Cannibal RC Shrimp?

**~Col~** · 09-13-2010, 10:27 PM

Hi All

Lately I've been finding half eaten adult RCS on the bottom on my shrimp tank. The only other inhabitants at the moment are about 30 three day old molly fry and four tiny inbred guppies not much bigger than the fry. They show no interest in the RCS. I've been finding them here and there over the last couple of weeks.

Do adult RCS fight?

Does one dominate the whole?

I've got a few females in there full of eggs. I've seen a few babies around as well. I've seen a few shells from shedding/moulting RCS as well.

Any ideas?

**Brhino** · 09-13-2010, 10:44 PM

Shrimp will eat the dead bodies of anything, so it's not surprising they're getting eaten - the only question is why they died in the first place.

how long have you had them? Life span of the RCS is only 1-2 years, if you've had them a while they could be dying of natural causes.

**~Col~** · 09-13-2010, 11:29 PM

Nah, I've only had them a couple of months. Although some of them were adults when I got them so who knows how old they were.

I've been getting rid of the dead bodies each time I see them. Is this the right thing to do?

At the moment, because of all the molly fry I'm doing daily 50% water changes.

**ippielb** · 09-13-2010, 11:37 PM

I have around 40 red cherry shrimp and i haven't had any of that happen before.

**~Col~** · 09-14-2010, 01:20 AM

Okay, in all three that I pulled out this morning, all three had a big chunk out of the back of their head.

I've removed the four guppies, just in case. They are so tiny compared to my "normal" guppies but I'm sure they'll be okay.

**korith** · 09-14-2010, 01:35 AM

Whenever I see a large number dead shrimp in the tank, it's usually from a bad water change. I've had issues with the water here locally.

If it's just a few shrimp, most likely fish are the culprit. Many fish even if the shrimp won't fit in their mouths will tear and pick away at them. About the only fish that is "safe" for shrimp would be otocinclus. That seems to be the only fish mentioned as safe on all the sites that mention red cherry shrimp. I've kept them safe with fish that are under an inch in size as well successfully, I'm sure there are some losses but they seem to do fine population does grow.

Shrimp are scavengers and will eat pretty much anything, so they will take care of any dead shrimp too.

**male molly kid** · 02-18-2011, 05:33 PM

cherry red shrimp are not cannibals thay probly died from pour water and the cherrys ate them then.

**wijnands** · 03-18-2011, 11:02 AM

A dead shrimp or two will not cause any harmful change in water values and they will be a valueable source of food for the rest so I would not fish them out.

The only danger your fish pose to an adult shrimp is right after molting which is why it's important to provide hiding places for your shrimp.

If you got adult shrimp a few months ago it could be old age.

**Lady Hobbs** · 03-18-2011, 11:21 AM

I would suspect the guppies, as well. Fish do not have to be able to swallow a whole shrimp to kill it. All they need to do is take a nip at it. I keep cherry shrimp with black skirt tetra's in the past and the bs decimated the population.