# I'm not cut out to keep shrimp



## Picklelily

A few months ago I bought 5 fire red shrimp for my large community tank. Two didn't survive the first 24 hours but the other 3 seemed to be doing well and I was thoroughly enjoying keeping them.

THen horror of horrors a few weeks ago they vanished, I was sad my lovely shrimp had obviously died.

10 days ago I went into Pets at Home, they had Cherry shrimp so since my quarantine tank has been running empty for a while with a nice clump of java moss I decided to buy 6. The assistant was struggling to get exactly 6 in the bag, my husband said we didn't mind if there were more, meaning we would pay for any extras. The assistant smiled happily bagged the shrimp and took us to the till to our surprise he charged us for the 6 we had asked for. On arriving home we had 12 of various sizes and that's where the anxiety starts.

Somedays I have counted 0, other days I have 8. I have developed Obsessive compulsive shrimp counting disorder, I shout out the count to my family at several times during the day. I worry they are gone, then they are back.

To finally add insult to injury this weekend I notice 3 enormous fat fire red shrimp in the large tank.

I'm not cut out to keep shrimp, shrimp are evil!

In future, I will keep more snails as they move more slowly

What fish are you not cut out to keep?


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## Picklelily

I swear it's laughing at me


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## NaomiM

I also got some cherry shrimp the other day! Even in the bag before I netted them into the tank, I kept counting only 4 or 5 rather than the six I'd bought, and checked numerous times down the back of the tank in case they'd jumped out while the lid was off! (Needless to say, all six were actually there!)


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## Picklelily

It seems my fish are seriously trolling me, my tank has got very overgrown in the last month so, yesterday I decided to do a big deforestation only to find at least 2 baby Corydoras there might be a couple more but they are so fast that it's impossible to tell. Needless to say, all the plant clippings are now floating in the tank in a colander in case there are more. My husband is already complaining that the tank looks ridiculous now


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## kittih

Yeah shrimp are experts at hiding and then waving at you when you thought they died months back.

I thought my elderly bristlenose had passed away ages ago. Hes 4inches long so not easy to miss. Then he was briefly spotted by a friend for a few seconds and as i didnt see the fish myself i thoughthe was mistaken. Turns out the bristlenose had hollowed out a cave deep inside the bogwood and had happily lived there for 5 years with me being none the wiser.


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## bunnygeek

I had a glorious breeding group of Crystal Red Shrimp. Loved them. Then there was a hot summer and they all died. 

I now have two Amano Shrimp in a semi-neglected tank because I'm sodding lazy and they are not dead yet so that's good. >_<


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## NaomiM

I haven't seen my shrimp in a few days. I have a horrible feeling I killed them all off :Arghh

Rookie mistake - I bought some plants and forgot to rinse them before putting them in. I did ask at the shop whether they were shrimp safe and was told that they were, but I should have rinsed anyway...

For the first couple of days after getting them, the shrimp seemed to love them and I kept seeing them climbing around in them. Now, nothing...


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## kittih

NaomiM said:


> I haven't seen my shrimp in a few days. I have a horrible feeling I killed them all off :Arghh
> 
> Rookie mistake - I bought some plants and forgot to rinse them before putting them in. I did ask at the shop whether they were shrimp safe and was told that they were, but I should have rinsed anyway...
> 
> For the first couple of days after getting them, the shrimp seemed to love them and I kept seeing them climbing around in them. Now, nothing...


I can understand your worry. I once killed off a number of amano shrimp and permanently affected others when I added mail order plants that I thought had be thoroughly rinsed but must have been loaded with anti snail treatment.

Perhaps the shrimp are OK and just hiding. They do hide when they are shedding.


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