Clowns eat shrimp???

[vealboy]

I have 5 clowns, none are more than 3" long, and 40-ish tetra (neons and red eye). 2 weeks ago I added a dozen ghost shrimp to help keep the tank clean. I saw them for a while, but now they have disappeared as their name suggests.

I am doing a water change today and stirring things up a bit...but still no sign of the shrimp. Is it possible the loaches ate the shrimp?

[OneWay]

most assuredly. All of mine, big and small a like, eat chopped frozen shrimp. It would not take them long to figure out that live shrimp are just as tasty.

[Diana]

Ghost shrimp did not last 2 days in any of my tanks. Most fish will eat them.

[vealboy]

Grrr...I specifically asked the knucklehead at the fish store if the loaches posed a threat to the shrimp. He said, "Oh, no not at all." I am thankful I only spent $0.17 per shrimp...

Thanks for your responses...I won't bother looking for the shrimp anymore.

[raving_wayne]

i buy river shrimp on a regular basis for my clowns i buy 50 for £2 and within 10mins the entire 50 are gone, my clowns love em

[BotiaMaximus]

I have 7 - 4" clowns in my 75 gallon and 1 ghost shrimp that actually snuck in with three of them in the bag from the LFS. I did not expect this shrimp to last more than a few hours, but 2 months down the road and this lone shrimp is still hanging in there!

I don't know how he does it - there are also 4 striata, 5 kubs, and 2 large synodontis cats in the tank and he has eluded all. Just when I forget about him, there he is walking across the tank!

This is not normal though - either my loaches are defective or this shrimp has superpowers.

[helen nightingale]

wow, thats one tough shrimp (loaches are never defective, they have character).

the way my rasboras like to eat prawn, i wouldnt trust them with shrimps inte tank - they would be licking their lips all the time

[vealboy]

I am cleaning the tank (continued from yesterday) I found one of the dozen shrimp! I broke down the loach lair to clean the gravel and there it was. A black and fuzzy rotting corpse. Kinda gross...and STINKY!!! I am going to go out on a limb and say the corpse was responsible for my ammonia levels...

[palaeodave]

My household successfully keeps japonica shrimp with yoyos, striata, kubs and histies. Have done for years.

[FishyLady]

Will the neons be safe?

Val

[BotiaMaximus]

Will the neons be safe?

Val

That's a good question Val! I would start to worry about them as the loaches get a little larger. I don't know of anyone actually mixing the two until vealboy's scenario here.

Anybody have input on this??

[Diana]

Yoyos have eaten Neon Tetras. I would not mix any species where one is 1/4 the size of the other. The larger is highly likely to eat the smaller.
If the larger is a known predator, perhaps smaller fish need to be at least 1/2 to 3/4 of the size of the larger.

[helen nightingale]

i have an emerald eye rasbora in with my loaches - yoyos, striata and rostrata, and have had no problems. the largest loaches are about 6" and the rasbora is only about 1". i have always kept my loaches with harlequin rasboras too with no problems

rasboras seem to be much quicker moving fish than the average neon tetra, so size isnt the only issue i dont think. i wouldnt put neons in my tank.

[vealboy]

Huh...I never thought my neons as a tasty snack for my clowns, until now. So far I think I still have all my neons, but when the loaches get larger, they may go the way of my ghost shrimp. Neons are all more than 1" in length, a few are 1.5" long

The red-eye tetra are a bit bigger than the neons, they are about 2" and the females are closer to 2.5". I suppose they could be a tasty snack once the loaches get larger too.

[Sea Sprite]

Grrr...I specifically asked the knucklehead at the fish store if the loaches posed a threat to the shrimp. He said, "Oh, no not at all." I am thankful I only spent $0.17 per shrimp...

vealboy,
The same thing happened to me yrs ago. I was assured by someone at Petco...only it was african cichlids and crayfish.