Shrimp Disappeared!

[kleach]

Set up a 14 gallon biocube in the science office at my school...Has one clown fish, one chocolate star, some snails and it HAD 2 fire shrimp. Last week one of the shrimp went missing without any trace. Came in today and the other is completely gone!!! No body, no shell, just a little piece of a tentacle.

Any ideas??? Aliens? Bermuda trangle? I'm just a novice?

 

[jaynie1028]

Look in the back sump area. Mine always jump back there

 

[kleach]

Nope! Nothing!

Is there any chance that if they had died the star fish would have eaten them leaving absolutley no trace of them? The flow in the tank is minimal so I dont think they would have gotten buried in the sand if they died.

 

[NSimpkins]

could be molting and hiding. Not sure about the starfish.

You said its at the office so you're probably not there much at night but my shrimp are very active at night.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Chocolate Starfish will eat slow moving inverts. SO--- if you found a piece of a tentacle
I guess he did it.

 

[quagmire]

I was thinking they molted and are hiding also. But you say they are not hiding so that eliminates that.
Vinny's explanation seems plausible, especially if they had molted.
I think they were abducted by aliens and brought to an underwater alien staging area in the bermuda triangle. I've been there. Except for the daily probing, it's actually a nice place.

 

[kleach]

lol well its nice to know they're in a better place…

I know one did molt recently, but its only a 14 gallon and I took out the largest of the 3 rocks to look for it. Unless these shrimp decided to dig into the sand and make a fort I'm clueless. I might just take out the rock work and do some sifting in the sand to try to uncover some bodies. I'm thinking its the starfish…he just seems sneaky and pretending to be slow, but is really a star-ninja. Maybe I should have kept those harlequins lol…

Or, I'm really this bad at hide and seek could be the other explanation.

 

[quagmire]

Be gentle when searching for them. They can be squashed rather easily after molting. Shrimp tend to hide very well for several days after molting. I'd give it a week before you start digging. I watched my fire shrimp tare my cleaner shrimp in two a day after it molted.

 

[kleach]

good to know…I'll wait a little longer then.

 

[CoralOfDuty]

My peppermint shrimp went awol for about a week. i spotted him this morning rockin out cause the lights were off. i only have a 28g nano and the thing was impossible to find.

 

[kleach]

still not sign of them. Do they burrow in the sand under rocks or something? Its the only place I haven't looked yet

 

[quagmire]

They don't necessarily burrow but they will squeeze into very tight openings under rocks.
Openings so small that you might think there's no way one would fit.
Make sure to check the bottom of your rocks if you decide to remove them.