# Can amano shrimp atack / eat smaller shrimps ?



## ppaskova

Hi Guys

In my 10Gl Shrimp tank I have about 50-60 RCS, 30 CRS and 5 amano shrimps. A few times lately I noticed amano shrimp eating one of my RCS who was alredy dead. They wore young adults but my amanos are full grown .5" adults (vs. 1/2" RCS young adults) I'm just wondering if amano killed RCS because he was hungry or was already eating a dead on (This happened a few times now). Any help is appreciated.


----------



## getochkn

They shouldn't be attacking any other shrimp and usually don't. When a shrimp is dead, it's fair game. When you have a tank with a 100+ shrimp, it's rare to even see a dead one because the others start to eat it as soon as its dead. I rarely see any dead crs or rcs anymore as they get eaten too fast by other rcs or crs. I bet the amano was just eating a dead one.


----------



## Greg_o

I have seen an Amano eat a living RCS. Maybe it was sick or diseased, not sure, but it was certainley alive at the beginning of th attack.


----------



## ppaskova

Well in my case I do see (usually) dead shrimps before they are eaten by others. But this one eaten by amano looked like it was alive 1 min ago. Also it was somewhat small in compare with my other shrimps. So I think my amanos start attacking small RCS due to lack of food. I decreased my feeding due to planaria outbreak (I don't have planaria in my tank anymore but feed my shrimps carefully now).


----------



## getochkn

I guess it could have been starving. Try using a feeding dish, I got this 3 packs of ceramic planter bottoms that I use for food dishes. Less food in the substrate will cut down on planaria as well. A food like the repashy superfood that doesn't breakdown will also help as it won't pollute the water or the tank as much either.


----------



## ppaskova

getochkn said:


> I guess it could have been starving. Try using a feeding dish, I got this 3 packs of ceramic planter bottoms that I use for food dishes. Less food in the substrate will cut down on planaria as well. A food like the repashy superfood that doesn't breakdown will also help as it won't pollute the water or the tank as much either.


What is a feeding dish ? I usably use small amount of flakes and half or full algae waffle (which I usually break in peaces). How much food should I give them (100+ shrimps) not to get planaria back and to keep everybody happy ?


----------



## getochkn

If you see the ceramic dish randy used here, I use them for feeding dishes just flipped right side up. You can also use any small glass dish, glass astray, etc. Lots of stuff from the dollar store. lol.


----------



## solarz

Amano shrimps will not attack healthy critters, but they will pounce on sick and weak ones. I've seen my amanos eat cherry shrimps, but very very rarely. If they actively hunted down cherries, I would see that a lot more often.

I have seen my amanos attack weak/dying guppy fries, and they would drop the fry and jump back when the fry started struggling, only to pounce again since the fry was too weak to swim away. For this reason, I don't think they would be very successful hunters.

It is also very unlikely that shrimps, amano or cherries, would be starving in a healthy, mature tank.


----------



## ppaskova

solarz said:


> Amano shrimps will not attack healthy critters, but they will pounce on sick and weak ones. I've seen my amanos eat cherry shrimps, but very very rarely. If they actively hunted down cherries, I would see that a lot more often.
> 
> I have seen my amanos attack weak/dying guppy fries, and they would drop the fry and jump back when the fry started struggling, only to pounce again since the fry was too weak to swim away. For this reason, I don't think they would be very successful hunters.
> 
> It is also very unlikely that shrimps, amano or cherries, would be starving in a healthy, mature tank.


Yes this is mature tank. I've been running it successfuly for 2 years and 6 months ago converted to shrimps only tank. It also planted tank as well.


----------



## solarz

ppaskova said:


> Yes this is mature tank. I've been running it successfuly for 2 years and 6 months ago converted to shrimps only tank. It also planted tank as well.


So you only have shrimps in that tank?


----------



## ppaskova

solarz said:


> So you only have shrimps in that tank?


Well from time to time I have baby guppies there I keep them in the tank until they big enough to be moved to my primary (30Gl) tank. Usually until they 2 months old.
Well I just noticed one amano running again with the dead RCS. I'm not sure it' the one I saw this morning. Actually the ones who are attacking my RCS are (what called) blue amanos. They are more blue than regular ones and bigger as well. They at least 2.5". I just cough one and moved to my 30Gl fish tank and I'm going to try to move second one as well. (i have 2 blue amanos and 3 regular ones in this tank)


----------



## Symplicity

amanos are known to eat the skin off molting CRS when starved.


----------

