Cherries disappeared! Replacements?

[RachelG]

I had three cherry shrimp in my tank with female platies and was planning to buy more eventually, but now when I go to take them out of the tank while I medicate it, the shrimp are nowhere to be seen. Not hiding in the plants, not in the wood, and not even in the filter. I suspect the platies ate them. I was told platies would not eat cherry shrimp. I would not have bought them if I had known that that was a big fat lie!

What kind of bottom feeder/scavenger could I replace them with? This is a ten gallon tank, heavily planted, and has only two female platies at the moment. (my smallest female platy has ALSO disappeared! What is going on here? I looked behind the dresser with a flashlight, but she isn't back there. Maybe she flopped somewhere I couldn't see...I'll have to cover the holes in the tank hood now.)

Would amano shrimp do the job? A local store sells them, and they look quite large for a platy to eat. if I do not get more platies or other fish, could I try adding a small group of kuhlis? I know a ten gallon might be a tight fit for them, but if it is possible...
Or should I just cheap out and buy some ghost shrimp?
And are there other fish besides a third platy that I could add to the tank? Nothing that schools, of course. No room for a school. A single small fish that would eat fry would be an awesome addition...

I won't be adding these very soon, of course. I need to treat my platy with ick and cotton mouth first. She also just gave birth to a million tiny fry and looks like she lost ten pounds. Hopefully most get eaten. I removed all the plants on driftwood so they wouldn't be harmed by treatment, so the fry don't have many spaces to hide now. Don't get me wrong, they are cute and I love them, but I can't keep them. Maybe someday I will have ample supplies to breed some fish. Then I can officially be the crazy fish lady on the block.

 

[Coursair]

If your fish are getting ill, check your water. High Nitrates or Ammonia will also kill Shrimp.

RCS are better in established , stable, clean tanks.

Id do an immediate PWC and test the water.

And Platies can kill RCS. Amano of Ghost Shrimp might be a better choice. They aren't a clean up crew. They are inhabitants that have their own needs and diets.

Platies are messy in a 10g so you'll need to keep an eye on the water conditions.

Plants are good

Pull the fry or set up something for the mom. She deserves CLEAN water. You can use Rubbermaid tubs as temporary tanks. Run a filter on it or at least an airstone w PWCs.

 

[RachelG]

If your fish are getting ill, check your water. High Nitrates or Ammonia will also kill Shrimp.

RCS are better in established , stable, clean tanks.

Id do an immediate PWC and test the water.

And Platies can kill RCS. Amano of Ghost Shrimp might be a better choice. They aren't a clean up crew. They are inhabitants that have their own needs and diets.

Platies are messy in a 10g so you'll need to keep an eye on the water conditions.

Plants are good

Pull the fry or set up something for the mom. She deserves CLEAN water. You can use Rubbermaid tubs as temporary tanks. Run a filter on it or at least an airstone w PWCs.

(I'm kinda getting the impression that you think i'm not keeping my tank clean)

The fish that got sick was sick the night I brought her home, and I'm sure it wasn't because I was not properly taking care of the tank. The fish I already had were perfectly healthy. And I have been testing the water frequently. It is always in perfect condition, with almost no nitrate even. I just did a two-gallon water change tonight, too. That's the third in the last week. Trust me, she has clean water. Anyway, I got help for the sick fish problem and am treating the tank to rid it of ick. I have plans if the current salt/heat treatment does not work.

And of course I wasn't just getting them to be a clean up crew. I was genuinely thrilled to have beautiful little cherry shrimp pets, and I'm heartbroken that they are gone. I'm sure they were eaten. There were no carcasses. I just want something that will aid in getting rid of uneaten food specks, that's why I'm asking about bottom feeder/scavengers. I will definitely take care of whatever fish or invertebrate I get, don't worry.

 

[Buckfins]

Have you thought about bamboo shrimp?

 

[herp_mommy]

If it is small enough a fish will try to eat anything. Most smaller shrimp do best in a species only tank.

 

[Babakapusta]

Get otocinclus

 

[Babakapusta]

I like your pictures Coursair. What kind of filter do you have?

 

[Kimlafeiet]

Amano shrimp would be a great choice for youe tank. They are much bigger than cherries and I doubt your platies would bother a shrimp that large......and they are great scavengers/algae eaters.
But......hold off on getting anything until your tank is treated and healthy again.

 

[RachelG]

Of course I won't add anything for a few weeks at least. I want my current fishies to get better first.

I do like amano and bamboo shrimp, I saw some earlier, and the amanos look a lot like gigantic ghost shrimp! I have some ghost shrimp in my five gallon, and I love them. So I will look into amano shrimp. There are also bamboo shrimp at a local petco, but they are quite expensive. The amanos are several dollars cheaper in the petstore down the street from there.

As for the sick platy, she is doing fine. I'm pretty sure she'll recover. And when I visited the store I bought her from today, I noticed the show tank I bought her from had quite a few sick and dying platies in it! I saw ick, the mouth fuzz stuff, and fish lying on the bottom The owner said he's never had platies get ill in large numbers like that, and it looked like the only fish in the tank that were sick were the platies. There were lots of rainbowfish, otos, and shrimp in there as well, but they looked healthy. That is his main show tank, too. So I'm convinced now that the problems with this fish I brought home are not my fault, but there was something that made those fish ill before they even made it to the store.

