Paratya antics...

[waffle]

One of my glass shrimp somehow rode a giant bubble up to the surface, got flung through the air when it popped (ETA - so it seems like perhaps it just got a boost and jumped), and landed in the neighbouring cherry tank that has only got juvies at the moment. Then it went on a rampage chasing them around. It's not like it was short of space - it's a way understocked tank. As soon as it spotted a cherry come out of hiding it'd chase the cherry until the cherry found a hiding spot it couldn't fit in. Now it is back in the native tank and the airstone is temporarily turned off until I find a suitable cover to prevent bubble-assisted migration -_-

Edited March 14, 2016 by waffle

[jayc]

That's amazing!

You were watching this as it happened?

[waffle]

I missed the aerial bit unfortunately, just saw its arrival in the tank and subsequent stalkerish behaviour. 

The air bubble bit is my inference as to the only way it could travel the gaping chasm between the tanks. I should edit the op haha! I put the airstone in just an hour or two ago and they started to play in the bubbles straight away.

Hmm the other possibility is it got beached on the side of the tank by the air bubbles, then did a lucky tail-flip which landed it in the tank nearby. The tank on the right actually has half-cm rubber legs at the corners so the chances of it falling out of the left-side tank, actually finding one of the legs of the right-side tank, and still having enough wetness to get traction on the glass to climb up seem impossible to me.

[fishmosy]

Paratya can and will jump. In the wild they have to deal with riffles, waterfalls, floods, travelling from waterhole to waterhole, ect. 

I think it's entirely reasonable that the shrimp jumped directly from one tank to another. 

I've heard that Paratya prey on smaller shrimp species like cherries. Never seen it myself though and I keep Paratya alongside chameleons. 

[waffle]

Haha so the moral of this story is they are slightly evil and will not even let a sheer drop prevent them from hunting tasty cherries.

It's the first time they tried to escape so far, so I'm guessing the excitement of the airstone inspired them to bravery and the turbulence it created helped them get a leg up to the side of the tank.

 

Hmm now you mention it I've seen them get cranky and territorial with the red-noses and chameleons I keep with them, but not full scale assault. 

[fishmosy]

Don't get the wrong idea about Paratya. I do not believe they are predatory to such a degree that they would jump to another tank to hunt cherries. 

More like the jump was to escape that tank and it ended up in with the cherries. 

An air stone might have triggered an escape response from the tank because it may have made the shrimp think that a flood/rain had arrived. Faster water movement, higher oxygen levels - sounds like it's time to move upstream! 

[waffle]

Haha yeah, there's no way he could've known there were juicy cherries in the neighbouring tank. But I do think he's evil - the opportunistic sort of evil :P 

Makes sense about the air stone simulating flood/rain. I was kinda curious if that would happen, which was the main reason I added it, the other being there are so many juveniles now that I didn't want them to run short of oxygen while I figure out where to put them. But obviously I underestimated their athleticism by a long shot...