Fire shrimp help?

Longnose Hawkfish · Oct 22, 2013

Well I came home from school and found my fire shrimp dead on the sand bed. I had him for about a week and all my water parameters are fine. A couple of days ago he was all happy and eating but the last night he hid behind the rocks and this morning he was still there. I have a small pistol shrimp but I don't think he would have killed him because I have seen them fairly close before and the pistol left him alone. My clownfish does like to nip at him, but I don't know why he died. I really want to get another one, but I don't want to kill it.

can someone please help me, thank you.

cpayne015 · Oct 22, 2013

what all do you have in your tank??? I had trouble keeping them at first when as my mystery wrasse would take out cleaners and fire shrimp so I bought bigger ones and he does not bother them at all anymore

Longnose Hawkfish · Oct 22, 2013

All I have is a clownfish, mandarin goby, pistol shrimp (2/3 in?) some snails and two hermit crabs. I also have some corals.

Longnose Hawkfish · Oct 22, 2013

Also some feather dusters. But I'm disappointed that I couldn't keep him alive.

cpayne015 · Oct 23, 2013

None of what u have killed it I would not think. I think you just got unlucky.

Longnose Hawkfish · Oct 23, 2013

Ok, so if I get another one it should be fine? Could it have been something he ate?

cpayne015 · Oct 23, 2013

I highly doubt it was something he ate. I feed my cleaners and fire shrimps piece of silverside couple times a week. Nitrates are the one thing to keep an eye on IMO.

Longnose Hawkfish · Oct 23, 2013

Ok because two nights before he died he seemed so healthy and was eating. And right when I found him I tested nitrates and they were around 0. So you think it was just him?

cpayne015 · Oct 23, 2013

Could it be a molting too as its normal for them to hide behind rocks. Fire shrimps usually arent as personable as cleaners IMO.

Longnose Hawkfish · Oct 23, 2013

No I know it was dead. Just laying on my sand bed touched it didn't move

Victorc · Oct 23, 2013

Could be that he was shedding I've had mine for about a year and I hand feed it just when shedding it. Will become shy hide behind the rock u should do a little research on that.its stressful for them while shedding

Longnose Hawkfish · Oct 23, 2013

Thanks for the info, but I'm almost 100% he was dead. I triedto slowly move him, observed him closely and no life. Don't know why he died though.

Ozzy · Oct 23, 2013

Did you do any acclimation when you bought him. That could be the culprit behind it, I tend to always acclimate everything and have had zero issues with my fireshrimp. When I first started out I wouldn't acclimate all that well and usually lost shrimp in a couple days to a week (They would look and act healthy as well). Also, like someone said if they get stressed out when molting it could cause issues as well. Sorry for the loss, some things can just be finicky as well. A lot of it is trial and error. Good luck!