Glass Shrimp Has Eaten My Tetra!

aibo210 · Jan 30, 2007

Hi

ive had 3 glass shrimp for 4 days and ive just found one of my tetras dead :angry:

with its guts eaten out! is this normal for shrimp!? :unsure:

Miss Wiggle · Jan 30, 2007

aibo210 said:
Hi

ive had 3 glass shrimp for 4 days and ive just found one of my tetras dead with its guts eaten out! is this normal for shrimp!?

virtually all fish and inverst will munch on the body of a dead fish. it's v likely it died of other causes and then the shrimp ate it

~T~ · Jan 30, 2007

They are opportunistic so if one gets ahold of a fish it will eat it.Its more likely to have died then been eaten as MW says but they can catch and eat small fish.

crazie.eddie · Jan 30, 2007

I agree that the fish was already dead. Glass shrimp are not predators and are not quick enough to catch and hold prey.

three-fingers · Jan 30, 2007

You wouldn't happen to be able to take a picture would you? Though its more likely that the tetra just died of natural caused and was then eaten, there are alot of different species sold as 'glass shrimp' and they can look very similar when young. If they are ghost shrimp, then there's no risk.
http

/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...ing+tetra+again

fatboy · Jan 30, 2007

I also think the shrimp is most likely scavenging. However, I don't agree that glass shrimp are so harmless. They can be nippy little things and I've seen them pester fish (scarlet badis, black widows) to death, taking little bites of fins here and there until the poor fish dies. Perhaps this depends on exactly which species the 'glass shrimp' is. I'm talking about the ones that float around the tank like daddy longlegs. They're not macrobrachiums but they do have long-ish nasty claws and aren't afraid to use them.

~T~ · Jan 30, 2007

I have witnessed a ghost shrimp catch and begin to eat a healthy baby angelfish(bout 1p sized) so they defo can and will eat fish but its more likely the fish was either dying or already dead.

RESGuy · Jan 30, 2007

You might also have mistakenly boughten a Long-Arm Shrimp whcihc are commonely sold as "Ghost Shrimp" or "Freshwater Shrimp". This species of shrimp will grow quite large and predate on your fish.