but when i cut the light off last night i woke up and found 4 of them had jumped out and died but when i got home from school the rest had died also i put a plant in and they tore it from the roots
2007-12-20 09:39:17 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Fish
i just got them them yeasterday and i used freshwater
2007-12-20 09:50:42 · update #1
The answer about using water conditioner is a valid possibility (the chlorine or chloramine in the water will kill any aquatic animals), which may be why they four may have jumped out in the first place!
If you were keeping them in a bowl, though, you may not have been using a filter or airstone for them - they shrimp breathe through gills, and if there's nothing to circulate the water so they get air, they'll slowly suffocate. A plant is okay, as long as there's a bright light on the tank for photosynthesis, but once you turn the light off, the plant uses, rather than produces, oxygen.
Did you acclimate then to the water in your bowl, the same as you would a fish? Invertebrates tend to be sensitive to changes in water chemistry, so you should allow them to float in their bag for about 15 minutes, then dump about half their water down the drain, and slowly add water from your bowl until the bag is about 3/4 your water to 1/4 store water. This lets them adjust to your water gradually. And although they can survive in cooler temperatures, they should have a heater to thrive.
If there's anything they don't like about their water conditions, they will try to escape (which 4 of yours did), but ghost shrimp are known to jump even in good water conditions - it may also be a matter that they were too crowded, and kept bumping into one another and jumping to get away from "what bumped into them".
2007-12-20 11:23:09 · answer #1 · answered by copperhead 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Well, four jumped out, there is an easy solution, cover the bowl.
As for the others, if you had copper in the water, copper is a death sentence for any invertebrate. Did you dechlorinate the water, did you acclimate them originally? Were you feeding them (one reason they'd tear up the plant, if they were starving)?
When was the last time you changed the water?
2007-12-20 09:47:30 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
were those left over from fishing ?
2007-12-20 09:46:21 · answer #3 · answered by fishnuts5150 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