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Post by irb on Sept 21, 2012 15:24:47 GMT -5
I got a bamboo shrimp about a week ago. He's been hiding a lot but is coming out a little more everyday and seems fine but I get the impression that he hates how bright the light is for the aquarium since he hides as soon as I turn it on. Or maybe he's still just getting used to the tank and our specific schedule? I can't be sure. I was also wondering if getting him a friend (if there's any left at the store) would be good for him and make him feel more comfortable? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks!
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Post by parker002 on Sept 21, 2012 17:42:33 GMT -5
They're fairly shy. I would give him a few more days.
As for getting him a "friend" I wouldn't. In my experience, these guys need a VERY well-established tank that contains ample food in the water column (you probably won't be able to see WHAT he's eating, you'll just see him eating). Until you're sure he's getting enough to eat, I would hold off on getting another.
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Post by aqualife2u on Sept 30, 2012 4:13:43 GMT -5
Wow Congratulations in having a bamboo shrimp. I think he's just getting used to the tank and having troubles in adapting in he's new environment. Just be patient that's the key
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Post by akmad4fish on Dec 2, 2012 21:23:24 GMT -5
Don't know where your at with the bamboo shrimp. Do you have moving water it can access easily. If not you can pick up a submersible pump to move the water; they feed in the current by picking up microbes and other food with their front legs. I have one at the bottom of my tank, camouflaged with some plants pointed towards an open area, they both just love to hang out in the current in plain sight. Hope this helps, albeit a little late.
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Post by angelminx on Jun 18, 2014 4:29:22 GMT -5
I tried getting a bamboo shrimp last year, but he never made it out of quarantine. I don't think he was getting enough to eat. Would it be safe to place him staight into my established 55 gallon plant/fish tank?
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Post by parker002 on Jun 18, 2014 8:52:57 GMT -5
You've found the same conundrum I encountered with these shrimp.
They are filter feeders so they really need to be in an established tank. However, they're also somewhat fragile so just dropping them into your tank is also a difficult decision.
Ultimately, I gave up on shrimp altogether. They just don't seem to have the tolerance that fish have.
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Jun 18, 2014 15:56:22 GMT -5
You've found the same conundrum I encountered with these shrimp. They are filter feeders so they really need to be in an established tank. However, they're also somewhat fragile so just dropping them into your tank is also a difficult decision. Ultimately, I gave up on shrimp altogether. They just don't seem to have the tolerance that fish have. I almost bring home these shrimp every time I go to the LFS. It's fun to watch them. I think I'm going to wait until my tank is more established before trying. Just so many stories with these shrimp not ended well. We'll see how it goes, because honestly, I feel like my tank is "in the zone" so if they can't live in my tank, it must just be that they are not a good thing to keep all together.
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Post by angelminx on Aug 8, 2014 2:03:33 GMT -5
I broke down and bought 3 bamboo shrimp on July 23rd. They went thru a 4 1/2 hour drip-acclimation period with methylene blue (the pH of the water they were in was 8.3, and my tank's water was a pH of 7.6), then I took a chance and added them to the 55G instead of quarantining them. I found one of them dead the evening of the 24th, and the 2nd one died the evening of the 26th. As for the 3rd one, the last I saw of him was on the evening of the 31st. He wasn't showing much life, but he did move when I nudged him. I "put" some crushed/powdered Spirulina 20 by him--released it just above where he was sitting--but he didn't show any interest.
I thought maybe I saw him early the next morning (looking into the tank with a flashlight), but I'm not sure, because all I really saw was a flash of "red" disappearing behind a leaf, and that could have just been light-play. I have been looking for him ever since, and never saw any sign of him either in the tank or on the floor. I figured maybe he'd moulted and gotten eaten, so when I recorded my notes this afternoon, I "declared him dead".
