Are my ghost shrimp eating dead fish?

[Dryst999]

So I have around 20 ghost shrimp in my tank, most of them full grown. When I went to work yesterday I had 8 Harlequin Rasboros, when I got off work I had 7. I could not find the 8th anywhere, not stuck in an ornament or ANYTHING.

Today I lost one of my albino cory's.... I had 5 when I did my water change, 4 hours later I had 3... once again they aren't hiding in the ornaments and there is ZERO trace of any dead fish? Can 20 ghost shrimp consume a dead fish that fast? That's the only explanation I can think of....

 

[TheFishBoss97]

Yeah, they probably can, and your corys probably helped, and the filter could suck it up, as once, my neon tetra got sucked up by the filter(it was stuck to it), and 1 hour later, all that was left was its tail stuck against the filter, all fish work as a community to eat dead fish.

 

[Big Mike]

IDK I wouldnt think they could consume a whole fish that fast. Even if they did I dont think they would eat the bones. I would look for another reason for the missing fish.

 

[happypoet]

Yes. Definitely. But you might be able to find bones.

 

[Fyurae]

Yeah. For sure. I only had ramshorn snails and three cories, and when the old female betta died all I found was her spine the next morning.

 

[pbmax]

My malawa shrimp eat the bones too. They can fully disassemble and consume a 1.5" zebra danio overnight - no trace left behind.

 

[SHWAGert]

They are relatively unlikely to catch/eat a live fish, though once dead (or almost dead)...the shrimp will swarm the carcass and consume it (depending size) within 2-4 hours. I've found both ghost and cherry shrimp munching down on a dead fish so fast enough that the snails were not even able to get any

 

[KarlTh]

Shrimp have been around for millions of years; they've got very good at being shrimp, including finding food rather swiftly.

 

[trigiver01]

I had two ghost shrimp that I had to get rid of because they were catching and eating my [live] neon tetras. I watched one do it one day. They're excellent for cleaning up after the fish reaper, though. It's entirely possible that they're eating your dead fish, especially with that many.

 

[guppymonkey]

That many shrimp can definitely hit a tank hard....as I have found out with my guppies. They were simply hungry and out of food. So my solution was to supplement their diet with sinking crumbles like cichlid crumbles..