# Strange Shrimp Behaviour



## BettaGuy (Apr 22, 2010)

My 4 amano shrimp collectively stopped eating about 5 days ago. They are in a 10 gallon tank with 3 small common gold fish with loads of java moss and cabomba. The shrimp are not afraid of the fish since they routinely swim to the top to steal food from the fish and are always grazing in the open/ grazing on algae pellets. Recently though, the two large females disappeared and the small males appeared to be running around the tank frantically, not feeding. I also found a large molted exoskeleton on the side, so I suppose that the female has released pheromones into the water and is ready to breed, based on the male shrimp behaviour. Since then, they have been huddling behind a rock together and not feeding... but rather, climbing on top of each other and obsessively cleaning themselves. I performed a 50% water change but that doesn't appear to have changed anything.... the other inverts ( 6 trumpetsnails, 1 ramshorn ) in the tank don't appear to be affected and the fish seem fine. It has been 5 days and I am starting to get worried since they aren't eating... Any ideas on what's happening? As I write this, they are standing on top of each other and not moving.

Tank tests 0,0,5...temperature 72 F. I add a few drops of Seachem's Florish into the tank bi-weekly.


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## VinnyD (Apr 21, 2010)

hmmm..i have seen amanos do that, but they still eat like almost anything you put in there. but do not worry too much about shrimps when it comes to food, they'll find some throughout your tank...algae, leftover food particles, plants...even their own molted shells. interesting how you have a 10gallon tank with both goldfish and shrimps tho...


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## plantedinvertz (Apr 21, 2010)

Goldfish and shrimp arent a good combo...Goldfish get big and may eat the shrimp and they also poop alot and shrimp hate that. I think the goldfish are scaring them


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## VinnyD (Apr 21, 2010)

plantedinvertz said:


> Goldfish and shrimp arent a good combo...Goldfish get big and may eat the shrimp and they also poop alot and shrimp hate that. I think the goldfish are scaring them


haha thats why i said it was interesting....well that and the differences in water conditions parameters...anyways wish Bettaguy the best of luck with the livestocks


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## BettaGuy (Apr 22, 2010)

plantedinvertz said:


> Goldfish and shrimp arent a good combo...Goldfish get big and may eat the shrimp and they also poop alot and shrimp hate that. I think the goldfish are scaring them


hm I understand your concern about the goldfish and the amanos not being a great combination, but they were my mom's wish so I made sure just to get 3 small feeders not much longer than an inch. When they get larger or start exhibiting aggressive behaviour, I have plans to move them to a friend's pond.

My main concern is the sudden change of behaviour. It's been 4 months so far and the shrimp have generally been very jubilant and outgoing. Furthermore, I have never observed the goldfish interact with the shrimp ( they seem to ignore them for some reason). A couple are larger than the fish. Although it is possible that the shrimp are scared of the goldfish, I some how feel this is unlikely seeing that this behaviour started exactly 5 days ago unanimously. Like I mentioned in the previous post, they spend spend all of their time just preening their undersides and limbs and back with their hindmost limbs in a little huddle, when I am accustomed to them swimming around, jumping from plant to plant, and stealing goldfish food from the surface.


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## BettaGuy (Apr 22, 2010)

VinnyD said:


> haha thats why i said it was interesting....well that and the differences in water conditions parameters...anyways wish Bettaguy the best of luck with the livestocks


I wasn't aware of too many parameter clashes between the 2 species. Perhaps I am misinformed and you can correct me... Temperature being about the same on the cooler side (not exceeding 76F), pH around 7. As far as I can remember, the major difference in parameters for the 2 species is the hardness of the water. Goldfish prefer hard water, and I remember a site saying that amanos prefer slightly hard water. I also came across some contradicting information that amanos prefer softer water. Regardless, my water sits at 80 ppm.... might this be too hard for the shrimp?


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## plantedinvertz (Apr 21, 2010)

80 ppm gh or kh?..actually i keep mine at 60 gh and 120 kh so yours should be fine


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## VinnyD (Apr 21, 2010)

haha i might be wrong...haha..goldfish..yah cold/cool water..amanos..cool water around the mid 70F range...amanos strive in planted tanks...goldfish nibble on plants...and goldfish poop can be bad for the tank if kept with 'sensitive" tankmates...and goldfish will fit wutever they can find into their mouths...so at least you have amanos(pretty much dun worry about baby shrimps...and also the amanos grow big)...feeder goldfishes tend to have more diseases that tag along with them because they are made to be sold in bulk(so they are cheap..and grown in crowded tanks). haha at least both goldfishes are hardy and so are amanos


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## BettaGuy (Apr 22, 2010)

Hey I just wanted to update. The shrimp are back to normal, grazing around the tank and swimming with the fish and stealing their food as usual. I did find some shed exoskeletons, so I suspect they were all just doing a collective molt?! 

Thanks for your help!


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## VinnyD (Apr 21, 2010)

good to hear that all is well. good sign when u see the amanos swimming and stealing/hogging food hahaha


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## O.C.D Fishies (Apr 21, 2010)

Hey glad everyone is back to their usual selves, and let me know if you still need you know what. lol


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