My poor fire shrimp!

[buzz]

Woke up yesterday morning, to find a huddled mass of hermits, sally's, nassarious snails, and my brittle star munching on something. Moved closer to see it was my fire shrimp!

I don't know whether it died of natural causes, or if something got a hold of it. But it's been in there for a while and nothing's bothered it so far. Decided to leave it in for food, and came home after work and there wasn't a trace to be found.
The brittle star (reddish brown) decided to try to take in a leg, and turned his body into a tent with the bottom of the leg still sticking out of it's mouth...it's fine this morning though.
Just venting because I loved that shrimp. Now I need to buy another...no...two! I also have a skunk cleaner and a pair of peppermints too.
I wish I could say it was just a molt, but they were pulling chunks of meat out of it.

 

[ivanfj]

Oh mannnnnnn, sorry for your loss. I love fire shrimp too, although mine tends to hide quite a bit. I wanna get another one as well. I heard they are not as shy if they are kept in pair.

 

[viper_930]

Sorry about that.

Maybe you gotta feed your tank more. All those critters seemed pretty humgry.

 

[buzz]

I feed probably more than I should - every day. Hungry or not, a clean up crew will devour a carcass. That's just what they do...besides, would you pass up a nice fresh shrimp dinner?

 

[areijin]

How big is your Brittle Star? Mine is huge and the guy I got it from said that he ate all of his shrimp. I'm playing with the idea to buy a cheap one and see if he last or not.

 

[buzz]

Hmm...not huge, but it has gotten bigger. The disc is a little bigger than a thumbnail I'd estimate. Arms are about 3 inches long.
Geez...I hope the star didn't kill it.

 

[jenfur427]

Sorry to hear that.

 

[areijin]

Well not to worry you. Mine is HUGE. Maybe a 3 inch diameter body with a 2 foot arm span. If yours gets that big then you might understand what I mean.