Nymph Killing Shrimp?

lordofthesea · Jul 21, 2009

ok, well i've recently set up a freshwater invert tank. at first i lost a couple of shrimp (mainly tiger shrimp) but i put this down to a nitrite spike (which i've now sorted out). well i've also lost a few small cherry and long nose shrimp. so, i've just spotted a damselfly nymph in the tank which i've hunted down and gotten rid of. could it be responsible for shrimp deaths. the thing is, i also have some delicate (but also large) snails and larger shrimps (amano's and fan shrimps) in there that are totally unaffected. could the damselfly nymph be the cause of some of these deaths?

edit
also, how hardy are tiger shrimp and how resistant to nitrite/ammonia, compared to other shrimp such as cherry and amano shrimp?

afishdude · Jul 21, 2009

Damselfly nymphs will not hurt shrimp. Shrimp eat them.

lordofthesea · Jul 21, 2009

are you sure? it was about an inch long. also, the pinned topic on hitchhikers says they can hurt shrimp... :unsure:

afishdude · Jul 21, 2009

Are you sure it was a damselfly nymph? There are thousands of types of nymphs.

Yes I am sure, it was part of my 4 year environmental degree.

lordofthesea · Jul 21, 2009

fair enough.

i'm 100% sure - i've seen them before

afishdude · Jul 21, 2009

There are nymphs that will hunt for food, but they couldn't get through the shell of a shrimp. Maybe a small fry but not a shrimp.

lordofthesea · Jul 21, 2009

ok.....any other reasons for losing my tiger shrimps? or is the nitrite to blame?

Tokis-Phoenix · Jul 22, 2009

Shrimp in general are very sensitive to water quality, if the tank is a new set up and has been experiencing some water quality issues (levels of nitrites, ammonia etc) then this is the likely cause of the shrimp deaths. Also make sure that when you add new water to the tank during a water change, the water is as close to the current temp of the water in the tank as possible and is poured in slowly :nod:

. Its crucial to acclimatise shrimp slowly and properly to a new tank.

keenonfish · Jul 22, 2009

afishdude said:
There are nymphs that will hunt for food, but they couldn't get through the shell of a shrimp. Maybe a small fry but not a shrimp.

I wonder if damsels could get underneath where the swimerettes are located? Reason I suggest this is becuase I recently adopted a couple of damsel nymphs and witnessed one eating snails! Obviously the shell was too tough so it would wait until the snail lifted up from the surface a bit and then that mask shot out and BAM B-)