Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

well this is not your typical missing shrimps post ! i was about to ask here if cherry shrimps can change their colors (specifically females) to match their surroundings (given that there are more normal neocardinia shrimps around) since i cant find the 2 surviving female cherry shrimps in my tank (i got them from my recent trip abroad).... but the male is still there and so are the others...


last night i noticed that there was always lizard poop on my HOB filter.... and this led to to believe that the lizard was picking at the shrimps that where climbing the foam that i use to pad the downpour of the hob! and my 2 cherries always did that !! along with a lot of other shrimps.....

just wanted to share this interesting story... time to look for more cherry shrimps locally

kenneth_kpe wrote: last night i noticed that there was always lizard poop on my HOB filter.... and this led to to believe that the lizard was picking at the shrimps that where climbing the foam that i use to pad the downpour of the hob! and my 2 cherries always did that !! along with a lot of other shrimps.....

Tell me you don't have lizards roaming around freely in your living room! I assume you're talking about a paludarium, right? The water part of most paludariums is very small and people do not do water changes all that often in paludariums. Plus, animals living in the land area, such as lizards, frogs, etc. tend to discard at least part of their excrements either in the water or close to the water so it gets swept in eventually. This will deteriorate water quality immensely. That might be one the reasons why your shrimp were looking for a new home outside the water.

no its not that big of a lizard its a house lizard common here in the philippines

this is a pic of the species. its not that big, around 4-5 inches max ?



its not a paludarium, its an aquarium really i USE a hang on back filer an i used a foam to pad the downpour, the foam is always wet and the shrimp use it as a small rock climbing thingie to feed on the algae growing on the foam.

hehhe im still trying to catch the lizard, i placed those flypaper thingies on top of the hob to try and catch the lizard...

Take off the foam thingy and put some plants on the bottom for the shrimp to hide in. If the shrimp stay on the bottom the lizard won't get them.

What you have created is a lizard feeding station!

sadly cant take the foam out its the only thing that keeps my co2 levels at arond 20-30ppm, anyway the tank is heavily planted. the lizard cant get to the shrimps who dont climb up the foam... maybe if i affix something to the foam to prevent the shrimp from climbing up ... hmmmmmm


this is similar to what i did, this is a shot of my nano tank before, i used a HOB too, i placed a foam in the downpour to reduce surface agitation.

in my main tank its bigger but the idea is the same

Using that sponge/foam to reduce agitation is pretty inventive. Why dont you some sort of metal mesh or mosquito net to cover the area that the water is exposed from the fiter to the cover of the tank to keep the lizard (seems like some species of gecko) out?

Hmmm good idea too, I could try making it hard for the lizard to reach the foam... but im assuming that if the lizard wants to get there, it will get there ! hehe

i placed those flypaper thiniges around the hob already, I am yet to catch the lizard

kenneth_kpe wrote:no its not that big of a lizard its a house lizard common here in the philippines

this is a pic of the species. its not that big, around 4-5 inches max ?

Oh, thanks for the picture. I see now. That's a house gecko. It's probably Hemidactylus frenatus. For others who are not used to Geckos living in and around houses, these little lizards are very useful in the fight against all kinds of insects that are trying to invade your house in the warmer (and hence insect-rich) parts of the world. I was born in Turkey, where they also have house geckos, so I am very familiar with these interesting creatures. The species there is Hemidactylus turcicus. Funny enough I encountered the same species (turcicus) everywhere in Arizona, when I was living there. Both Hemidactylus frenatus and Hemidactylus turcicus have been introduced all over the world, including the US (frenatus in the humid parts of the world and turcicus more in the dry areas, although turcicus also occurs in more humid places).

Here is a picture of H. turcicus, a very nice looking gecko:



Taken from: http://www.reptilesofaz.com/Lizards-Sub ... cicus.html

Sorry for the off-topic babble, but I absolutely love geckos and allowed myself this exception! Make sure you don't kill the poor gecko with that sticky paper, though. It's just doing what it's programmed to do by nature: surviving. Plus, I think you'd be fighting a losing battle since another gecko would just move into your house if you catch this one.

Alright, back to talking SHRIMP!

Thats a nice looking house gecko! The ones in my houre are just plain brown hehehe anyway I dont really hate em because they eat the flies that go near the house lights hmm good point mustafa, il probably just rethink my filter pad and prevent shrimp from climbing up the foam hehehehe

When I was living in Key West Florida (USA) in the 70's I had a house newt and a house scorpion. The newt kept the flying ants (read termites) in check and the scorpion kept the flying cock roaches in check, so thank your stars... Instead of weekly water changes I swept the carcases out from under the couch. The rule was turn on the lights and stomp your feet before entering the room. This was the signal for Herkimer to go under the couch.

guess what I saw when i went home a while ago after a late night round of poker caught in the act !



tried to catch him, but he proved that he was way smarter then I was and escaped away

lol good pic!Llook how fat he got, he must be snacking whenever you arent home.

I checked in on the tank again twice again, during the first time he still got away, on the third time he got tired and I caught up with him ! i was about to squish him but i couldn't do it ! just picked him up and placed him outside the house

uh a lizard? lol thats scarey.

That photo is adorable....look how he's really concentrating and waiting.