This evening after the 10PM news, I went in to my bedroom to feed the fish some frozen spirulina brine shrimp (their lights don't go off until 11:30PM this time of year), and for some reason I checked under the FilterMax prefilter (I've checked there before), and there he was, with one of the ghost shrimp! And he was alive! I couldn't tell if he had been actively eating or anything because his back was to me, and I spooked him and he ducked to the side. From what I could tell, he looked perfectly fine.
He never really did set himself up in the current from either of the filter returns, other than (I think it was him) when he was first released into the tank. All 3 of them had a slightly different pattern to them; one, probably the one that died first, was kind of pale so his striping stood out, the 2nd one to die had a thick "bold" white/cream dorsal stripe. THIS one sometimes shows more stripe to his back, and at other times has some dark markings on either side of the dorsal stripe making it look like he has a series of "white" diamonds bown his back. So I call him Lou--short for Lou Diamond Phillips.
BTW, I've heard that they sometimes will eat cyanobacteria.
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Aug 8, 2014 9:10:24 GMT -5
... BTW, I've heard that they sometimes will eat cyanobacteria. Sorry all three didn't make it. It's like I hear from a lot of people that try shrimp. There have been some good suggestions though, like getting shrimp when they are young if you can, cause they will acclimate better. I think I've seen these shrimp feeding of what collects on the filter max or hydro sponge. Makes sense if they do, nice little snack.
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Post by angelminx on Aug 8, 2014 15:46:16 GMT -5
I've noticed my ghost shrimp and bristlenose pleco doing that. If Lou is I'm guessing it's from underneath the filter max, because I haven't seen him on top of it.
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Post by angelminx on Aug 18, 2014 23:13:58 GMT -5
I hadn't seen Lou for a couple days before I lost the lights, and, of course couldn't see anything too well, then. Shortly after I got the lights installed, he showed up again--I don't think he's too fond of lights, but he was out at the front of the tank, picking through the gravel. The same yesterday evening, and then again after 4 AM this morning. Around 6 PM he was on the driftwood, picking at the algae that was on it. I've never seen him sitting in the current filtering anything from it. I have Carl's universal return from the UV on the left end of the tank, and in the "middle" towards the right-hand side of the tank is the outflow (one on each side of the intake) from the HOB.
Since picking at the gravel is supposed to be an indication that they're starving, I worry that he's getting enough to eat. I got him on the 23rd of July, so I am assuming so. In the early morning the day after I got him, before I found the 2nd one dead, one of them was peeking out of the "cave" in the driftwood that the Clown Pleco I used to have had claimed as his home. It's about 2/3s of the way up the driftwood, and is a natural hole that goes back as deep as I can reach my index finger (maybe more). I'm always afraid I'll lose a fish in there (i.e., die in there) and won't know it. But at the same time I like it because it makes them feel comfortable. I had to order the wood by mail-order (no access to a computer then), so I didn't get to pick it out myself.
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Post by angelminx on Sept 9, 2014 0:15:23 GMT -5
I hadn't seen Lou since I finished the final gravel change-out (I've wanted to try to get a couple more pics of him), but I finally did last night. I did some pruning before the final change-out, and just before this, he was hanging out in the wisteria by the universal return, behind the driftwood. He's "light-shy" so he doesn't come out while the lights are on very often. Last night I saw him when I shined the flashlight into the tank late at night. He immediately ducked back out of sight. [My Amano shrimp is also on the shy side, and if he sees you looking at him he ducks back under the driftwood.]
I haven't seen the "brown" diamond pattern (on either side of his dorsal stripe) that he was named for for quite a while, so I don't know if it was an environmental thing or "emotional", or something else. As I mentioned, when I 1st got him he had that pattern, but the other two--which died soon afterwards--didn't. Any ideas on Lou Diamond Phillips' diamonds?
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Post by angelminx on Sept 15, 2014 23:57:26 GMT -5
I still haven't seen Lou doing any filter-feeding.
