# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Invertebrates >  Wow - Shrimps went really crazy swimming all over!

## Oliverpool

Got back today and for over 2 hours now, the shrimps are still swimming all around my tank! Up down around under. A dance like swim. Both my Aura Blues and CRS. Never really seen my shrimps done this before or I may have missed it other times they did this. Understand its probably due to a female molting or releasing her hormones? How long does this dance usually last? What should I expect after this?

I will try to upload some videos later as it seems youtube upload server is down.

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## magpie

The dance will stop a few hours (may be 2-3 hours) after the female molted and is mated. Congraduation, you will be expecting to see a berried shrimp.

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## silane

All species male and female swim?

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## xconnect.

erm is neither you will have a berried mama soon or maybe touchwood your water got problem and they are irritated.

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## Oliverpool

http://youtu.be/Iuz4Qq7LXLg

Video of the dance

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## Oliverpool

> All species male and female swim?


Looks like all swimming. Did not see any shrimp not swimming in the tank. However my tank does have alot of hiding space though

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## magpie

You are keeping rummy nose fish with your shrimps?

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## Neondagger

I never see this with my shrimps before sia.

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## Oliverpool

> You are keeping rummy nose fish with your shrimps?


Yupe.. they never seem to disturb my shrimps before. Thought Rummies are possibly the safest tetra to have with shrimps?

Anyway I am not really looking to breed my shrimps. Of course not looking to have them eaten up as well.

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## Oliverpool

Just saw a big molt. Should my my largest female aura blue shrimp. See size of molt compared to my horned snail above it. Maybe I will have some small Aura's soon? Poor picture quality due to zoom level on my iphone  :Laughing: 

Molt.jpg

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## magpie

Try to see which shrimp mate with your aura blue. Usually the male will mate with the female after it shed its shell.

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## hyun007

It is either you have only 1 or 2 females and the rest are males OR your water parameter has gone very wrong.

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## Navanod

If females and shrimplets also swimming all around, someone may have sprayed baygon in the room!

Edit: just watched the video. Does not look like male dance. The male dance is a drunken slow swim that circles around to look for the female. The video shows them dashing around

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## Ecalyte

Haha the dance is quite vigorous ah? I mean I've seen my shrimps dance like this before.. quite hardcore. Sometimes they're not so hardcore.. maybe the girl shrimp is super duper sexy and they cannot tahan anymore? hahaha!

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## reiner09

Hmm..i have this at times too..i guess it should be normal..but females and shrimplets shouldn't be swimming like this..if they do then there is something wrong with the water..

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## ZackZhou

looks okay to me.. 
that will happen to my tank too if i double dose beni breeding liquid  :Very Happy:

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## xconnect.

> looks okay to me.. 
> that will happen to my tank too if i double dose beni breeding liquid


Wa you use So much XD I prefer the natures way no chemicals.

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## newlife

This must be a super duper sexy female...like what bro ecalyte says.
Anyway..try keeping them with out fishes...even if you don't intend to breed them. Cause I don't think you wish those poor little shrimplets taken as a buffet when they just step in on earth right?

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## ZackZhou

> Wa you use So much XD I prefer the natures way no chemicals.


Hmm.. I don't do it often. Maybe once every 2 months? And the double dosage is done because of carelessness.. And last of all mind you, breeding liquid is all natural as well. On top of that, currently all adult females in my tank are berried

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## RonWill

> Thought Rummies are possibly the safest tetra to have with shrimps?


 Oliver, are you aware of the rummies's full grown size? Have a lookie at one of GC's tank that's full of rummies. Drop in some food or a dead shrimp and judge for yourself whether they're the "safest tetra" (which by the way, there's no such thing!!)

So said the rummy, "Kind sir, that mama was sumptuous!! Can we have more!"  :Grin:

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## Oliverpool

> Oliver, are you aware of the rummies's full grown size? Have a lookie at one of GC's tank that's full of rummies. Drop in some food or a dead shrimp and judge for yourself whether they're the "safest tetra" (which by the way, there's no such thing!!)
> 
> So said the rummy, "Kind sir, that mama was sumptuous!! Can we have more!"


Yupe! Saw those huge rummies at GC the other time. I know there is almost no such thing as safe fishes for shrimp tanks. Its a matter of luck or when the fishes get hungry I guess. Perhaps it could be why I have never seen any baby shrimps in my tank so far. They seem to avoid dead shrimps though as I had to fish out a few from the tank before it totally rotted away. I know they love daphnia which is not so dissimilar to baby shrimps actually.....

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## Oliverpool

> It is either you have only 1 or 2 females and the rest are males OR your water parameter has gone very wrong.


