# Shrimp Eating Neon Tetras?



## flutterbug (Jan 8, 2012)

I've been trying to figure out what is happening to some disappearing Neon Tetras and forums talking about shrimp has come up. I have lost at least 2 of them. We looked in the filters and there are no remnants anywhere in the tank. The back does have a small opening but I've heard these fish can't jump out of the tank. I check my tank frequently through the day so I doubt I would have missed a dead fish. I've only had them in there for 2 weeks. I also have 3 Dwarf Gourami that have been in there a week. But they have such small mouths, I can't imagine they could eat a Jumbo Neon Tetra. Plus they don't seem interested in them at all.

I saw somewhere that shrimp sold in North America as 'Ghost Shrimp' are most likely to be Palaemonetes paludosus. However, many Macrobrachium shrimp, in their juvenile post larval state, appear exactly like adult Palaemonetes paludosus. 

So I wasn't sure if anyone could tell by my picture which I have? Just in case it is my shrimp eating them. Iff they are it is probably happening in the evening while the lights are out because I can't see in the tank then. Thanks for any help.:help:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-RDhkdS9B3ew/TyF14JEYFeI/AAAAAAAAOf8/dyRyIW4c1Do/s720/100_0498.JPG


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Oh yea that's definitely what is eating the tetras. Look at the size of those claws!! You are right in that it is a macrobrachium. Ghost shrimp claws are much thinner. Get that shrimp out asap!


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## longbeach (Nov 2, 2011)

If a neon dies, the shrimp will cretainly eat them. They won't harm living healthy neons. Those clawed shrimp species may be a different story. I have no experience with them.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

More like the tetras died and were eaten or they are somewhere you can't see. Neon tetras are a fast fish and a small shrimp isn't going to "tackle" it down and eat it. Myself, I've never had luck with tetras in my tap water, must be something they don't like. Tried several times, several tanks and they never lasted.

I look in my tanks everyday, prune plants and move stuff around and in the last week I have found a snowball shrimp I thought was dead in a 20gal and haven't seen it for 3 weeks. Found 2 baby mosquito fish in an almost empty 12" cube tank, and a cherry shrimp in a tank I thought I took everything out of it. Point is, these critters are small and sneaky and alive or dead, can hide in a lot of spots that we don't notice. If they died, shrimp will eat the dead body or they died and are slowly being eaten somewhere that you can't see. the other fish may have jumped on as the shrimp started eating too.

As for you shrimp, I don't know how to tell the differences so maybe someone else will chime in.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

That shrimp is definitely a macrobrachium and not a ghost shrimp. And it's size is probably ~2inches as well right flutterbug?

Even ghost shrimp turn aggressive as they age and will attack and kill RCS and other smaller dwarf shrimp.


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## flutterbug (Jan 8, 2012)

Thanks to everyone for the responses. Yes diwu13 they are about 2" I have 2 of them. The funny thing is the pet store person said they'd be fine with the Neons. I know don't always trust them! I personally wanted the Blue and Cherry shrimps that stay super small but DH wanted the big guys... I'm bummed because the only thing to do would be get rid of them correct?


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

I had the same problem. I bought 10 ghost shrimp, and 1 of them was the macrobrachium. While the others were still ~1" it grew to like 2.5" and started eating all the other shrimp.

You can try returning it... but chances are the LFS won't take any livestock back. In which case your only option is to kill it :\. But at 2" that'll make a decent sized shrimp skewer ?


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## madness (Jul 31, 2011)

Sounds like it got mixed in with the ghost shrimp which doesn't really mean that they told you wrong just that they mixed in a shipment and they were too young to easily notice when they sold them.

Still sucks though.


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## DrEd (May 13, 2009)

My Amano shrimp killed a few of my cardinal tetra. They can bring down a weak one or sleeping one very fast. I couldn't believe it the first time my daughter told me. The other day I even saw my RCS jump onto a dying fish hiding under plants. That fish was still swimming ok at that time. Somehow the shrimp can sense the coming death. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk


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## flutterbug (Jan 8, 2012)

I finally found some evidence of another missing Neon. There was a perfectly cleaned skeleton on the bottom of the aquarium yesterday morning and a little bit later my daughter noticed one of the shrimp eating the skeleton! So that explains the missing dead fish! I started with 21 Neons and I'm down to 17. I got the Tetras and shrimp on 1/13, so I've only had them 3 weeks.


