Large Tiger shrimp holding down and killing small cherry shrimp.

[altiuscitius]

So, tldr version: I have an ebi tank with 25 cherries and 15 tigers. Today I watched a tiger hold down a live cherry shrimp half its size and pick it apart. I moved the cherry to a seperate container where it moved around for awhile, then stopped, and its probably dead now. Im just posting to let people now that this can happen, because everything Ive read suggests that it wont, and that whenever it does, its actually just shrimp cannibalizing a recently deceased tankmate.

So, I have a large, 1.5 inch tiger shrimp in my 8 gallon ebi. Its much darker then the others and currently berried so she stands out from the rest. She tends to bully the other tigers, especially at feeding time, throwing them out of the way, and they happily move out of her way. She normally ignores cherries, they walk all over her literally to get at the food and she doesnt care.

Anyways, this afternoon I cleaned my 25gallon tank and noticed a large clump of algae coming off the overflow of two aquaclear filters. I scooped in up and threw it in the ebi to give the shrimp some vegetable food. Ive done this before, they usually swarm on it.

An hour later, I go to check if theyre eating it, and I see my big tiger holding a half inch cherry shrimp on its back, and picking at its underside, where the eggs would be kept if it was berried. There were no eggs left, but I was pretty sure this was one of my berried shrimp, as it was my reddest cherry and I was hoping to see some offspring from her. Anyways, I was dissapointed, thinking "oh that cherry must have died and theyre eating its carcass", but then 5 seconds later, the cherry started to wiggle its legs. I netted the cherry out and put it in a bucket with some tank water and a piece of mossy cactus wood from the tank, to give it somewhere to hide if its alive still, to make it more comfortable. It lay on its side, and wiggled the legs occasionally, but didnt move. It had two large white cracks on its back, as if it was trying to molt and break out of its shell. I left it alone for about 5 hours and just checked it. It had moved to the other side of the bucket, but is not moving any longer, and I doubt it will survive, if its not dead already.

(Some background information, this is my second attempt at shrimp keeping. I bought 25 cherries a year ago and they all slowly died over 6 months, due to my overfeeding, and feeding eclusively fluval shrimp granules. Im trying to not repeat that mistake, and Im feeding every other day, and I alternate feeding blanched zuchinni, cucumber, spinach, chunks of algae I pull from other tanks, and also fluval shrimp pellets, which they get maybe once or twice a week. )

The tank has 15 tigers and 25 cherries added just over a month ago. Currently 3 tigers and 4-5 cherries are berried. I can never see more then 10-20 cherries at a time, I assume because they are hiding from a molt, or just because I have lots of cactus wood and malaysian driftwood, plants, and places to hide. Now Im worried that these missing cherrys were just food for the tigers. If anyone is curious, the tank is an 8gallon ebi, temp is 75 degress, kh is 7, gh is 7, ph is 7.3, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates are 0. I don't supplement anything. Water changes are ten percent twice a week. I usually get 2-3 skeletons showing up the day after a water change due to moltings.

I've read a lot of threads of people suggesting that their shrimp are killing each other, and people respond and say the shrimp must have just died of natural causes, and then the other shrimp cannibalized the corpse.

I just wanted to point out that this can happen, I just saw it happen with my own eyes. Im not sure if this is just a super agressive tiger shrimp, or if its because she is berried and needed extra nutrients. Maybe I'm not feeding enough. Maybe the cherry shrimp was having molting issues and the tiger took advantage. Maybe cherry shrimp eggs are delicious and the tiger wanted a treat. I don't know.

[ravensgate]

Yes it happens. And if she was having a failed molt they'll pounce quick. Seen it happen several times. And I've read tigers are especially bad about doing this if they don't get enough protein in their diet. I've seen tigers do this and cherries both.

[pirayaman]

yeah these little shrimp are quite ferocious. i have those stupid little snails every where. i pop them and leave them in the tank and the shrimp eat them.
baby shrimp are very small so an easy meal

[Bananariot]

Feed them more. No joke tigers will get hungry and may attack weaker shrimp. I feed protein 2-4 times a month.

[sbarbee54]

Yes my OEBT jump on any shrimp that is having trouble molting or any injured shrimp.

[abc]

whoah... nice to know. wow, I have to think about the right balance of veggies and proteins. BUT.... does the ferociousness of tiger shrimp include tangerine tiger shrimp? TT are a different species than the regular tigers so I'm wondering if TT are just as ferocious as the regular tigers or this is just a peculiar feature of tigers and don't apply to TT

[Bananariot]

Originally Posted by abc

whoah... nice to know. wow, I have to think about the right balance of veggies and proteins. BUT.... does the ferociousness of tiger shrimp include tangerine tiger shrimp? TT are a different species than the regular tigers so I'm wondering if TT are just as ferocious as the regular tigers or this is just a peculiar feature of tigers and don't apply to TT

It's shrimp in general

[bradlgt21]

I think its more then just tiger shrimp. I used to feed my shrimp only veggie pellets and no protein. I had both Malawi and Cherries and I witnessed 3 Malawi shrimp chasing a berried Cherry around and attacking her, she finally dropped all of her eggs and ran away from them and they swooped in and started eating the eggs. Mean little critters sometimes.

[Jello]

What kind of protein do you feed your shrimp?

[ravensgate]

Bloodworms, crab bites, even algae wafer are high in protein. I feed frozen bloodworms like once a month but I feed Earthworm powder as well (sparingly) which is a good source of protein. Mosura Excel is another good protein food.

[Bananariot]

Originally Posted by bradlgt21

I think its more then just tiger shrimp. I used to feed my shrimp only veggie pellets and no protein. I had both Malawi and Cherries and I witnessed 3 Malawi shrimp chasing a berried Cherry around and attacking her, she finally dropped all of her eggs and ran away from them and they swooped in and started eating the eggs. Mean little critters sometimes.

Malawas arent tigers……

I need to learn to read lololol......

[Bananariot]

Originally Posted by Jello

What kind of protein do you feed your shrimp?

Brine Shrimp, tehm hikari sinking wafers, flake food, bloodworms

[altiuscitius]

Do you feed frozen bloodworms? Or live? Or freezedried?

I have some freezedried bloodworms I feed other fish. Right now the only protein my shrimp get is from hikari algae wafers or Fluval pellets, maybe twice every ten days.

I think Im going to up the feeding frequency and try to add some extra sources of protein to their diet.

Also just to update, the attacked cherry shrimp hasnt moved in ten hours, so Im assuming its dead. Im debating putting it back in the shrimp tank for their breakfast.

[ravensgate]

Originally Posted by Bananariot

Malawas arent tigers.....

They didn't say they were

[abc]

Originally Posted by altiuscitius

Do you feed frozen bloodworms? Or live? Or freezedried?

I have some freezedried bloodworms I feed other fish. Right now the only protein my shrimp get is from hikari algae wafers or Fluval pellets, maybe twice every ten days.

I think Im going to up the feeding frequency and try to add some extra sources of protein to their diet.

Also just to update, the attacked cherry shrimp hasnt moved in ten hours, so Im assuming its dead. Im debating putting it back in the shrimp tank for their breakfast.

I wouldn't. dead bodies can up the nitrite levels fast...