I think I have a tank full of males or 80% males. My tank has lots of lava rocks which means lots of hiding space. I cant even find my Starlight Bristlenose sometimes when they are under the rocks. I observed the "dance" till nearly 12 last night which was almost 4 hours after they started. After 2-3 hours many of the shrimps slowed down and went about their normal task. I do see some of the shrimps not swimming around which I guess should be females. I would guess base on the dance and those not dancing excluding those that are hiding, I have only around 4 females out of about 20 shrimps I have in the tank. I definitely could not find the Mother Aura which I saw had sacs under her belly last night. I believe thats the one that molted last night. This morning I saw another 2 fresh molts.

Guess its not water parameter issues. It was interesting watching the reaction of my CPD. They came out upfront seemingly to observe what was happening in the tank. My single Amano shrimp did not seem to be affected and was not swimming all around the tank.

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## HeMan

Last night i saw my shrimps does this also but only like 1 -2 hrs.
I saw only those smaller and thin ones doing only, then this morning i woke up and saw lots of molted shells

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## newlife

> Last night i saw my shrimps does this also but only like 1 -2 hrs.
> I saw only those smaller and thin ones doing only, then this morning i woke up and saw lots of molted shells


The smaller size and thin ones are male..and those bigger & fatter ones are female...
Instead of looking at those empty shell...you should also notice some berried mama

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## HeMan

> The smaller size and thin ones are male..and those bigger & fatter ones are female...
> Instead of looking at those empty shell...you should also notice some berried mama


Yes you are right newlife , your an experience shrimper , indeed there are 2 berried shrimp now , their eggs have no eyes yet so i assume will take another 2 weeks to have new little shrimps.

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## hyun007

Many Congratulations, HeMan going to be a papa in about 4weeks time! =P

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## stormhawk

Oliver,

Well fed Rummynoses should leave your shrimps alone, then again whenever they are molting, they are a snack for these tetras. Tetras are related to Piranhas anyway and they have similar, albeit, smaller teeth that can still rip a shrimp apart. If you ask me what is the safest tetra to keep with them, I would say the hatchetfishes, simply because they spend most of their time up near the surface instead of being in the bottom zone where the shrimp normally hang out. Then again, any fish is unsafe, except for Otocinclus.

Nice dance though, however I would be cautious. I've seen this happen before when I sprayed insecticide near the tank. Even in minute amounts the shrimps may go berserk.

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## Ecalyte

Watch this and then decide if Rummy Nose is still shrimp safe.........

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## hyun007

Ecalyte, depending on the type of fish, most are only safe for shrimplets that are more than 1 week old.

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## reiner09

> Watch this and then decide if Rummy Nose is still shrimp safe.........


aha what's that? pirahna feeding frenzy..?

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## Oliverpool

> Oliver,
> 
> Well fed Rummynoses should leave your shrimps alone, then again whenever they are molting, they are a snack for these tetras. Tetras are related to Piranhas anyway and they have similar, albeit, smaller teeth that can still rip a shrimp apart. If you ask me what is the safest tetra to keep with them, I would say the hatchetfishes, simply because they spend most of their time up near the surface instead of being in the bottom zone where the shrimp normally hang out. Then again, any fish is unsafe, except for Otocinclus.
> 
> Nice dance though, however I would be cautious. I've seen this happen before when I sprayed insecticide near the tank. Even in minute amounts the shrimps may go berserk.


Agree on the safe part mostly. But as Ecalyte bro showed in the video, they can be rather crazy eaters. I know I lost none during my two holidays recently where they were not fed for 3-4 days each time. But thats not to say this will continue esp if there are shrimplets  :Smile:  Of course I will haves fishes like dwarf puffers with nicer shrimps. But then again my friend who loves puffers always buys snails and shrimps for them to feed. So who is to say ghost shrimps or pond snails deserve to die anymore then CRS/Aura blues.  :Wink:  It would be silly though to have puffers and CRS/Aura unless its has been shown that puffers grow better or colour up more when fed these pretty shrimps! Anyway, I will keep a constant look out and if I do see the rummy looking at the shrimps silly or missing any shrimps, I will pull them out of the tank immediately.


Since the day of the dance, I have not lost any shrimps. So unlikely to be insecticide. But I always am worried about insecticides and have told my wife about the dangers to shrimps. I am more worried about those flying ants just before rain. How do you guys prevent them from being attracted to your tank lights?

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## stormhawk

There's no way to prevent the flying ants from coming in. A bug zapper with a UV light to attract them can work, but it can also kill other harmless insects.

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