Amano shrimp were probably not the culprits and Amano shrimp wouldn’t just go on a cherry killing spree.

 

[LittleGoldSnail]

I don't feel demeaned or offended... I feel frustrated that terminology triggered you rather than reading what I wrote which turned out to be exactly the same as you advised



so really no need for you to post this last post

My first post wasn’t pertaining to yours. If I was replaying to your post, I would have quoted it. I was talking to the OP. I think you thought I was replying to you, so you took it as an argumentative disagreement. In all honesty, I didn’t even read your first post till after I had replied to the OP. I was, in fact, agreeing with your first post.

I think that’s probably where the confusion happened.

Terribly sorry about that! I need to get better at remembering to quote the OP when replying to a thread so it’s clear who I’m talking to.

 

[Rosemarie]

I'm sorry I seem to have sparked off an argument!
I appreciate your advice, it's all very confusing when different sources give different information.
I do weekly water changes and add Seachem prime each time. I understood that was the best product to use. I tested for ammonia and it was 0. My fish are neon tetras and are doing fine.
I'm now keeping an eye on the other shrimp and so far they look ok.
If they all sicken and die, then I will know they brought in something with them.
If that does happen, will the virus be in the water? Should I completely empty the tank, clean everything and start again with fresh water?
Thanks for your help.

 

[LittleGoldSnail]

I'm sorry I seem to have sparked off an argument!
I appreciate your advice, it's all very confusing when different sources give different information.
I do weekly water changes and add Seachem prime each time. I understood that was the best product to use. I tested for ammonia and it was 0. My fish are neon tetras and are doing fine.
I'm now keeping an eye on the other shrimp and so far they look ok.
If they all sicken and die, then I will know they brought in something with them.
If that does happen, will the virus be in the water? Should I completely empty the tank, clean everything and start again with fresh water?
Thanks for your help.

Do not completely clean everything. Scrubbing down the whole talk will kill a lot of your beneficial bacteria. Just keep doing your normal water changes and wait a few weeks before trying them again. I would also recommend getting your shrimp from a different source to see if it was just the store.

Do you have any live plant life in the tank? The more live plants, the better. Shrimp love lots of plants.

My guess is either stress or internal problems killed them. Cherry shrimp can be quite sensitive.

you might want to try adding some almond leaves. Both neons an shrimp really like blackwater.

 

[Rosemarie]

Thank you.
A brief update...all the shrimp are now dead. Feeling very upset, but I suppose I'll have to put it down to experience.

 

[TTouch]

A brief update...all the shrimp are now dead. Feeling very upset, but I suppose I'll have to put it down to experience.

Oh I am sorry for your loss, it seems more likely then the new ones had a viral disease which was introduced to your tank