Wimpy shrimpies

Last Sunday I went ahead and got three more ghost shrimp for my aquarium. Happily, all of them survived the journey home. Their names are Goliath II, Peewee II, and Binky. I'm a little concerned about them though. Like the first Goliath, they're pretty wimpy. They're always hiding beneath the lava rock. They're even wimpier than Goliath, actually. He'd usually be looking out from under things. These new guys like to wiggle themselves completely underneath the rock, so that not even their little antennae stick out. Sometimes I lift up the rock, just to check up on them, though I try not to do it as it's rather a traumatic experience for them, I'm sure.

Thursday offered a great opportunity to make sure they're all alive. Thursday was the monthly tank cleaning. Yep. You may believe that fish never need baths because they spend their lives in the drink, but this is definitely not the case. If we analogize to bathroom fixtures, a fish tank is not a bathtub. Nope. It's a toilet. Fishies poop prolifically, and then swim in their filth. (Which is part of the appeal of shrimpies. They eat filth). So once a month (on the ides, more or less) my fishies get their tank vacuumed (through the wonders of hydrogen bonds!) and their filter changed. This involves removing all the decorations, revealing the hidden shrimpies! Yay for Goliath, Peewee, and Binky, they were all still alive on Thursday!

I was a little concerned about the effects of cleaning on the shrimp. I mean, removing most of the filth might make the tank a barren desert from their perspective. And actually, when I fed the fishies Friday morning, Binky (he seems to be the brave one) ventured out looking for food too. I was also worried that when I vacummed, I might accidently suck up a shrimpie. Luckily, that didn't happen. I was careful.

But I'm worried. This afternoon, I decided to check on the shrimpies since I hadn't seen them for a while. But when I lifted up the rock, I only saw one (I'm pretty sure it was Binky). This is very strange. Where do you think the other two are? I hope they're still alive! Maybe they burrowed into the gravel? Maybe they're hiding underneath something else? Though I can't imagine what or how... Maybe they died. The lady at the aquarium store says that ghost shrimp are pretty sensitive, so that it probably wasn't my fault that the first Goliath died. But shouldn't I see their little shrimpie corpses then? (They curl up like the shrimps you eat when they die. Real live shrimps don't do that). Gosh, I hope they weren't eaten! How terrible!

I'm going to go look under the rock again. Maybe they magically came out of super hiding back to just regular hiding.

Oh goodie, now two are accounted for. Goliath is the one under the rock, actually. And Peewee is underneath the fake clam. But where can Binky be? He's the braver one, generally. Maybe he's hiding in a plant. Hmmm. Oh sadness, I think I just found a shrimp piece. A soft, squishy shrimp piece. Maybe he was attacked while molting. Or maybe his bravery was nothing more than foolishness. Poor Binky. Hopefully Goliath and Peewee will outlive what seems to be a rigid weeklong life expectancy in my tank.