Hiding

louieknucks · Post by **louieknucks** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 4:54 am

It's me again. Do cherry shrimp usually hide a lot or are they usually out and about and active? I ask this because I only ever see 1-3 cherry shrimp at a time and I should have 9 of them in there. I don't think anymore have died since the first one. I just want to make sure they are okay.

beckypyyeung · Post by **beckypyyeung** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 6:28 am

My shrimps used to hang upside down under a piece of driftwood. I seldom saw them and I thought they were dead. I didn't know they were hiding there until one day I removed it from the tank. Now I don't use that piece of wood and they're more visible now. There are some other more-visible hiding places for them.

louieknucks · Post by **louieknucks** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 6:52 am

I hope that is the case. I haven't seen any carcasses and I do see one every once in a while out and about.

retardo · Post by **retardo** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 7:49 pm

ha... i find it refreshing

that those of us in this hobby get so concerned and anxious when we do not see our algae-eating friends, but for the most part, i think that we're being worry worts. i bought some rainbow shrimp about a week ago and i can only visibly see one at a time. one died, but i believe that the rest are still alive and well.

i try not to move too many items in my aquascape to avoid disturbing the peace in the tank, altho it is quite tempting to.

at least u get to check on your shrimp. i'm traveling for business right now and left my tank inhabitants in her care, but i trust they are still doing well. i will get to check on them tomorrow when i arrive home. long story short, don't worry so much!

louieknucks · Post by **louieknucks** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 7:55 pm

yeah, I know I guess I just worry because they cost a little more than the tropical fish I had. I've also come to enjoy watching them in my tank cleaning up.

beckypyyeung · Post by **beckypyyeung** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 11:00 pm

Hi Louie,

I understand it will be meaningless if we can't see our shrimps when we in fact keep them in the tank. I also understand shrimps need hiding places. I've designed something to strike the balance.

Previously my driftwood was arch-shaped. Almost all of the shrimps hid inside the inner roof of the arch and therefore they were totally invisible to me. I removed the driftwood and gave them some small rocks. The shapes of the rocks are irregular. The top of one of them is longer than its bottom. It looks like a little roof. Then my shrimps sometimes take a rest under the little roof. It looks as if they are under an umbrella. This way I may see them and they may find a safe place to enjoy themselves.

Let me illustrate the small rockS here. The 'X's represent the roofed rock. The 'Y's represent the other rock. The scale is 1:1

YYYYYYYYYYYYY
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx YYYYYYYYYYYY
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx YYYYYYYYYYY
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx YYYYYYYYYYYYY
xxxxxxxxxxxxx SHRIMPS YYYYYYYYYYYY
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx RELAX YYYYYYYYYYYYY
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx HERE YYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Becky

beckypyyeung · Post by **beckypyyeung** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 11:02 pm

Oh the Xs and Ys have run out of the original positions

Very well, I guess my shrimp friends here may get what I mean.

Ljung · Post by **Ljung** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 12:16 am

place some sinking pellet at the front of the tank. then u get a better chance of seeing them helping themselves to the food...
unless their tankmates include some 'unfriendly' fish....

louieknucks · Post by **louieknucks** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 8:31 am

No full grown fish, just about 20 fish fry which came as quite a surprise for me. It's been about 5 days since I've seen any shrimp so I don't know if there are any alive.

Hopefully I'm wrong.

Post by **Mustafa** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 10:57 am

louieknucks wrote:No full grown fish, just about 20 fish fry which came as quite a surprise for me. It's been about 5 days since I've seen any shrimp so I don't know if there are any alive. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Have you tested your water parameters? If right conditions are not given shrimp will just hide somewhere and sit around, probably "waiting" for conditions to get better. They can only wait so long, though, until they die due to the adverse conditions.

Another possibility why you are not seeing the shrimp could be that your tank is very heavily planted, in which case the shrimp might be hiding among the plants. But even then, you should be able to see a couple of them once in a while.

Is this tank newly established or did you just recently clean out the filter? If you have plants...do you have any Anubias or Cryptocoryne species? There are reports from Germany that these plants release chemicals into the water that kill shrimp (annihilating entire populations within a day or two). I cannot verify this information since I do not keep those plants, but there are so many concurring reports from Germany to make this information credible.

(Now that I remember....Brad...didn't you have Crypts in your Red Cherry tank? That might have been the reason why your Cherries died instead of the hurricane and the resulting loss of power causing their death...again...just my hypothesis. Too bad I did not know this information back then, otherwise I would have warned you).

I guess I should put this info about the poisonous plants somewhere prominantly on this website so it becomes common knowledge.

Take care,
Mustafa

louieknucks · Post by **louieknucks** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 11:25 am

This tank has been established for quite a while and my water parameters are good. The tank is pretty heavily planted so that could be the case that they are hiding. I don't have any of the plants stated above. I have java moss, riccia, cabomba, rotala magenta, dwarf sag and micro grass. I might pick up the driftwood and see if they are hiding somewhere under it.

Also, Mustafa when you do water changes, do you recommend putting any water conditioner in? I do weekly water changes every Saturday religiously and put in Jungle water conditioner with it.

Post by **Mustafa** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 11:30 am

Take out the driftwood altogether and drop the water conditioner. The wood might be releasing certain chemicals into the tank that shrimp do not tolerate. I never use water conditioner. You want to keep things as "natural" as possible without any unnecessary chemicals added into the system.

Mustafa

Bradimus · Post by **Bradimus** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 11:38 am

Mustafa wrote: (Now that I remember....Brad...didn't you have Crypts in your Red Cherry tank? That might have been the reason why your Cherries died instead of the hurricane and the resulting loss of power causing their death...again...just my hypothesis. Too bad I did not know this information back then, otherwise I would have warned you).

I did have Crypts with them. Anubius too. It certainly could be possible that these are killed the shrimp. (I hope not since these are my favorite plants.) One thing does strike as odd: There are many shrimp from India, but it is my understanding that there is no stream in India without Crypts. Of course, Cherries are not from India, so they might be particularly susceptible.

Kind of makes me wish I had enough shrimp for a controlled experiment.

louieknucks · Post by **louieknucks** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 11:39 am

I'll do it as soon as I get home from work. Would you recommend just using rocks for cover? I have some ottos in the tank too and one of them loves to hide under the driftwood.

Post by **Mustafa** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 8:14 pm

I did have Crypts with them. Anubius too. It certainly could be possible that these are killed the shrimp.

--I think it's a very real and likely possibility.

One thing does strike as odd: There are many shrimp from India, but it is my understanding that there is no stream in India without Crypts. Of course, Cherries are not from India, so they might be particularly susceptible.

--Keep in mind that rivers are not a closed system like an aquarium. Compared to the tremendous amounts of water flowing even through the smallest creeks the number of crypts growing in them is insignificant and won't effect water quality perceptibly if at all. The situation in our aquariums is very different. The comparatively tiny amount of water can be effected even by one single plant releasing chemicals into the water. So, I don't think there is a difference between Indian and Chinese shrimp when it comes to their sensitivity to whatever chemicals the crypts or Anubias are releasing into the water.

Take care,
Mustafa