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Bugs in my substrate

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I posted this video and I am seeing things crawling around the substrate. It is a time lapsed video and you can spot them. I took another yesterday and there are tons more. Are these the harmless bugs or am I in trouble? Do I need to get rid of them? How do I get rid of them?

 

 

I can't really see what you are asking about, apart from some tiny spots on that glass tube? I assume they are seed shrimps which are harmless and fairly common, I have them in my tank!

Is there any indication of a problem, dead shrimp etc?

Very pretty yellow stripe shrimp!

Simon

  • Author

Yes, it is hard to see in the video. The one I took yesterday has tons more. They are just white specs in the substrate.

Everything seems healthy right now. From what I gather if they are seed shrimp, every tank has them and the fish tend to eat them. Since I have no fish in there I assume they will just be more visible.

I did have a massive shrimp die off but it was unrelated to those bugs. My guess is there was something in the water my tests didn't show. We are in the country and we noticed a heavy metallic (Probably Mattalicanium) smell in our water. I went and got an RO system for the tanks and things are looking up. I have two shrimp in that tank and one is berried. Not sure if two will get a colony going but we will see.

They usually have 20-30 babies once per month so if all is well the colony will soon grow! I expect they are seed shrimp you have.

I am tempted to get some small rasboras for my tank to maybe get rid of some of the seed shrimp (thats the excuse I am sticking with, but I really just want some of those fish), but IF the caridina shrimp start breeding then I am sure the fish will get some of the babies, though my tank is so densely planted they won't get them all? I have resisted getting them thus far...................

You must be talking of a different tank than the yellow video as there are more than 2 shrimps in the video??

Simon

  • Author
1 minute ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

They usually have 20-30 babies once per month so if all is well the colony will soon grow! I expect they are seed shrimp you have.

I am tempted to get some small rasboras for my tank to maybe get rid of some of the seed shrimp (thats the excuse I am sticking with, but I really just want some of those fish), but IF the caridina shrimp start breeding then I am sure the fish will get some of the babies, though my tank is so densely planted they won't get them all? I have resisted getting them thus far...................

You must be talking of a different tank than the yellow video as there are more than 2 shrimps in the video??

Simon

Nope, same tank. I lost a few more. I do have Endler fry in there to try to clean up the bugs. I was told to get them out of there because they will eat the shrimp babies. You see I have rabbit snails in there and they are breeding very well. I have about 8 baby snails.

I saw a baby snail on the left going up the front of the tank!

Guppys are very greedy with quite large mouths so they will probably eat the new born shrimp, and it doesn't look like you have a lot of hiding places for young shrimplets? I like endlers (favourite) but I don't do well with them and have given up with them?

I think neocaridina can breed from about 3 months old, so if you only have 2 adults lets hope they are 1 male and 1 female, otherwise you may have a bit of a delay in growing the colony past this next batch!

Simon

  • Author
1 hour ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

I saw a baby snail on the left going up the front of the tank!

Guppys are very greedy with quite large mouths so they will probably eat the new born shrimp, and it doesn't look like you have a lot of hiding places for young shrimplets? I like endlers (favourite) but I don't do well with them and have given up with them?

I think neocaridina can breed from about 3 months old, so if you only have 2 adults lets hope they are 1 male and 1 female, otherwise you may have a bit of a delay in growing the colony past this next batch!

Simon

If I can keep them healthy and alive I will order another group. My blues are doing amazing. I bought some and didn't see more that one or two at a time. I though they were just a few left. Then last week I see little specs and when I looked closer I had some babies all over. Now I see about 4 or 5 adults at a time.

I’m 90% sure those are just seed shrimp. They are harmless, but make for a good food source for even adult shrimp, if they can catch them. Endler fry will totally clean them out - I have evidence of this in my 5 gallon tank, which was loaded with seed shrimp and microworms, and is now loaded with 100+ endler fry, and has none of that easily visible abundant micro fauna. But endler fry will also eat shrimplets, so I don’t think it’s necessary or totally beneficial for them to be in the tank.

The time lapse isn't all that helpful but I still believe they are seed shrimps as I have the same (I hope they are just seed shrimp anyway, else I am in trouble as well)!

Overfeeding the shrimps will give the seed shrimp extra food as well so that may be something to think about?

The shrimp (not seed ones) will come out more the more shrimp you have in the tank as they feel much safer!

I hope you get yellow babies soon, they are tiny and usually clear when first born so you may even think you don't have any until they colour up and grow a bit!

Simon

I just came across this which may be of interest,

Simon

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