Just a fluke...or did I kill 'em?

edmund1138 · Post by **edmund1138** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 9:54 am

I recently re'cd 30 red cherry shrimp form a guy through AquaBid. They arrived peppy and heallthy. I installed them in a well-established, heavily planted 6 gal Eclipse tank, and I guess they were fine -I say 'guess' because this is my first experience with this particular species of shrimp, previously only having kept Amanos, glass and bamboos. What struck me was that they never seemed to settle down; they were constantly racing around the tank, pausing only to nibble on algae and other edible bits they discovered. Anyway I read somewhere in this forum that cuttlebone was a good thing to include -which made sense, for the calcium, so I put a well-rinsed chunk in the filter. I also added some Christmas moss to the tank at the same time. Later that day I noticed that they were no longer racing around the tank and seemed much more settled; this morning at 2 AM I got up to check on them and discovered that a number of them were dead. I immediately did a 7/8ths water change with water from another established tank. This morning when I left for work (7:30 AM) I didn't notice any more bodies, but I didn't see any movement either. Any clues what could have happened? The cuttlebone? The moss? Just one of those things? Needless to say I'm sick over this...

fugly · Post by **fugly** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 10:39 am

30 RCS in a 6G tank is overcrowded. They need more space than that, even tho they, in general, are low bioload animals. I don't think the cuttlebone or moss are a factor in their deaths. More than likely, it's the shipping stress. Even though they may look healthy on arrival, they may still have some lingering stress that you don't notice.

FYI, the racing around in the tank is likely due to a major change in environments, from shipping origin into bags, then a few days on a truck/plane, then delivery truck, and then into your tank. I hope you did some kind of acclimation technique instead of just putting them into the eclipse. You may notice them racing around after a water change as well. My shrimp tend to do that after I add fresh dechlor'ed tap.

Give it a few more days... you will likely lose some more, but with 30 RCS, you will be able to get a breeding population going.

edmund1138 · Post by **edmund1138** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 11:00 am

Thanks for your reply...
Actually I put 20 in the Eclipse and the remaining 10 in a 125 and I aclimated them all slowly using the drip method.
Is 20 crowded for a 6 gal Eclipse? The shrimp are so small (1/2"). As they grew I planned to farm them out to my other tanks...
I appreciate your insights!

Veneer · Post by **Veneer** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 12:03 pm

What brand of cuttlebone did you employ? Some incorporate potentially harmful additives (flavoring, gloss, and the like).

TKD · Post by **TKD** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 4:28 pm

Sounds like what happend to me....

See theses thereads...

TKD
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