# Amano/algae shrimp eating cherry shrimp?



## stark (Mar 13, 2012)

Hi all,
I have never posted in this section as I am mainly interested in land based legless reptiles, however after not keeping much for a while, it was keeping a fish that re-ignited my snake keeping passion.

I have had a paludarium up and running for some months now and I created it with self-sustainability in mind and has been essentially taking care of its self, with the odd water change and feeding. It holds mostly Amazon fish species with some Asian shrimps in there.

Almost everything in there has bred at least once(that will breed in fresh water), with some things exploding in population, notably the red cherry shrimps and the damn snails that came in with the plants.
Not really a problem with the shrimp, I collect up a few every month and give them to the local pet shop and the snails I just crush what I can see on the glass every other day and the fish and shrimp eat the carcasses. There seems to be a rather large boom in the number of snails recently due to me being to busy to squish them.

Now, today I was putting a little food in there, as usual, when I noticed one of my 3 large (1.5 inch long) Amano shrimp being rather bold at the front of the tank.. they usually hang at the back and move away when I approach.
On looking closer I could see that it had a grasp of a young female cherry shrimp and was definitely eating her alive! I could see it removing the legs, antennae and picking at its underside. The cherry shrimp was still alive and thrashing around, but unable to escape. 
After I snapped a couple of pics the Amano released it and walked away, the cherry attempted to swim away but was quite damaged and after making a couple of attempts has sunk to the bottom.

I am curious as to whether this is a common occurrence and if anyone else has experienced or seen this?
I have read that Amano shrimp may pair for life and will kill others of their own species over mates and territory, but I was under the impression they were algae eaters and scavengers, not active hunters.
Im not to worried as I have hundreds of shrimp in there and they are constantly increasing, plus that is part of the self-sustainability of the setup, as all the species seem to live off each others offspring and waste. Would just like to know who else has seen or heard of this. :2thumb:

Here are some pics of the 'event'..
You can see the shrimp in its grasp.
















and the aftermath..









Sorry for the long post but wanted to give some background info, as its my first post in here.
Also any good techniques to get the snail numbers down or catch them easier, than me waiting for them to come on to the glass would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you all and I look forward to your replies : victory:

Tom


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## Moogloo (Mar 15, 2010)

Amanos can be really savage! They are known for picking off smaller fish, they love meat! If you put bloodworm or prawn in the tank, the Amanos wilol be first to eat it!

They arent normally too bad, the cherry might well have been pushing her luck trespassing on his territory! Or maybe the Amano was missing something higher protein in its diet?


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## Esfa (Apr 15, 2007)

they'll literally eat anything they can get their hands on! 

the chance of them actually catching anything is very small though. the cherry shrimp may have already been unwell.


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## stark (Mar 13, 2012)

Thanks for reading and the replies guys!

Thats good to know and as I said, it doesnt really bother me, was just surprised to see it and curious to others experiences.

I do see the different species of shrimps bumbling all over each other all the time with no confrontation. I guess this one just decided to take advantage of this unfortunate females lack of awareness, or as you say, she may have been unwell.. definitely is now!
Thanks again 

Tom


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