Vampire shrimp

[Friendly]

I bought a vampire shrimp 2 days ago. I think they are really cool looking shrimp! Well today I was looking for him and I found him half buried in the gravel vertically. He’s still in the same position now fanning away lol. Is it normal for them to bury themselves?

 

[Toirtis]

Not generally, but perhaps he is close to a moult and is feeling vulnerable. My vamps like to hang out on and under pieces of bogwood, particularly under the filter outflow.

 

[Friendly]

Not generally, but perhaps he is close to a moult and is feeling vulnerable. My vamps like to hang out on and under pieces of bogwood, particularly under the filter outflow.

Hmmm it's possible, but there are lots of places for him hide and feel safe in my tank. I didn't think that he would have wanted to burry himself instead of hiding in the thick plant growth lol. Well anyway he's moved out the little hole and is runnin around now .

 

[Andyvette]

Shrimp are the greatest addition to any tank.
Even though they dont do alot (and even though they filter feed/eat algae, etc, it is so minimal)... they are SO fun to watch.

 

[jibboo]

can you keep shrimp with cichlids and loaches?

 

[Jaybird]

You can keep some. I had two bamboo shrimp in with cichlids and they survived, but never came out at all. There was the ghost shrimp attempt, but they just ended up being tasty snacks.

 

[Friendly]

Hey Toirtis you were right, I just found the molted exoskeleton of my shrimp

 

[Thebluyak]

i had some ghost shrimp, started with 4 and only 2 made it through the night, the other two were eaten the next morning by my angel fish and gang of bloodfin tetras.

 

[lovemybarbs]

Mine is still doing really well. The pictus doesn't bother him at all. I'm going to add another one when I find another big one.

 

[Toirtis]

Hey Toirtis you were right, I just found the molted exoskeleton of my shrimp

Cool...mine are moulting fairly regularly, and are starting to get nicely blue now that they are 5"+.

 

[Friendly]

Hey Toirtis you were right, I just found the molted exoskeleton of my shrimp

Cool...mine are moulting fairly regularly, and are starting to get nicely blue now that they are 5"+.

Yieks, you got some big shrimps! How long have you had them? Do you supplement their diet at all?

I made sure that I bought the smallest shrimp (mine is a little over one and half inches). Once mine gets to about 2 and half to three inches I'm going to take him out of my 75g planted tank and put him in a new 75g tank I plan on getting. I wouldn't want a monster shrimp plowing through my delicate plants lol. The new 75g won't be as heavily planted as the 75g I have now.

 

[lovemybarbs]

Do you have any other pictures of that vampire?

 

[Toirtis]

Yieks, you got some big shrimps! How long have you had them? Do you supplement their diet at all?

They can get to 6"+, but mine were a good 2½"-3" when I got them, and I have had them a good year now. They get just what goes in the tank for the other fish, so NLS grow formula, frozen daphnia, hloodworms, crushed spirulina flake, chopped mysis shrimp, and occasional live microworms.

 

[Friendly]

They can get to 6"+, but mine were a good 2½"-3" when I got them, and I have had them a good year now. They get just what goes in the tank for the other fish, so NLS grow formula, frozen daphnia, hloodworms, crushed spirulina flake, chopped mysis shrimp, and occasional live microworms.

Oh I see, I thought that since they were really big they needed to be directly feed with something.

My shrimp had me really worried for past two days. I couldn’t find him and I thought he had died and my amano shrimps had eaten him completely without leaving a trace. I searched my entire tank desperately to find him but couldn't! Earlier on today I was following one of my amanos until he came up to my piece of driftwood. I then noticed a little blue antenna waving around from under the driftwood. I had finally found him. He had dug out the gravel and was actually hiding inside the driftwood. I couldn't believe he had dug that far down to get inside. I didn't like him being in there because I was afraid that he might get trapped so I had to take the whole piece of driftwood out. I tried to gently pull him out of the hollowed space in the driftwood but he just wouldn't let go and ended up going deeper inside lol. Then all of sudden he came running out fell on my floor where I was able to get him back in the tank. Man........ that shrimp is somethin else lol.

 

[Toirtis]

You might be surprised at these guys....in the wild, those big stabby front legs are used to hold onto wood/rock/etc in strong current, dig out hollows, and even climb small waterfalls and steep inclines.

 

[Friendly]

You might be surprised at these guys....in the wild, those big stabby front legs are used to hold onto wood/rock/etc in strong current, dig out hollows, and even climb small waterfalls and steep inclines.

That's very interesting! I did wonder why the two front legs were so big. When I was trying to pull him out of my driftwood he wouldn't budge one bit. Now I see why.

Seeing as how your shrimps are pretty mature, have they ever tried to breed with each other?

 

[Toirtis]

Seeing as how your shrimps are pretty mature, have they ever tried to breed with each other?

Not yet, but I am hoping....a friend of mine just had a whack of cherry shrimp babies, so I need to outdo him.

 

[Friendly]

Not yet, but I am hoping....a friend of mine just had a whack of cherry shrimp babies, so I need to outdo him.

Hahaha

Hope your shrimps do spawn in the future