Will amano shrimp attack smaller fish?

[dragon14]

We now have one habrosus fish. One died this morning or last night while we were sleeping.

How did I find out that one had died? I found one of our amano shrimp eating him. Must've been a nice meal for him :/ I shooed the shrimp away with the net and then I scooped out what was left of the fish and said a prayer.

When we first got our three habrosuses, one passed within several days of getting them. We never found a body so a shrimp must have had a nice meal :/

I have found our shrimp eating a pygmy that has passed before, but I am pretty sure that the shrimp are eating the little catfish after they pass, since shrimp are scavengers.

Will amano shrimp attack smaller fish, including these small catfish? We also have 6 pygymies. I can't help but wonder if they might...

 

[Brookster123]

They'll just eat em up after they die. Not an ambush predator or anything, scavengers..

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[biondoa]

It is quite normal for amano shrimp to eat fish that have already died. I have been told that they will not attack live fish, however, I had one that grew very large, about 2 1/2" long. I suppose it is possible that he was not an amano, maybe another species that got mixed in with them, but he sure looked like an amano. Anyway, he was in a 20g tank and I thought he would be much happier in my 75g, so I put him in there. The next morning I found 2 of my dime sized angelfish dead. They had been somewhat mutilated. I took the shrimp back to the LFS, and since then, not more deaths. Whether or not he actually did the killing we will never know, but my feeling is that he did.

 

[dragon14]

They'll just eat em up after they die. Not an ambush predator or anything, scavengers..

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Thanks Brookster

 

[dragon14]

It is quite normal for amano shrimp to eat fish that have already died. I have been told that they will not attack live fish, however, I had one that grew very large, about 2 1/2" long. I suppose it is possible that he was not an amano, maybe another species that got mixed in with them, but he sure looked like an amano. Anyway, he was in a 20g tank and I thought he would be much happier in my 75g, so I put him in there. The next morning I found 2 of my dime sized angelfish dead. They had been somewhat mutilated. I took the shrimp back to the LFS, and since then, not more deaths. Whether or not he actually did the killing we will never know, but my feeling is that he did.

That's what I figured.

I feel like most of our amanos are around 2" long; is that abnormal? We have one that is probably no more than an inch long.

I'm sorry about the loss of your small angels

We lost a few of our pygmy catfish BEFORE getting shrimp...

Thanks for the reassurance. I doubt they're killing them, but I couldn't help but wonder...

If they were killing them, I have no idea what we would do with them... don't really have a spare tank.

Our LFS however, told us that they can go after Betta fins....

 

[ScotJudd]

My cherry shrimp were eating a cory catfish that was still alive. It may have been weak and dying allowing them to do this but he sure as hell wasn't dead. I removed the poor fish and euthanised it.
They eat any dead shrimp as well.
Having said all that they are still my favourite creatures in the tank...... Fascinating and entertaining.


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[dragon14]

My cherry shrimp were eating a cory catfish that was still alive. It may have been weak and dying allowing them to do this but he sure as hell wasn't dead. I removed the poor fish and euthanised it.
They eat any dead shrimp as well.
Having said all that they are still my favourite creatures in the tank...... Fascinating and entertaining.


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Yikes! Cherries are so tiny! We tried to make a tank to breed them in but didn't realize it needed to be a well established tank and plus we didn't have any filter cartridges in at the time, but the filter was circulating water... it was fresh water just filled.... we lost them all within a week. The last one we put in our tank and it lived a day or two in there. Ugh. They're so pretty. Disaster for us though.

But I digress... I'm sorry that it may have killed one of your fish

I love the shrimp... they are definitely entertaining!