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Found out the hard way that even small tetras can be predators. I went to the pet store for fish food. I found a few pest/pond snails there. I asked the guy to bag them up for me. No problem. Then on a whim asked for a half dozen ghost shrimp. He put them all in the same bag. When I got home, I realized I couldn't just reach in and pick out the snails. Sooo.... everybody had to go into the tank. I'll be doggone if Bulldozer (Angel) didn't pick off 2-3 in the first 5 minutes. I thought they have a chance if they get under/into the plant roots. I had more errands to run, so off I went. I came home to see I had 3 left. WoW! Make a cup of tea, look back in the tank... The emperor tetra has the largest of the 3 shrimp by the head and is happily munching away. My jaw dropped. It then discarded the body and hunted out one more, eating only the head! Now I know I can't even trust smaller fish to play nice.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

I put a pinch of chunk crab in the tank. Man did the fish go nuts!

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

Hi Kelly,
I found the same thing when I decided I wanted to put
some cherry shrimp in my tank. I did it twice before I
finally found the culprets... My Black Skirt tetras.
I caught one with part of a shrimp sticking out of its
mouth. That was an expensive dinner.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Yep,

I lost a dozen ghost shrimp the same way.... I think it was to black skirts like Frank, least they were cheaper than cherries !


^_^

Maybe I should get some Ghost shrimp as a snack for my Neons. I used to feed some to my Bala as a snack when I had him.

I've just made a mistake in the same category.

I bought a couple of Neocaridina heteropoda shrimps for the Panda Fun Palace (which is slowly being restocked after a wipeout during a period of illness), and lo and behold, 48 hours later, one of them is lying on the bottom, as dead as the Norwegian Blue from the Monty Python parrot sketch. The only other occupants of that tank at the moment are 11 Cardinal Tetras, 5 of which are smaller than the now-dead shrimp. I have a funny feeling I won't be putting any more shrimp in that tank.

It just goes to show that even us old hands can be caught out. I thought that the Cardinals wouldn't pose a problem, especially as they're kept well fed, but lo and behold, it appears they decided overnight to beat up my shrimps.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Double post.

Oh, and what's more, since the aquarium in question is a veritable underwater jungle of plants, including masses of Java Moss and Java Ferns growing on bogwood, I thought that even if the fish got frisky, the shrimps would be safe and have hiding places to spare to keep them away from the Cardinals. Nope, wrong.

If I put any more shrimps in that tank, I'm going to have to choose something too big for the Cardinals to treat as a punchbag.

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002