Has Anyone Seen My Amanos?

For Christmas my sister bought me 5 amano shrimp. I had to wait two weeks for them to arrive, then when they did come in, they had some kind of infection. I put them in QT and every day for a week carefully caught each shrimp and gave them a salt bath, followed by a water change. The infection disappeared and for another week I did water changes every 2-3 days. Then I did water changes twice a week, and then I got tired of doing water changes and decided they were ready for the 5.5g.

I did everything I could to ease the transition. I put a light over the QT for a few days to make sure they were used to it coming on. I did a cleaning and trim on the 5.5g several days in advance so the plants would be in full swing once the shrimp were in. On transfer day, I did a huge water change on the 5.5g and added extra prime and bacterial booster (in case the filter hadn't fully recovered from the earlier cleaning). I waited several hours so the temperatures of the two tanks were the same. Then I gently added the shrimp about an hour before lights off.

The shrimp seemed to settle in well. The guppies took a few curious nips, but the shrimp just swam out of the way and the guppies soon lost interest. I watched them for at least 20 minutes and saw no signs of distress. They seemed curious about the tank, but they weren't swimming around frantically trying to escape. The light went out and I went to bed.

I woke up this morning and could only see the two smallest shrimp. Not a big deal, the others were probably just hiding under some crypt leaves or something. I kept going back to the tank to check, and could only see those two shrimp. I looked at the tank from all angles, but couldn't see any sign of the other three. I got out my forcepts and tapped on all the plants, but only those two shrimp came out. I even waited until after lights out and shined a flashlight in the tank to check for eyeshine. Nope. Definitely missing three shrimp.

I've looked all around the tank for suicide jumpers, but haven't found a single body. I took the media out of my filter in case they got sucked in, but no sign of them there, either. I can't imagine how the three largest shrimp would die for no obvious reason and then in less than 12 hours be completely eaten by the two smallest shrimp and three guppies who could barely swallow bloodworms.

I'm so disappointed about this. My budget is super tight right now and getting these shrimp was a major thrill. I did everything I could to give them the best chance, and then when I finally put them in their tank, more than half of them disappeared overnight. I mean, it's great that two survived, but they hide so much that they might as well not be there. With five, it's almost impossible for there not to be at least one out in the open. And the biggest shrimp was almost as long as my largest female guppy! She was so cool, and I have no idea what happened to her.

I know you guys can't do anything to help, but I just wanted to get it out to some people who would understand.

QT:




5.5g:


Guppies:


Last Two Shrimp: