Surprisingly good at hunting

[ShawnJPN]

I've lost about 20-70 Red cherry shrimps in my fire belly newt tank, I suspect that they are wild caught because the previous pairs that I owned were never good at hunting. Sometimes they don't hunt to eat rather just nip at a shrimp until they succumb to the injuries or can't swim correctly.

I've just put in the last batch of shrimp I can afford. I was hoping to get a good clean up crew but that might not work out if they're all hunted.

Anyone else share this experience?

 

[JoshBA]

That is interesting. Sounds like they could serve as a good food source if you established a separate shrimp colony tank.

I had a similar experience with amphipods. I was hoping to establish a small population in the main tank that could serve as a supplemental food source, assuming that the newts would catch them at low, sustainable frequencies. To my surprise, the amphipods were hunted to local extinction in a few days.

I wouldn't continue buying shrimp for the newt tank, unless you're keen on providing your newts with expensive meals. Instead, you could set up a breeding colony and use them as a food source. If you're interested in a detritivore, I'd just go with some snails. These too will likely be readily eaten, but if you go with some of the larger species (apple snails, ramshorns), the adults will be too large to get eaten.