 

[RachelG]

Get otocinclus

I like them, they might be a second choice if I decide not to get amano shrimp. Or I could get a few pygmy cories, if I can find them. I don't think any stores here sell them.

 

[Coursair]

(I'm kinda getting the impression that you think i'm not keeping my tank clean)

The fish that got sick was sick the night I brought her home, and I'm sure it wasn't because I was not properly taking care of the tank. The fish I already had were perfectly healthy. And I have been testing the water frequently. It is always in perfect condition, with almost no nitrate even. I just did a two-gallon water change tonight, too. That's the third in the last week. Trust me, she has clean water. Anyway, I got help for the sick fish problem and am treating the tank to rid it of ick. I have plans if the current salt/heat treatment does not work.

And of course I wasn't just getting them to be a clean up crew. I was genuinely thrilled to have beautiful little cherry shrimp pets, and I'm heartbroken that they are gone. I'm sure they were eaten. There were no carcasses. I just want something that will aid in getting rid of uneaten food specks, that's why I'm asking about bottom feeder/scavengers. I will definitely take care of whatever fish or invertebrate I get, don't worry.

Ok, thanks for clarifying

I love my RCS as well. I would hate for them to be killed.

 

[Coursair]

I like your pictures Coursair. What kind of filter do you have?

I have an HOB filter on my Shrimp Jungle. It's an Aqueon. Nothing fancy. My Rimless tank has a Canister Filter. I use sponges over my intakes to protect my baby Shrimp and the RCS and CRS love to graze on the sponges.

 

[Babakapusta]

Can you use an old sponge type filter. I used to use them when I was breeding my bettas and the babies lived off of everything that clung to the sponge. I never fed them. There was enough on the sponge to have them grow out until they were big enough to eat regular food.

 

[Babakapusta]

Beautiful pictures

I really like your tank, and I'm thinking about getting a small tank for my daughter with the shrimp. I think she would love them. Would they work in a 2 gallon tank. Space is limited in her room.

 

[Platiesareawesome]

I had three cherry shrimp in my tank with female platies and was planning to buy more eventually, but now when I go to take them out of the tank while I medicate it, the shrimp are nowhere to be seen. Not hiding in the plants, not in the wood, and not even in the filter. I suspect the platies ate them. I was told platies would not eat cherry shrimp. I would not have bought them if I had known that that was a big fat lie!

What kind of bottom feeder/scavenger could I replace them with? This is a ten gallon tank, heavily planted, and has only two female platies at the moment. (my smallest female platy has ALSO disappeared! What is going on here? I looked behind the dresser with a flashlight, but she isn't back there. Maybe she flopped somewhere I couldn't see...I'll have to cover the holes in the tank hood now.)

Would amano shrimp do the job? A local store sells them, and they look quite large for a platy to eat. if I do not get more platies or other fish, could I try adding a small group of kuhlis? I know a ten gallon might be a tight fit for them, but if it is possible...
Or should I just cheap out and buy some ghost shrimp?
And are there other fish besides a third platy that I could add to the tank? Nothing that schools, of course. No room for a school. A single small fish that would eat fry would be an awesome addition...

I won't be adding these very soon, of course. I need to treat my platy with ick and cotton mouth first. She also just gave birth to a million tiny fry and looks like she lost ten pounds. Hopefully most get eaten. I removed all the plants on driftwood so they wouldn't be harmed by treatment, so the fry don't have many spaces to hide now. Don't get me wrong, they are cute and I love them, but I can't keep them. Maybe someday I will have ample supplies to breed some fish. Then I can officially be the crazy fish lady on the block.

Sorry about the shrimp My platies have never bothered my cherry shrimp…

 

[RachelG]

Sorry about the shrimp My platies have never bothered my cherry shrimp…

I got unlucky and got a fish that likes the taste of them, probably. Hopefully I have better luck with bigger shrimp.

 

[Coursair]

Can you use an old sponge type filter. I used to use them when I was breeding my bettas and the babies lived off of everything that clung to the sponge. I never fed them. There was enough on the sponge to have them grow out until they were big enough to eat regular food.

Shrimp breeders sometimes use sponge filters. It would work. I just prefer to keep things out of the tank.

 

[Coursair]

I really like your tank, and I'm thinking about getting a small tank for my daughter with the shrimp. I think she would love them. Would they work in a 2 gallon tank. Space is limited in her room.

A 2g ? Could work. Just needs fairly stable parameters. I don't heat mine. Just house heat. My room stays pretty warm.

 

[Babakapusta]

Do shrimp climb out of the tank like crayfish? I lost a crayfish that way. He was always crawling out and one day my cat got him

 

[Fresh2o]

Do shrimp climb out of the tank like crayfish? I lost a crayfish that way. He was always crawling out and one day my cat got him

Depends on the species. Most smaller shrimp are not very mobile out of the water with the exception of Amano shrimp.