Bamboo Shimp

[Fishywah]

Hello to everyone, I'm new here and would like some answers to a question if possible.

I have a 55 gallon tank with 7 fish and I had a bamboo shimp...but he died and I don't know why??? He seemed fine when I brought him home he even molted, but the next day he died. What do they eat? How do I know if another would be okay? Please help!

[Allivymar]

Hiya Fishywah and welcome to Aquariumadvice.

Coupla reasons for bamboo shrimp deaths that I've discovered:

A bad moult. Sometimes they moult poorly, and die. Either because they needed to moult and didn't, or did but got hurt while they were still soft, or not all the exoskeleton came off.

Starvation. Bamboo shrimp are filter feeders, and require microorganisms to eat; tis why that have those funky fan hands. They really need planted tanks, and specific foods, like OSI micro foods.

Did you acclimate him when you added him to your tank? I think bamboo shrimp are a little more sensitive then some of the other [acronym:020dcf7f72="Freshwater"]FW[/acronym:020dcf7f72] shrimps to pH changes. What type of fish do you have? Some fish see bamboo shrimp as possible foods, and can injure or harass them to death.

[madasafish]

Bamboos are quite amazing in the feeding respect. Sometimes you see them up in a circle (a perfect circle!) at the top of a piece of driftwood in the [acronym:1949e25375="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:1949e25375] holding a sort of witches sabbath--waving their feelers in the outflow so as to catch all little microorganisms. Neat. Sorry that yours died, though!!

A bad moult. Sometimes they moult poorly, and die. Either because they needed to moult and didn't, or did but got hurt while they were still soft, or not all the exoskeleton came off.

Just to agree and expand on this a bit, moulting for any crab, crayfish, lobster, or shrimp can be deadly. It is a physically exhausting process, and they must be in very good condition to survive the moult. A science teacher I had once described it as "giving birth to yourself" a very tricky proposition, to say the least!

[Fishywah]

Thanks for your suggestions. I'm not sure what OSI micro foods are??? None of my fish seemed to even care that he was there. (HE did hangout alot in the current of the water...didn't realize he was trying to get food. I was told that he was a bottom feeder and would eat food off the bottom of the tank) So the poor little guy probably starved to death. Or so I don't feel so bad, had a bad moult. He seemed fine until then...But who's to say I only got to enjoy him for a week.

I'd like to get another, What's your advice??

(Fish in the tank-all about 5-6 inches-2 gold severums, Turquise severum, blood parrot, clown loach, blackknife fish, needlefish and a pleco)

[Allivymar]

You've got some fish in there that would look at a bamboo shrimp as possible food, like the loach and the knife. I dunno if a bamboo would be a great idea - I suspect he moulted and one of them harassed him or wounded him as shrimp are VERY fragile right after a moult.

Do a websearch on OSI microfoods; you may want to look at having a bamboo in a different tank and the OSI product would be a good thing to have.

[madasafish]

Yeah, I'm guessing your knife, clown loaches, needlefish aren't fully grown if they ignored him for that long. Though bamboos do get larger, they still might well be threatened/eaten by the other fish.

[Fishywah]

Thanks! I guess I'll save the money then and not get the shrimp! No none of my fish are full grown yet. Still pretty much babies!

So is there anything that I could put in there that would help with the sifting of sand? I was told elsewhere to get trumpet snails but I read somewhere that Clown loaches eat snails...?

And what's your thoughts on blue lobsters?? (The ones that only get about 5 in?)

[Allivymar]

Ahh, you're looking for sand sifters? I'm guessing its not a planted tank then. I find that planted tanks are great for aerating sand.

Lessee.

Yeah, loaches will eat most inverts. That leaves out most shrimp and snails. Oh, and [acronym:6ac79c3c54="By the way"]btw[/acronym:6ac79c3c54], loaches are VERY social creatures; one will be most unhappy. We recommend a minimum of 3, although of course more is better. Do know clowns will top out at about 12 inches long when well kept.

I'm hesitant to suggest the blue lobster (aka a type of crayfish). They can be dangerous to your fish, especially at night when the fish are sleeping and the crayfish is wide awake. Some folks have had good success with them, others have lost fish to em.

There are some fish which are sand sifting (the SA geophagus group for example). Thing is, even with a 55g you have fish which will get big and aggressive. Severums top out 6-8 inches and are semi aggressive, Black Ghost Knifes top out around 20 inches or so and will eat any fish they get into their mouths, the clown loach as I said before can reach a foot in length, and the needlefish will likely make them all look tiny, as they can reach well over 2 feet long in the wild and will also hunt any fish smaller then them. I'm not sure exactly how big blood parrotfish get, but they too are not small fish.

You may want to look into sifting the sand yourself; a chopstick or a clean "fro" pick will work fine.

[Fishywah]

Thanks for the info. As far as the clown loaches go I only bought one so that I wouldn't over crowd my tank... I wasn't sure how many fish (with the size these one get) to have in the tank so I stopped at what I have. My clown seems to be fine he's eatting and moves around alot. He likes to hang out with the one severum I have in there that looks black.

No it's not a plantd tank. I didn't want to have to get into the special lighting and healty plants aren't to easy to find around here. Not to mention everyone loves to dig in the sand that I have.