My shrimp did a Nemo!! And another observation of my shrimp tank.

[bklyndrvr]

I have a 5.5 gallon tank with a Red Sea nano HOB filter that populated by CRS and RCS right now. I did a water change recently, where I filled the tank almost all the way to the top. i know that is my mistake, and I don't normally fill it that high (I usually leave about 1/2" from the top). Well anyway, I was looking at my filter, because the flow seemed slow. In the filter, I have small sponges that I cut to fit inside the filter, and when it clogs up, the flow is slower. I also have a sponge over the intake that I constantly have to clean, but I did that with the water change, so i knew that wasn't the issue. So I look at it, and I first see one "teen" sized CRS in the filter! I open it up, and I find SIX, yes six teen to adult sized CRS and one saddled adult RCS in the filter. I guess since the water level was so high, and the water flow out of the filter was so slow, the shrimp climbed up the outflow of the HOB and into the filter itself. WOW!! My wife said that it was probally the shrimp trying to do a Nemo on my filter . Ohh well, I added another spong that goes higher then the water level in my HOB so they can't actually climb into the filter now, and also dropped the water level a little.

On another note, does other people who have CRS and RCS in the tank noticed that the CRS are more aggressive then RCS? I started with a nice 50+ coloney of RCS, and after about 6 monthes I added 20 CRS. Now 6 monthes later, I probally have about double the amount of CRS when compared to RCS. I'm thinking I have at least 150 - 200 CRS, and ~100 RCS. Maybe since the RCS are older, that they are dying off, and it's easier to see the brightly colored CRS and miss the smaller generation of RCS? Also, during feeding time, I usually break up a couple of pieces of Shirakura food or an algea wafer or two and spread them around the tank, but I've seen that a larger CRS will actually take food away from the smaller RCS. I find that kinda intersting also.

[invert1]

Really interesting occurrence.

On the other issue of CRS vs. RCS you may just have the tank closer to optimum conditions for the CRS b/c they have pretty different requirements, so that may be why they are thriving while the RCS population is stagnating. Could be something else (like CRS aggression) but this seems likely.

[jnaz]

I think that you are just missing the RCS since they are more transparent when they are younger. You can spot a higher grade CRS from a mile away because of its bright colors. Your RCS are probably thriving since they have very little requirements and can pretty much thrive in most freshwater tanks. I have had RCS live in my canister filter for a few months at a time so you know they are hardy. I took plants out of my tanks and put them in my ponds only to find that some RCS had stowed away on some of the plants and have set up a large colony.

CRS are more aggressive than RCS when it comes to food but try an amano shrimp in there and you will see a bunch of food hogs.

[Choco]

I have moss growing out of my HOB filter and I often see the RCS climbing IN and OUT of the filter...
It is quite amazing when you see them climb up into the filter since the water current in mine is fairly strong.

I had CRS and RCS together before, and the CRS are definitely much more aggressive than the RCS when it comes to feeding time, plus they are a tad bit bigger in size.
Unfortunately, the CRS never breed and they all died after about a year (from age i guess?), where else the RCS bloodline continue

[bklyndrvr]

Grr.. Found another one last night. I dropped the water level also, so ohh well. I guess if they really want to be there, it'll be hard for me to stop them.