Crazy Suicidal Wood Shrimp

TurtleBoyPW5 · Post by **TurtleBoyPW5** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 7:22 am

So i was at walmart about two weeks ago and they had wood shrimp, which they of course had labeled as flower shrimp. Anyways I thought they were really cool as they filter feed and purchased one last week to go into my rcs tank. Well the retarded shrimp sat on the back rear of my sponge filter for five days straight and went from wood brown green to red well its tail at least as that was all i ever saw.

Anyways, I look into my rcs tank today and my roommate asks what i was looking for and i told i had bought a shrimp and havent seen it in awhile. Oh, he says, digs through the trash and pulls out a piece of tp which has my 2.5 inch wood shrimp dried up and dead inside. He had found it in the center of the floor. So how the heck did that happen? My tank is covered besides a one inch hole for air tubing and power to my heater and the shrimp was found 6-7 feet away.

I had changed the water the day it apparently died but obviously i would have seen it catch a ride and i saw it on the filter that night or at least i think so. Anyways the lesson here is wood shrimp are sneaky suicidal shrimp that jump several feet away to their deaths.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 8:09 am

If the shrimp feels stressed it will leave the tank, no matter how small the hole is. Either they didn't like the water, or they were stressed by the tank mates. If they molt and have no place to hide they will also try to escape.

TurtleBoyPW5 · Post by **TurtleBoyPW5** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 9:31 am

I see... thing is this tank is several months old and the rcs are breeding like mad. Tank parameter were fine too.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 10:42 am

Not for these guys though, or they would not have left.

Did you provide a cave for them?

Is the water on the soft side?

What do you mean by "parameter were fine too."

TurtleBoyPW5 · Post by **TurtleBoyPW5** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 12:32 pm

ph 7.2
no ammonia
nitrite 0
nitrate 5-10
76-77* F

Cave? There were multiple sponges inside a mound of java moss.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 2:04 pm

Nitrates are a bit high, can the shrimp hide inside anything? If not they freak.

AnneRiceBowl · Post by **AnneRiceBowl** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 7:57 pm

Also sounds like there wasn't enough flow in the tank with just a sponge filter. My colony of 14 don't like it when I turn off the power head and the canister filter to do a water change to move plants around. They'll start to try to find a place to hide, swim all over the tank, and spaz out. Maybe yours didn't like the tank because it couldn't find a good spot to filter feed in combination with the nitrates being too high?

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 11:34 am

They are especially prone to climb out whn they are still relatively new and unsettled but all holes and cracks must be filled or tightly covered at all times.