mysterious shrimp disappearances

[Tostada]

For some reason, when I was about half-way through cycling my 30 gal, I thought it would be a good idea to get a 3" Koi. It promptly ate 14 ghost shrimp in 4 days, and was a general spaz, so I took it back.

That was a month ago that I took the Koi back and got 8 ghost shrimp. Two have gotten very large, but one goes missing about once a week. In the past 24 hours I went from 5 shrimp to 4. I noticed a small strand of something in the tank that looked more like shrimp than poo, and counted the shrimp and another was gone.

I really didn't think there was much in the tank that would eat shrimp. When I put them in there, there was nothing but 3 danios and a betta. Now there are no danios, but there is the betta, 6 swords, a gourami, and 5 panda corys.

I guess the gourami could eat a shrimp, but he doesn't really seem very fast, and the shrimp were disappearing before I added him (he's only been in there 3 days).

Could the shrimp be eating each other?

Two of my shrimp have a sortof milky look to them. Is this what they look like before they molt? Maybe they molt at night and the fish all eat them?

I just don't get it. The shrimp are all at least 1.5" long. I'm surprised anybody in there could eat one fast enough for me to miss it.

 

[evercl92]

They turn a opaque white as they are molting. You should have plenty of hiding places for them when the molt, since this is when they are most vulnerable. I have read (and currently do) add marine iodine to my tank, at half recommended dosage. It's supposed to help harden the new exoskeleton for them.

 

[Tostada]

Seeing as glass shrimp cost about $0.20 and I'm feeding my fish frozen shrimp already ... I guess it's not a problem. I'd still like to see who's doing it, though.

I've been thinking of putting a 5.5 gal. next to my bed. Maybe I could just put tiny shrimp in there then move them to the big tank when they get big.

 

[hc8719]

i never had any problems with fish eatting my shrimp until i got kissing gouramis, moonlight gouramis, and a BGK

no matter how many shrimp i restock, i always end up finding them in dead or missing, and ive gone through 30+ shrimp in 2 weeks

the only shrimp that seem capable of surviving the genocide are, a neocardina shrimp, and is twice the size of a normal ghost shrimp, who someone at pet supplies plus accidentaly put in with the ghost shrimp, and a tiny baby ghost shrimp, who'm i only see once a week.

if anything fish dont touch the first batch of shrimp, figuring that if they ignore them, you'll think you have the go ahead to buy more... they're smart like that

 

[Tostada]

I just found a 5th tiny shrimp hiding behind my heater. Still, there are definitely fewer shrimp than I had a month ago.