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## Bandit1200 (Dec 11, 2010)

There is also the possibility that they died from stress. A lot of neons are still wild caught and shipped to the US. Even farmed fish like that have a long trip to get to your aquarium. Neons seem to be a bit fragile in my experience. It's likely you would have experienced the same mortality without any other fauna in the tank. The shrimp may just be cleaning up for you as opposed to hunting your neons.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

You never took out the macrobrachium shrimp?


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

That thing is going to get huge lol. Good luck if you dont kill it. It will kill YOU ..... kidding of course lol. But look on youtube, scary looking.


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

longbeach said:


> If a neon dies, the shrimp will cretainly eat them. They won't harm living healthy neons. Those clawed shrimp species may be a different story. I have no experience with them.


It will eat whatever it can catch / latch onto especially if hungry enough, healthy or not. My "ghost shrimp" tore about 1" off my male betta's fins, and more off my female betta (who actually eats live shrimp), and doesn't have claws nearly that big. That one is definitely a macrobrachium.

But most likely the tetra was weakened / sleeping / already dead, tetras are fast.

You could always throw them in another tank. I use my ghost shrimp to cycle with dead fish in a miserable attempt to kill it, he usually eats the dead fish. Healthy as ever.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

xenxes said:


> It will eat whatever it can catch / latch onto especially if hungry enough, healthy or not. My "ghost shrimp" tore about 1" off my male betta's fins, and more off my female betta (who actually eats live shrimp), and doesn't have claws nearly that big. That one is definitely a macrobrachium.
> 
> But most likely the tetra was weakened / sleeping / already dead, tetras are fast.
> 
> You could always throw them in another tank. *I use my ghost shrimp to cycle with dead fish in a miserable attempt to kill it, he usually eats the dead fish. Healthy as ever.*


Sorry but I have to laugh at that haha. The part about it eating the dead fish cracked me up for some reason ...... like oh hey food, yummy!


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## flutterbug (Jan 8, 2012)

*Update* The shrimp with the giant claw died a couple weeks ago after I tried adding new Tetras. Back info ~ The Tetras had been holding at 13 for a while until my piece of crap heater malfunctioned and cooked my tank inhabitants for who knows how long. I started noticeing dead tetras floating around and looked at the thermometer and it was reading 97 degrees! So even though they didn't all die immediately over the next few days I ended up with 2 survivors. ~ Big mistake adding the new ones, they must have either went into shock or had some disease because they just dropped like flies over the next few days. I saw the big clawed shrimp eating one of the new dead ones, then a few days later I saw one of my Dwarf Gouramis eating a dead shrimp. They both ended up dieing shortly after. So any who now I have 1 shrimp, 1 gourami and back down to my 2 Tetras. Oh and I have two Ottos because I also added 3 of them and only 1 died. All this caused me to go out and buy a 10 gallon kit so I can do things right from now on and quarantine any new additions. I am currently quarantining a German Blue Ram which I believe to be a female. Hopefully she ends up healthy, so far so good.


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## Kunsthure (Aug 2, 2010)

Neon stocks are generally weak so it's no surprise that they were dying on you even without that killer shrimp's intervention. 

GBRs do best in very mature species tanks. And buying them from LFS usually means they're of a weak stock as well. It's better to get them from a breeder with a good reputation. If you still have that macro shrimp, your GBR is probably toast since they generally stay near the bottom.

-Lisa


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

fbug, what a debacle youve been through... did you end up getting a new heater? what make and model did you have that failed so we know to skip that one.

Just amazed that the shrimp, gourami and tetras even survived at all...


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## flutterbug (Jan 8, 2012)

I don't have that giant clawed shrimp anymore. He was the one eating the dead Tetras and shortly after died.



acitydweller said:


> fbug, what a debacle youve been through... did you end up getting a new heater? what make and model did you have that failed so we know to skip that one.
> 
> Just amazed that the shrimp, gourami and tetras even survived at all...


 
The old heater that went was a Whisper. It was old so that could have had something to do with it.


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## suylong (Jan 21, 2013)

I have dozen ghost shrimp in my 66 gal tanks. few days a go I bought 15 neon tetra, after one night 4 gone. the next day, during night, what I found out was, angel fish. I have 4 angel fish, one of them very aggressive and predatory, I saw with my own eyes, that angels was attacked, killed and ate. Ghost shrimp only eat the death fish.


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