Life inside a canister

[DemonCat]

I returned from a 3 week holiday yesterday. As well as finding out the house sitter has feed the fish in three weeks what I do in about 3 months (I showed them how much and wrote it down!!) leading to a massive algae problem, I did a water change and cleaned my canister this morning.

 

I found no less than 50 shrimp in the canister! I have a little hand made pre-filter sponge but I know there are a few small holes in it. I might go and buy a proper one.

 

My question is, how long can they live in a canister? Surely it's so swirly with the constant water influx they could not last too long?

[ineke]

Firstly next time you go away buy those cheap little medication dispensers from a cheap shop about $2 for one that does a month worth of melds, put the required amount of food into each compartment - they pull apart easily if you have more than 1 tank- put the food in the required day and then the feeder only needs to tip that days food into the aquarium. That is the only really safe way apart from an automatic feeder. People who don't keep fish and shrimp think the small amount we give just isn't enough especially with fish as they always seem hungry.

i don't know how long fish survive but I know shrimp can live for several months as I lost some tiny babies and found them in the canister 8 weeks later . They survived quie well and were only a bit smaller than their siblings

[Foxpuppet]

I've had Cory fry grow to almost adulthood in my canister.