ghost shrimp

[fishfamily101]

Hi,
We have a 72 gallon tank inhabited by 5 tiger barbs, 5 neon tetras, 4 bloodfin tetras, 3 dwarf gouramis, 1 chinese algae eater, 1 cory, 1 clown plecostomus (small), and 2 swordtails. We have twice tried putting ghost shrimp in the tank but they disappear quickly. The fish ignore them while we're watching. They have plants and a castle to hide in. Are they being eaten or is there another theory that fits?
Thanks

 

[Wes910]

well the 2 ghost shrimp i put in my tank quickly got eattin....

 

[TankGirl]

Most likely they are being eaten.

 

[youronlysin]

I would venture to say that the tiger barbs are the culprit. I would also guess that the tiger barbs would create a bit of stress for the tetras as well, notably the neons. It could be that the tank is big enough that the barbs would leave the other schooling fish alone, but generally barbs are a bit more agressive than the rest of the fish. I cant speak for the gouramis as I've never had them, but they would probably be a better tank mate than the neons just due to their size. The advantage to them all is the size of your tank I would say. In the least, Id bet that either the barbs or the gouramis (maybe) are getting the ghost shrimp. When I had barbs in my community tank, they kind of ran the whole place.....they were agressive and chased the rest of the fish around a lot. They also wiped out about 6 ghost shrimp before I removed them and replaced them with a more peaceful variety of fish.

I now have 6 ghost shrimp in a tank with several neons, 2 silver tip tetras a beta and 2 corys. The shrimp are doing fine and dont even try to hide from the rest of the inhabitants.

 

[Lance M.]

How come you only have one cory in that tank? You should get a couple more... And it is probably the tiger barbs. Try it again and see if the tigers nip at the shrimp. If that is it you can take them out and put a lot of shrimp in the 72 gallon. I like to have a standing army of at least 15 shrimp in my ten gallon and at times have had over 20. If they were true freshwater I would have hundreds by now!

 

[fishfamily101]

Thanks for your comments. We like our tiger barbs, so probably won't get rid of them. They don't bother the tetras, just chase other tiger barbs around. We got 5 of them when we had a 30 gallon tank and they were very small. (I had read somewhere that they were less likely to bother other fish if you got at least that many, and that has held true for us. We watched them very closely for the first few weeks to see.) I do plan on getting more corys, we had 2 but one has died. I'm hoping to get a couple more soon, probably one at a time. We seem to get the best survival rate that way. We may try the ghost shrimp one more time- our plants are multiplying so there are more hiding places now.

 

[jenbabe256]

fishfamily,
I had ghost shrimp for a while in a tank with my danios and they got along great. Then, I got some tiger barbs and the ghost shrimp started hiding. A few days later, I looked in the tank to see the one of the barbs with a shrimp tail hanging out of his mouth! My guess the culprit is the barbs; I'm sure they really enjoy this tasty snack and snatch them up every time you add the shrimp to the tank

 

[fishfamily101]

well, at least they were a cheap tasty snack!

 

[krap101]

true... but im pretty sure the gouramis might have eaten them. or have you checked in the castle? because they could of just died. because the 1st couple weeks they die really easily. but i have one in my 5 thats been alive for like 4 months now. and it was with dwarf puffers for a time . they can live pretty long once they get past the 1st couple weeks.

If they were true freshwater I would have hundreds by now!

ghost shrimp are freshwater arent they?