Amano Shrimp Killing My Fishes

[Rafael Dilone]

Ok so recent i have added another amano shrimp to help with the cleaning of the sand bed in my planted tank which had 4 praecox rainbows and a small school of 12 Cardinal Tetras. This tank has been established for about 3 years before the addition of any amano shrimps. Once i added the first one about 3 months ago things were fine and he helped cleaned the sand very well. But with the addition of the last amano i noticed that i would find the shrimp eating cardinal tetras on the bottom of the tank. At first i thought perhaps the Cardinal's died naturally and he just ate the remains since i have had these cardinals for about 3 years now. I tested my water and everything was fine. I do water changes twice a week of about 25 percent with RO/DI water. The tank is very heavily planted and i loved the way it has finally turned out. But after coming last night from work and realizing i found yet another fish being eaten by the amano i just got frustrated and decided to take out all the fish and place them in one of my other tanks. I hated that i had to resort to this since they have been in that tank for about 3 years without being bothered by any fish or shrimp in this case. But after witnessing the shrimp actually chase some of the cardinal's down last night i just had to make the transfer. You can imagine how difficult it is to catch 10 of the remaining fish in that tank when there are so many plants in the way and the fish swim so fast. I acclimated them to a 20 gallon long planted tank i have. I always use drip acclimation to adjust all my fishes to new tanks. I may put them in a tank with no fish that i am currently aquascaping but perhaps i will keep them in the tank while i keep on aquascaping.

I do not know what to do with this tank that has the 2 amano shrimps in them. I was thinking of adding bigger fish that the amano cannot kill. But i really do not want to risk losing any more fish. I work long hours and am not home very often to keep an eye on how the shrimps interact with any possible new fishes. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[PDSimon]

What can amano shrimp even kill fish

are you sure its not another type of shrimp?

 

[ian]

I have had my Amano's jump on fish whilst feeding, but never kill.

 

[Curiosity101]

I've never had amanos look twices at any of my fish...I've had then with neons, rummy nose, corys, kuhli loach etc...

As Simon said, are you sure they're amanos?

And another question, what have you been feeding them?

 

[ZoddyZod]

I would say that unless you saw the amano jump on AND attack/eat the fish then I very much doubt they are the cause of the fishes death. You may have seen them 'jump' near the fish or even out of the way. As you say, the cardinals are 3yrs old so not exactly spring chickens.

 

[Rafael Dilone]

I am certain it is an amano. Yes i have seen the amano jump on the fish and try to eat them. After that point is when i move them to another one of my tanks. I am just going to get a few fishes in that tank later on that are bigger and less likely to be attacked and eaten by the amano. I feed the amano's shrimp pellets and algae wafers.

 

[gearhead65]

That's crazy! My amano keeps his distance and vice versa with all of my fish. It's like a big happy family.

 

[SuperColey1]

more than likely the fish are suffering prior to the shrimp attacking. I have seen cherry shrimp go after fish as large as adult corys if there is any sign of disease or aometing. Once when a cory had some fuzzy grey pacthes ( I assume some fungla growth) the shrimp chased and chased with the Cory flicking them off. Didn't last long.

Shrimp are like vultures. If they smell dying tissue they are in like a shot.

AC

 

[BethK]

Amanos won't kill a healthy fish fullstop, might take the odd fry out if it is tiny but that's about it.

Amanos are quick to move onto dead fish for a bite to it. They will only chase fish, if the fish are bothering them, I had 5 amanos in with 5 black neons and never a bother.

I would say that your tetras are either ill or you do not have amanos

 

[PDSimon]

Amanos won't kill a healthy fish fullstop, might take the odd fry out if it is tiny but that's about it.

Amanos are quick to move onto dead fish for a bite to it. They will only chase fish, if the fish are bothering them, I had 5 amanos in with 5 black neons and never a bother.

I would say that your tetras are either ill or you do not have amanos

There is an article in practical fishkeeping about amanos attacking fish...apparently it happens sometimes

 

[BethK]

Yeah, my amanos would attack the bettas but only if the fish got too over baring