# Will shrimp eat fish eggs?



## mayanjungledog (Mar 26, 2009)

I have cherry and tiger shrimp, and a couple of amanos, in a tank with spawning otocinclus. The otos have been spawning vigorously for a few months, but the eggs seem to disappear shortly after they are attached to leaves. My otos appear to prefer the undersides of crypt wendtii. I have a total of 2 fry that have survived, and they were born a few months ago when the shrimp population was relatively low. Any thoughts? Thank you all.


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## Ebichua (May 13, 2008)

I've read that they do if the eggs are left undefended. Snails that are large enough will do the same too, such as the ones we call "Apple Snails". That would include spixis, brigs, canas and so on.

I've never witnessed it though because most spawns in my tanks are accidentally and I don't know where the eggs are laid aside from "in the plants".


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## susankat (Oct 14, 2007)

When I pull eggs from a spawn I always put them into my cherry tank, as they will keep the eggs free from fungus by cleaning them constantly.


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## outofstock (May 8, 2009)

I dont know about Fish Eggs, but after I introduced Shrimp to my Snail Breeder tank, the snail eggs drastically dropped from being all over the glass.


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

I've heard shrimp being used to keep eggs clean and to take care of fungus problems... Now ghost shrimp and certain others may not be the best bet compared to RCS or something. 

Also, spawning and raising otto fry is not a common thing, are you feeding the tank more to compensate for this?


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## mayanjungledog (Mar 26, 2009)

Thanks for the replies. I have a trio of otos in a 10 gallon cherry and tiger shrimp tank. They've been spawning since I got the them several months ago. Of about a total of 5 or 6 spawning, only two fry have survived. The tank is low tech, pretty heavily planted. I'm trying to rule out some causes of unsuccessful spawnings. I can see the oto laying the eggs and the last spawn was the first that the eggs did not hatch. The eggs literally just disappeared overnight. Prior to this spawning, the eggs would hatch, the fry would be around for a few days, then disappear. Incidentally, around the same time, I noticed that berried cherry shrimps weren't successfully carrying their eggs to hatching either. I found out it was because of hydra. That problem has been resolved with fenbendazole. I feed the shrimps/otos about every 1-2 days with a variety of stuff including algae wafers, sinking shrimp wafers, blanched zucchini, etc. I'm wondering if perhaps the eggs that were laid weren't fertilized, so the shrimps ate them? I have not actually seen a shrimp eating the oto eggs. I have photos of the baby otos, but I can't figure out how to upload them on to the threads. Can someone help me out with that? Thank you.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I use a free account at www.photobucket.com to host my pics, and then upload them here through the img tool.

I suspect that your shrimp have learned a taste for Oto eggs. Happens sometimes, that animals will leave something alone for a long time, and then all of a sudden realize - hey, that tastes good! :confused1:

If the eggs disappeared overnight, then SOMETHING ate them...


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## StevenLeeds (Oct 9, 2007)

I had another successful hatch yesterday in a tank that is full of shrimp. I was concerned about the shrimp being hungry enough to go after the eggs. 

I made sure leading up to this that the shrimp and snails were well fed.

Just when I think that all the fry from the first spawn must have died they all appear from seemingly nowhere. They are difficult to keep track of.


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## Raiden (Jun 5, 2009)

Sorry for reviving a thread that's a couple years old, BUT I just saw my cherry shrimp rip through a couple corydoras eggs in my 10g tank. Pulled out a fry that was not ready to hatch yet. Kind of sad to watch, but it happens.

I should've taken a video, but I was too intrigued/mortified/whatever to think of it at the time. NEXT TIME I see cory eggs, I'm going to keep my phone at the ready.

Can't wait to get a breeder box...my cories have been laying eggs regularly.


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## reybie (Jun 7, 2007)

I'll post since you already woke up the dead lol.

I also used cherry shrimp to "turn" corydora eggs. A trick I learned from a local member. I gathered all the eggs I could reach and put them in a guppy breeder box and put a few cherries in it with the eggs. I rotated egg turning duties too.


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## wcdeich4 (Jun 29, 2016)

If you ever get a significant number of Oto fry to survive, you should definately sell them on eBay / AquaBids / where ever. As you may know, Otos in pet stores are usually wild caught from South America & they catch them w/ a cyanide based chemical that "stuns" them so they will float to the surface & the work is often outsourced to native fishermen who may eventually go blind from repeated exposure to the chemical. I would love to see ethically breed Otos become widely available someday!


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