Welcome to 'Name That Predator'...........

[Patwa]

ok ..well...I didn't see this coming....prolly due to the fact I put too much faith in stuff I read, rather that listening to personal opinions.....oh well

I bought a few shrimp the other day..all algae eating shrimp....3 juveniles (0.5"), and 1 large (2") big boy .....i was hoping they would get started tackling my algae problem, while I figure out how I can get to the root cause.....

anyways...I put them in, sat down, ate my dinner, had a couple beers...and then ....i noticed most of my fish gathered around something on the floor.....so i went over and saw that somehow my 2" shrimp was reduced to just a tail, and that most of it was missing (ie. eaten)...something seriosuly went to work on this shrimp.....and prolly my other 3 are done....but I figured whatever killed this big one will probably have no problems knocking off the others, so i have not bothered to look for them...

and I have no clue really who is to blame....only guesses...

here are the likely suspects...

-Violet Goby...I know he eats shrimps, but from what i've read, this is not his primary choice for sure......but would he go after a large 2" one?? and he's ALWAYS in his hole...I never see him come out.....and if he did catch the shrimp and kill it, why didn't he take the entire shrimp into his hole?? keep in mind these fish have very small eyes, and poor eyesight (cuz they live in very cloudy water in their natural habitat)....usually you'll need to put food near the goby for it to find it.....so how did he see this FAST moving shrimp and kill the crap out of it in like 30 minutes??

-Stick Cat (Farlowella)....he's an algae eater, but he's pretty big....but I highly doubt he's involved
-Brown knifefish
-Blue Powder gourami
-Royal Pleco
-Banjo Cat

my tank also has some tetras, glassfish, 1 half-beak, 1 killifish

maybe it was gang-violence...like all my tetras and the gourami tag teamed it....I dunnoo..

looking forward to the responses,

Zach

 

[snapcrackler]

It was the knifefish!

In the bedroom, with a candlestick....

Seriously though that is who I think dunnit.

 

[lyquidphyre]

If any of those are aggressive bottom feeders Im sure they are the ones who did. They prolly thought the shrimp were there for them to eat.

 

[possum]

I would guess the knifefish as well he seems most likely

 

[Patwa]

I would guess the knifefish as well he seems most likely

i'm pretty sure brown ghost knife fish eat brine shrimp, and that's not really their prime source of food anyways...was told by my lfs it's bloodworms basically.....brine shrimp that I am accustumed to are nowhere near the size of the shrimp that was killed off...

my poor 2" shrimp was a fat one....even with the tentacles thing he was pushing 3" long total.

my brown ghost knife is not big at all....just about 2" max i think (inclduing their long tail thing).


Zach.

 

[Fruitbat]

I'd place my bet on either the goby or the knife fish....both have the means and the desire to dismantle a shrimp pretty quickly....ESPECIALLY the knife.

 

[possum]

knife fish will happily eat your fish or anything else that it can fit in its mouth....or in the case of the shrimp sounds too me like he ate it one bite at a time

 

[Cacophany]

Was the knife fish for certian IMO my bf has a brown knife also only 4" long ATM and a few weeks ago he bought a few ghost shrimp. 3 juvaniles and 1 biggun. Well his tank is set up w/

1 brown knife
5 blood eye tetra's
2 tiny cory's
2 pleco's (common at petstore type)
5 ghost shrimp (now is only 1 ghost shrimp the bigun)

And there are no more juvaniles, There is even nothing left to find. We see the adult all of the time and we did see 1 a few days ago. was hiding in the grass (the knives favorite hang out *not a very smart shrimp* ) but haven't seen him since. just the big boy.

I do know that the shrimp used to swim and jump around him and He always got real interested in them but they were able to high tail it before he could catch them. So apprently they were getting either too lazy or too stupid. *i think the later of the two*

 

[BrianNY]

Knifefish are superb predators. Lightning fast. However, they usually take their meal in a single gulp and won't tackle more than they can swallow.

We'd better bring in Columbo on this one!!!!!

 

[Christmasfish]

The Knifefish!


Even my easy going little Black Ghost scrumped down all the ghost shrimp in his tank before the week had passed (there were a dozen).
Some were very large. and he was only like 4 inches then. He also ate all the snails and some leftover fry that I saw as they were gulped (he puffed into the rock crevice out they came and sluuuurp!).
And they have Huuuuuge mouths full of crystalline sharp daggers. ( Well The BKG does. Like if a horses mouth openeed all the way to the cheek strap!) And Dutch was the tank's only occupant when the shrimp massacre began. Yet he gently take tiny tidbits of scallop that a tetra can swallow.{he poses and snaps at the clown loaches when they pester him.)
Ghost shrimp must be yummy.
The brown knife I passed up for him looked like an angry pitbull, teeth sticking out and all. I wanted a culing machine not a finger stripper.....

Plus juvenile shrimp are going to be in that soft shell stage during molting...the fish looove molty shrimp! my bettas and gourami also eat snails and ghost shrimp. Except two.

doh edit: shrimp not fish

 

[madasafish]

Patwa, you've got far to many predators in that tank to put in Amanos (or any other type of shrimp)!!! Not surprised this was the result. Try getting some Siamese Algae Eaters instead. Same result, but they're not going to get eaten!

 

[TN Tanks]

Like the rest of the family said, I vote the Knife, they will eat anything

 

[cdawson]

I would guess the knifefish as well he seems most likely

i'm pretty sure brown ghost knife fish eat brine shrimp, and that's not really their prime source of food anyways...was told by my lfs it's bloodworms basically.....brine shrimp that I am accustumed to are nowhere near the size of the shrimp that was killed off...

my poor 2" shrimp was a fat one....even with the tentacles thing he was pushing 3" long total.

my brown ghost knife is not big at all....just about 2" max i think (inclduing their long tail thing).


Zach.

knifefish will eat anything that is half as long as they are, small tetras and inverts are their main staple in the wild. Never add small fish or inverts when you have predatory fish, it never works.

BTW you should either find a new home for your violet goby or get it a brackish tank. They do very poorly in FW, develop tumors and are very prone to infection and disease. They're one of the brackish fish that absolutely need brackish water.