Shrimp crawling out of water

[jasper5150]

Woke up to one of my Amano shrimp dead on the floor a few feet from its tank. The tank has no lid but does have a nice layer of pothos and floating plants. Any ideas why?

[TheSwissAquarist]

It may have been forced to jump out by a predatory fish??? Other than that your Amano could have suicidal instincts.

[lefty o]

deep dark depression😈. shrimp like to climb, and explore looking for food etc. when it climbed out of the tank, it probably didnt realize it was a one way trip. snails, and shrimp have ben known to climb out, small fish sometimes jump out.

[AnimalNerd98]

This has happened to me too! My wife found one of my Amanos dried up on our carpet and she was not happy 😆😬

You might want to consider putting on a lid. The floating plants and pothos just make it easier for the not so smart critters to crawl out 

[nabokovfan87]

On 9/26/2022 at 7:27 AM, jasper5150 said:

The tank has no lid but does have a nice layer of pothos and floating plants. Any ideas why?

Add an airstone and check temp

They do this when the oxygen is low, water is too hot, or when they are specifically not happy with the water in some way.  It's a major stress sign.  With a tank with a lid you'll find them in the output of the hang on back sitting in the waterflow.  If they are trying to get out of the tank, test everything, add air, check temp, etc.

Let me know / tag me and I can help sort out whatever you've got going on causing stress 🙂

For clarity, new shrimp just do this as part of exploration.  Shrimp also get spooked, especially at night) when they are showing mating behavior and can get tossed out of the tank.  This is the main reason you want a lid.  As mentioned above, it's based on how long the shrimp have been there too as a part of the meaning behind this.  If it's been a short period, I would still verify everything and try to find a lid.  After they've settled, maybe you can remove it.

On 9/26/2022 at 10:49 AM, AnimalNerd98 said:

This has happened to me too! My wife found one of my Amanos dried up on our carpet and she was not happy 😆😬

I've had a few get out, usually you find them on the tank or alive but clearly not in the place they are supposed to be!  I always check behind the tank on maintenance.  The worst / most impressive journey I have seen a shrimp take was middle of winter, it went from my room, out the door, down the hallway, across the living room, and into the kitchen before it passed.   Poor little shrimp.  Impressive, but it was like it heard noise and was like "heeeeeelp dude".

[jasper5150]

The tank is a 6 gallon cube. Here is a photo. Prior to the exploratory shrimp, there are 5 large Amano, one mystery snail and a betta. The betta is actually scared of the shrimp. When they get close, he swims away. So, no predation there. Also, the shrimp are about the same size as the betta. I am running a sponge filter with good flow. Just tested the water:

ammonia 0

nitrite 0

nitrate 20

They get fed on the daily. Either a little extra vibra bites, crab cuisine pellets or algae wafers broken into small pieces; all Hikari brand.