Big problem with the amano shrimp! Please help!!

[charlotte1995]

Hi everyone,

As some of you may recall I had some issues with my amano shrimps when I first received them a few weeks back. They bounced back and have been growing very well this past couple of weeks, cleaning, eating and shedding. However over the past 24 hours there has been a big change in the smaller shrimp. Last night I couldn't see him, and he is usually very active at all hours now, so I thought it was a little odd but guessed he was shedding. This morning I couldn't see him again, so whilst I was cleaning the glass I moved the ornaments to check if he was underneath. He was nowhere to be found. I noticed that the filter was making a bit of a strange sound, so i lifted it out of the casing and found him underneath. He was alive and well, and I was very confused as to how he got there, as the holes at the bottom of the filter are way too small for him to get through. I managed to get him out and he went to hide under an ornament so I thought everything would be normal again. However, upon observing him over the past couple of hours he has been actively trying to get out of the water, constantly pushing up against the current (if that is the right word) of the filter. He has now managed to walk up and into the hole that the water comes out of. He has attempted many times before successfully falling back in, I had to keep moving him back into the water physically. Can someone please tell me what is going on?? Water parameters have not changed over the past couple of weeks so I'd be surprised if it's anything to do with the water? The other shrimp has started to try and escape also now but he is never successful. Should I put some kind of netting over the hole to stop him? Obviously there is an issue for him to be doing this but I can't have him going into the filter whilst I'm sleeping overnight. Please help

Thank you

Charlotte

[Vale!]

Well, if nothing in the tank has changed, so far as you can judge, then the shrimp themselves must have chaged.

Maybe now that they're a bit older and a bit wiser, and possibly they're approaching breeding age and have the shrimpy equivalent of pubertal hormones raging, they're looking for a more secure place to moult?

Do they have somewhere they can go hide for a day or three? I use mossy-type plants but there are probably things on the market that do the job. Do those clusters-of-earthenware-tubes that you see on LFS shelves work for that, does anyone know?

Meantime, if you can block their entry-points then that would seem to be a good idea if night-time anxieties are going to visit you!

[plankton]

It certainly sounds like it's trying to hide for moulting.
What fish do you have, I can't remember?

[charlotte1995]

Thanks for the replies! I have minnows thankfully late last night they stopped trying to escape and all seems well again. They have both been eating and cleaning as normal. I've never had pets create such mither before

[Art]

Amano shrimp are useful against algae. But you fail to increase it. The young need salt water for a couple of weeks.
Therefore, care must be taken to ensure that they are preserved.
The aquariums that keep shrimp are usually not that large. That's why I used a simple filter (DIY).

Shrimp cannot be lost there. In the Box is gravel, grains about 8mm.