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Neocardinias dying


tera dactil
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Hi all. I have a 12.5 Fluval Edge with 5 platies, five neons, two black neons, three rasboras, two glofish, and a blue ram. Pretty mellow fish. I’ve introduced some shrimp into the mix, because I just like them, and I understand they’re a good cleanup crew. The tank is planted, with rock features and wood that give crevices and hideouts for shrimp to hang out in. I’ve added red cherry, blue velvet, Amanos, and a rainbow shrimp. Water seems to be right up the middle: Ph is usually 7-7.5, GH and KH are a little on the low side but not anemic. But I keep finding dead cherry shrimp. I know the platies are 24/7 eating machines; could they have killed shrimp in competition for food? Or could it be my water changes? I pull out about 20% every two weeks. Or could it be my water changing method? (Ive don’t that slam-the-siphon-in technique to get the flow started - could a concussion wave from that kill an invertebrate?) Just looking for ideas here...thanks!

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13 minutes ago, tera dactil said:

Hi all. I have a 12.5 Fluval Edge with 5 platies, five neons, two black neons, three rasboras, two glofish, and a blue ram. Pretty mellow fish. I’ve introduced some shrimp into the mix, because I just like them, and I understand they’re a good cleanup crew. The tank is planted, with rock features and wood that give crevices and hideouts for shrimp to hang out in. I’ve added red cherry, blue velvet, Amanos, and a rainbow shrimp. Water seems to be right up the middle: Ph is usually 7-7.5, GH and KH are a little on the low side but not anemic. But I keep finding dead cherry shrimp. I know the platies are 24/7 eating machines; could they have killed shrimp in competition for food? Or could it be my water changes? I pull out about 20% every two weeks. Or could it be my water changing method? (Ive don’t that slam-the-siphon-in technique to get the flow started - could a concussion wave from that kill an invertebrate?) Just looking for ideas here...thanks!

I’ve never personally kept shrimp but I’ve heard that they are extremely sensitive to water changes 

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same problem here, cherry shrimp don’t last more than a week. Amanos do fine, I believe it is due to small amounts of copper  leeching from the plumbing in my house. Just enough to kill the cherries but not enough to harm the Amanos. If you have copper plumbing, that could be the culprit. Try running the tap 5 minutes before you use the water for the aquarium. That should remove the water that’s been standing in the pipes.

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I try never to do more than 10% water change in my shrimp tanks. When I have  done a 20% change I have found a dead shrimp or two within a few days.

I keep shrimp with guppies, dwarf rainbow fish, swordtails, neons tetras, ember tetras, a betta, ricefish, corydoras and CPDs, Nothing messes with the adult or juvenile shrimp. I'm not sure how the ram would react, I've never kept a ram with shrimp. 

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16 hours ago, Tyler said:

Seems like you have a lot of fish in the tank. Have you been testing for ammonia when they die? Also how frequently do you feed? Water parameters? Quarantine them before you added to community tank? 

Good questions. I hadn’t tested for ammonia, but I’ll do that ASAP. I just dipped a 5-strip in and the GH and KH were straight up the middle, Ph was 7.5 but there was a hint of both nitrite and nitrate. So, it’s likely there’s an ammonia issue. I’d been feeding every morning but decided to cut back, as the rasboras are now starting to resemble mollies! So obviously they’re getting fed too well. 


just checked the outflow pipe from the water heater. Indeed. Copper. You may have sleuthed this one...thanks!

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3 hours ago, Tory said:

Anything with a mouth big enough to eat a shrimp will eat a shrimp. That's also a lot of fish in a small tank, you could easily be having ammonia or nitrite spikes if you're not checking it frequently. 

Yes, I’d started out with 2 Platies, and Mother Nature generously provided me with more. I do wonder if they compete with the shrimp for food, because they’re constantly foraging in the gravel. I’ve never seen such eating machines. To your point, the only carnivorous behavior I’ve seen is from the black neon tetras; when I introduced the neons, there was a juvenile in the school and one of the black neons had it in his jaws within seconds. I suppose that, if it couldn’t swallow a small shrimp it could at least lock down and kill one. Of course, I haven’t seen that happen, so I don’t want to convict without evidence...

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I have yellow neocaridina shrimp and blue bolt caridina shrimp. I lost several shrimp after they arrived, too. Then one shrimp had babies and only 3 of those survived. Another shrimp had babies but i don't know how many are left. I think any fish big and fast enough to nip at them will do so. I've seen my harlequin rasboras go after the blue bolts, who are juveniles so they're small, but still, the shrimp are way too big to fit in their mouths, yet they've tried many times. My dwarf danios are in with the yellow shrimp, and the shrimp are larger than the fish(!), so only the babies have to worry.  Eventually (hopefully), the shrimp population grows and reaches a point where losses are unnoticeable. 

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  • If the fish were attacking them I doubt if you'd find bodies, since they'd likely be eaten.
  • Since you said your test strips showed some nitrites then it's likely a water quality issue.  Shrimp are more sensitive to poor water conditions than most fish.
  • How old is the tank?  Neocaridina shrimp do best in a tank that's been running for a while so there's a build-up of biofilm for them to graze on.
  • I have copper pipes in my house and don't have any issues with it.  I doubt if that's the problem.
3 hours ago, Maggie said:

I have yellow neocaridina shrimp and blue bolt caridina shrimp. I lost several shrimp after they arrived, too. Then one shrimp had babies and only 3 of those survived. Another shrimp had babies but i don't know how many are left. I think any fish big and fast enough to nip at them will do so. I've seen my harlequin rasboras go after the blue bolts, who are juveniles so they're small, but still, the shrimp are way too big to fit in their mouths, yet they've tried many times. My dwarf danios are in with the yellow shrimp, and the shrimp are larger than the fish(!), so only the babies have to worry.  Eventually (hopefully), the shrimp population grows and reaches a point where losses are unnoticeable. 

Maybe you already know this, but caridinas and neos prefer different water parameters, and there's a pretty narrow window of pH, KH, and GH where they can both survive.  I don't know what your parameters are, but that could account for the low survival rate of the babies.

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13 minutes ago, JettsPapa said:
  • If the fish were attacking them I doubt if you'd find bodies, since they'd likely be eaten.
  • Since you said your test strips showed some nitrites then it's likely a water quality issue.  Shrimp are more sensitive to poor water conditions than most fish.
  • How old is the tank?  Neocaridina shrimp do best in a tank that's been running for a while so there's a build-up of biofilm for them to graze on.
  • I have copper pipes in my house and don't have any issues with it.  I doubt if that's the problem.

Maybe you already know this, but caridinas and neos prefer different water parameters, and there's a pretty narrow window of pH, KH, and GH where they can both survive.  I don't know what your parameters are, but that could account for the low survival rate of the babies.

I do already know it. They're in two different tanks. 🙂 My yellows are in with the dwarf danios, pH and hardness higher, temp slightly lower. The blue bolts are in with rhe rasboras, pH 6.6, softer, and temp warmer. 

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