Disappearing Cherry Shrimp

[Baccus]

A couple of weeks ago I put a heap of cherry shrimp back into one of my tanks that I had noticed was greatly reduced in cherry shrimp numbers. Fast forward to today and there is now only approx. a dozen of cherry shrimp in the tank.

The only culprits I can think of are the Harvey Creek Blue eyes which are now nice and mature and could scoff cherry shrimp, even though I have never witnessed them actually going after shrimp.

The monster sized female endlers in the tank, these things have appetites that could put my glutton desert gobies to shame.

or the Darwin Algea Shrimp. I have heard of DAS hunting and eating chameleon shrimp, so I am leaning towards these guys as being the main culprits.

The other tank inhabitants are breeding pair of bristle noses ( and their near constant fry), and a pack of strebia corydoras, both of these species of fish I know are shrimp safe. The only other fish in the tank are some dwarf chain loaches. These guys had been with the shrimp prior to the endlers and Harvey Creek blue eyes joining the mix, and the shrimp where thick in the tank, the loaches never paid them any attention.

The DAS are big and almost always berried, as apposed to the cherry shrimp which are not berrying up in the tank.

I did have one rather large surprise tho, ages ago I did have some chameleon shrimp in the tank but was sure I had got them all when I set up my northern Australia native tank. But low and behold I did discover one small chameleon mixed up with the cherry shrimp I was catching out to try and rebuild their numbers in another tank. The little chameleon is now in a much safer tank with other chameleons, Darwin Red Noses and Blackmore River Shrimp and the only fish with them are Spotted Blue eyes.

So who is making my cherry shrimp disappear? Or is it a combination of attackers?

[Wraithie]

My dwarf chain loach is a snail eating machine and I would be VERY surprised if he didn't eat shrimp too