Shrimp Escape - Where to and why?

Time and again you find these questions in the forums ... shrimpkeepers tend to ask them especially when they found one of their shrimp where it doesn't belong, be it in the filter chamber of the mat filter, on the shelf, the cabinet, the floor - and much too often it is far too late for any attempt to bring them back to life.

The question is how the shrimp got there in the first place ... on its thin little legs?

Hard to believe, but exactly that is the case!

Heinz Peter Hippenstiel has made these amazing videos here in his tanks for you to watch this seemingly impossible thing.

The next question is why shrimp do these things - well, they follow their instincts!

In their natural habitat, in fast-flowing creeks and rivers, they wander against the current upriver and even climb obstacles like smaller rapids, weirs, waterfalls and so on.

But ... take a look at your tank, there is no such thing in there ... you might think.

Of course there are no rapids in our tanks, nor weirs, nor waterfalls like in nature - but sometimes we create situations that are much like them (at least from a shrimp's point of view), and then they go a'walking.

Of course, the urge to migrate away from the tank may also have another, not quite so natural reason ... bad water quality, unfit water parameters, noxious substances like fertilizer and pesticide residue that came with new plants, heavy metals like copper (e.g. through old water ducts) that can poison shrimp in nature as well as in our tanks. However, the attentive shrimpkeeper will easily see the difference ... shrimp that happily wander out of the water are very different from those that flee the tank, tottering and staggering, in large numbers, trying to get away from whatever threatens their lives.

In Heinz Peter's videos you can see the reason why his shrimp are taking a walk - the water outlet of the filter is the culprit. Located directly on the water surface it simulates a strong natural current, which triggers the shrimps' natural migratory instincts.

How can a shrimpkeeper prevent their crawlers from taking a hike to the land of milk and honey behind the filter mat - or even to their deaths?

One measure might be setting up the filter outlet deeper in the tank so that the current is below the waterline, another measure might be lowering the waterline or covering up the tanks.

Because: "My shrimp's a rover ..."