This afternoon, though, he went on "walk about". When I 1st saw him, he was hanging on to the side if the tank in the "stream" from the universal outflow. He was "sticking" in one spot, but being "buffeted" about by the current--you could see his body being pushed side to side if you looked real close. When I looked about half an hour later, he was "walking" across the substrate (staying mostly in the shadows)--more like strolling--to the other side of the tank, with little side trips to "check things out". He would crawl under the artificial hollow log, under, around, and through the plants, and across the clearings, and occasionally just stop and sit. Only a couple of times did he pick at the gravel. He still likes to keep hidden most of the time, and, like "Mano", my large Amano shrimp (the smaller one is/was "Emano"), tends to duck out of sight if he notices that you're looking at him.
A couple of days ago I caught him sitting under the pre-filter on my HOB; he ducked out of sight, and a few minutes later he was hanging upside down on it (?)watching me. He usually isn't active by day--he's a night owl, like me.
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Post by angelminx on Sept 16, 2014 15:04:17 GMT -5
Late last night, and just a short while ago, I finally caught Lou filter-feeding.
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Post by angelminx on Oct 28, 2014 17:16:11 GMT -5
Here are a couple of the pix I have taken of Lou : The 1st is one of the ones I have of him exploring the driftwood This next one is while he was feeding at the base of my (unknown sp.) of Amazon Sword And in this one he was hanging out on the pre-filter for the HOB. He also likes to hide under the Rio's pre-filter. I don't have that image[*] downloaded yet. [* Note: see photo in my Amano Shrimp thread. One of them is of the 2 Amanos, and the other is of the Bamboo Shrimp with one of the Amanos.]
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Post by Carl on Nov 1, 2014 12:44:07 GMT -5
It is nice to see you are doing well with Bamboo Shrimp, these are not always an easy specimen to keep for many! Carl
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Post by angelminx on Nov 1, 2014 15:58:36 GMT -5
I had to put him directly into the display tank, after acclimation, of course. The 1st one I got never made it through quarantine (I quarantine at least 2 weeks, but usually 1 month). Most likely from lack of food, the quarantine tank probably being deficient in the proper microorganisms.
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Post by angelminx on Jan 21, 2015 16:17:16 GMT -5
Sad news . At the beginning of January, a couple days after cleaning the 55G, I was vacuuming near the tank and found Lou dried up on the floor underneath the aquarium stand . I hadn't seen him for a couple of days (which wasn't all that unusual) before I cleaned the tank--so I am assuming that during cleaning I somehow either spooked him out of the tank, of accidentally removed him with out noticing. When I went down to Edwardsville, I checked with Petco (where I got him--Petsmart never carries anything but ghost shrimp), but the girl who orders the fish was away for a few days, and the one I talked to said she thought she heard that they can't get them any more. I told her I would call closer to spring and see if Payton could special-order any for me then. Angelminx
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Jan 22, 2015 17:27:46 GMT -5
Sad news . At the beginning of January, a couple days after cleaning the 55G, I was vacuuming near the tank and found Lou dried up on the floor underneath the aquarium stand . I hadn't seen him for a couple of days (which wasn't all that unusual) before I cleaned the tank--so I am assuming that during cleaning I somehow either spooked him out of the tank, of accidentally removed him with out noticing. When I went down to Edwardsville, I checked with Petco (where I got him--Petsmart never carries anything but ghost shrimp), but the girl who orders the fish was away for a few days, and the one I talked to said she thought she heard that they can't get them any more. I told her I would call closer to spring and see if Payton could special-order any for me then. Angelminx Sorry to read this.
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Post by angelminx on Feb 13, 2015 15:58:56 GMT -5
I talked to Peyton when I went to Petco the other day for my Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish. She says she's not sure why, but Petco (corporate office) will no longer let them purchase Bamboo Shrimp ...probably something to do with people not knowing how to care for them (or even bothering to ask/read up on how ) and bringing back too many dead shrimp. Oh, well...maybe some day I'll be able to find some somewhere (don't know how they'd do if ordered online--and of course there's the shipping cost ). Angelminx
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