Houdini, The Escaping Shrimp.

[NickAu]

The other day while I was doing something on my HOB I found 3 shrimp in it, No idea how they got there and yes the intake is covered by a fine sponge.

Today I found out how they do it. My heater is under the filter outlet and so is part of the power cord, It seems the shrimp use the power cord as a highway in and out of the filter. No I'm serious got photos to prove it.

You can just see the power cord here.

One of the culprits.

 

[Baccus]

Shrimp can be rather naughty like that, even if they didnt have the power cord to clamber up they probably would have still found their way into the filter. It doesnt seem to do them any harm being filters, just makes it more interesting for you when ever you need to clean the filter.
 
Since your shrimp have already shown a liking for roaming, keep an eye out around your tank for any shrimp that misjudged just where they can roam too.
 
oh and nice looking female shrimp there too.

 

[NickAu]

I have left about 6 in there, Critters living in my filters is nothing new,  When I clean the canister filter on my 2 foot tank  I quite often find 10 or so baby shrimp in the bottom happily going on with life, and I only clean my filter when the water just about stops flowing thru it. Its also where I found 2 fat happy baby Kuhli Loaches.
 
I have over 100 shrimp most like her between 2 tanks,  Most of them are in the 2 foot tank and every so often I spot a real nice one and that gets moved into the cube with other real nice ones the more solid red the better, OH god I just realized I'm breeding shrimp. Luckily my Bettas and Tetras enjoy the rejects and boy I have lots of them.  They say pest snails breed fast, You should try shrimp especially if there are no fish or predators in the tank with them.
 
 
PS I started with a few feeder shrimp some even had a huge white line on the back, got none of those now, Fish food.

 

[nic1]

Aw so only the most beautiful and intelligent shrimp make it to the cube tank, and they all have a secret hiding place via a secret entrance! they are cute!! 

 

[NickAu]

The real intelligent ones find their way into the filter where they seem to thrive. 

 

[NickAu]

 

[Baccus]

You are preaching to the choir when it comes to shrimp, so far my collection ranges from Red Cherry to Black Cherry (and a few hundred wild type culls), Chameleon Shrimp (the Australian type of course), Darwin Red Nose, Darwin Algae Shrimp, Glass Shrimp (again Aussie species), Blackmore River Shrimp and Riffle Shrimp and I think  I still have one Typhus. There is at least one more species of shrimp I am debating getting if I can find some cheap enough.

 

[WesleytheBetta]

This is making me want to breed cherries! 

 

[NickAu]

You should, Shrimp are fun and if they are in a tank on their own quite active always swimming here and there.

This is my 2 foot tank after I sold my female Betta, Removed plants and did a water change.

The tank is cloudy because of the water conditioner I use, It clears up in a few hours.

 

[NickAu]

One of my shrimp

 

[NickAu]

Please pay no attention to the funny looking Malaysian Trumpet snail on the drift wood in the bottom right hand corner.
 

 

[Baccus]

Looking very nice

 
Is your "funny looking Malaysian Trumpet Snail" a local wild snail? I have some huge black shelled MTS LIKE snails that I collected from a local water way but don't seem to breed in fresh water unlike the pest MTS.
 
One of my big black ones and you can see much smaller MTS around it

 

[NickAu]

Thats a nice looking snail.
 

Is your "funny looking Malaysian Trumpet Snail" a local wild snail?

No they are the type that hunt and eat other snails. I think they are called Clea Helena.

 

Thats my shrimp tank for now, It used to have a female PK in it but I sold her.