• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Removing All Shrimps - impossible ?

dino21

Member
Joined
17 Mar 2020
Messages
321
Location
Derbyshire
Hi,

We have a small well planted 40cm 60ltr cube tank with Endlers and Dwarf Corys.

Last December we foolishly added 6 small Cherry Shrimps and of course they grew up unhindered and bred like the proverbial rabbits!

Tried traps, but they are very hit and miss , find using a syphon tube much more effective, though the breeding shrimps stay well hidden.

Seem to be at plateau at the moment, removing about 50 -60 smaller ones a week, though estimate a lot more still in the tank.

Short of a full strip down is there any way to erradicate them for good ?

We could move the fish to a holding tank though not sure if doing that we would still inadvertently transfer some shrimp eggs etc with them ?
 
is there any way to erradicate them for good ?

My first question would be why would you want to? They are one of the best tank janitors and algae preventers available?

inadvertently transfer some shrimp eggs

Shrimp don't lay eggs as such - the female carries them under her abdomen until they hatch. So unless you transfer an adult female you wont transfer eggs. Its quite easy to inadvertently transfer shrimplets in plants and moss though.

like the proverbial rabbits!

Like many prolific breeding species, their population will self regulate it you let it. They will eventually be limited by available food, and the females will stop producing eggs, and the population will regulate. Preventing over feeding of the fish will help of course.

There is also the sale option - if the shrimp have good colouration, there is an active market in their sale if you are so inclined.
 
My first question would be why would you want to? They are one of the best tank janitors and algae preventers available?

Well when they got as thick as this seemed to us at the time they may becoming more of a pest as we also noticed the dwarf corys seemed relectant to come out, though from that you say they may not be as much a problem as we thought.
We are now seeing about 5 % of them are without a full red appearance, more clear or blackish.

So really we should keep them and let nature do its thing...

001295.jpg
 
I agree that they are (or at least can be) self-limiting. When I first got the Shrimphaus going there were two or three rounds of a rapidly expanding shrimp population (Moar baby shrimp! - Fireplace aquarium) and I was a little worried about the direction that was apparently heading, but that seems to have more or less completely stabilised now with no new babies in last three months and what appears to be a confortable population level. I never feed them - if you're feeding your shrimp I suggest you stop. If you're already not feeding the shrimp then you could probably cut back on the amount of food you're giving the fish assuming the shrimp are getting the leftovers.
 
I agree that they are (or at least can be) self-limiting. When I first got the Shrimphaus going there were two or three rounds of a rapidly expanding shrimp population (Moar baby shrimp! - Fireplace aquarium) and I was a little worried about the direction that was apparently heading, but that seems to have more or less completely stabilised now with no new babies in last three months and what appears to be a confortable population level. I never feed them - if you're feeding your shrimp I suggest you stop. If you're already not feeding the shrimp then you could probably cut back on the amount of food you're giving the fish assuming the shrimp are getting the leftovers.

They are still breeding continually as we can alwas see lots of little ones, 2-3mm, in the Java Moss etc.
Never fed the Shrimps as such and have now cut back on the fishes food.
Prior to the shrimps always had a good population of the small snails but the shrimps cleaned most of them off !

Seems we will have to put up with the shrimps or more a case of finding the happy balance...

In our marine days we could get a gentle pedicure from our pair of Cleaner Shrimps who were happy to search for any food we might have, always get the feeling if we tried it with this lot, we would be down to the bone !! :)
 
I’d cull any of the off colours, if you speak to your local LFS they might take 10 a week from you.

Sounds like whatever your doing is very good for the shrimp 👍😅
 
You’re lucky, I’ve got loads of shrimps but 95% are now dull brown! I should approach the LFS to see if they want them but I’m not sure they will?
 
You’re lucky, I’ve got loads of shrimps but 95% are now dull brown! I should approach the LFS to see if they want them but I’m not sure they will?
Depends, I’ve sold them as “wild” cherries in the past as they have a certain charm to those that don’t want super bold colours and though not lucrative it always provided enough to justify the effort.
 
I had the same thing in one of my tanks, though with more wild type shrimp, and I used to use a bottle trap to catch them. I would probably have tried some in a garden tub now but I used to just donate them locally or give them to the lfs (occassionally I got some free food or a discount on something).

It's quite a nice problem to have and one lots of people would be envious of.
 
Back
Top