Shrimp Killer

[Seamonkey]

So I need help figuring out which fish or kritter in my tank kills shrimp. I have never successfully been able to keep any type of shrimp. I have tried cleaner, banded and the expensive fire shrimp and they all dissapear quickly. My latest tragedy was a small banded shrimp. He lasted all of 1 hour that I could tell. My fish invenory is 2 clowns, 3 yellow tail damsals, a six line wrasse, yellow tang and royal gramma. Other than that there are some very small hermit crabs and snails. Who is committing this crime. Or is it something else. This tank is 7 years old. And keeping shrimp has been the only problem. No nitrates, S. G. is 1024. Thanks for any advise, god I hate putting critters in and having them die!

[justinl]

sixline maybe? could be a range of unknown hitchers though.

[Chowder]

Is it possible that you have a mantis shrimp.

[Seamonkey]

My suspision is the sixline as well. No other creatures ever noticed cruising in the tank, at night either. I have had the tank up and running for years, so if there was anyone hiding out I would have seen it.

[Railskinner]

I would lean towards the 6 line wrasse , I was told at fish store that it wouldn't eat the shrimp. Wanted 6 line to eat flat worm which it did after he chowed down a few shrimp. I now have 6 line in my quarantine tank. New shrimp in dispaly are thriving well now. Its too bad the 6 line is quite an impressive looking fish too. He took out 1 cleaner and 2 pepermint shrimp.lesson learned the hard way.

[ron101]

How are you acclimating the shrimp?

[Railskinner]

Good Point

I drip acclimate everything that i get. I ve heard that thats best way for invertes ect. I also test the salinity of the fish store water and see what there salinity is at. Ive gotten home and seen a .05 difference between theres and mine. That could cause shock and is hard on shrimp ,crabs.

[justinl]

chris, what makes you suspect a mantis right away? imo, probly not a mantis since the hermits and snails are fine.

as for the acclimation, +1 on this too. as a general rule, inverts are more sensitive to quick salinity changes.

[ron101]

I was also having a hard time with shrimp for awhile. I was floating them in bags or containers and slowly acclimating them over 30 mins or so. They would die in under a day, sometimes in as little as a couple hours. Jeff out at J&L said to try just throwing them in. It worked. I think that with the lack of circulating water in the container and proximity to lighting they were getting over heated.

I'm not too convinced about the necessity of strict acclimation procedures. In the ocean it is not uncommon for currents of different salinities and temperatures to move into reefs without laying waste to all the inhabitants. Just a thought...

[ElGuappo]

I droped all my shrimp in and never had any issues.

[Aquattro]

I also just drop my shrimp in, no problems. I would suspect a mantis too, as they seem to be able to more easily get shrimp. Hermits are tough, I've never lost one to a mantis. I had a mantis banging on a snail the other day, no luck there for mantis either. Luckily I saw it and it was in a small isolated rock, which is now in quarantine in the backyard.
I've discovered new mantis and crabs in my tanks after years of running, so it is possible to have a long running tank and still miss stuff.
It could also be the 6 line, but you'd probably notice aggresion as soon as it saw the shrimp, not in the middle of the night.

[fishytime]

My sixline never bothered the cleaner shrimp that was in the tank before him, but went after a few other inverts that I introduced after he was in the tank. Never killed anything though(he's still just wee).

[Chowder]

Justinl I thought shrimp because that was the same way I found out I had one. I actually caught the third shrimp getting killed . That was when I realized it was a Mantis shrimp in my case. I also diidn't read that he had his tank running for a few years and yes he would have seen it if there was one. I would also lean towards the Acclimation if it is within hours that the shrimp are dieing but it sounds like he is taking every percaution there. I have a sixline that has taken out all my sexy shrimp.:twised:

[Seamonkey]

Well I'm sure there is no mantis shrimp in this tank. The new shrimp was small and no sign of a corpse. In the past the shrimp I added were in the tank for up to a couple of weeks. I figured the got attacked while they were molting and vulnerable. They were also larger. I'm very carefull to acclimate any new critters. The sixline wrasse just kind of has a predatory look to it and he's quite large. I suspect that he is the murderer! I guess as long as he's in the tank, shrimp are out of the question. (p.s. I'm a she not a he) :)