Cleaner Shrimp

[Luna81]

I got two cleaner shrimp yesterday at SWE. I just caught one cleaning my b/w clown. Heh.. The clown would wiggle away like it tickled, then come back and let him clean some more. So cool.

Sorry, I get excited easily.

[zocr-AZ]

That's excellent! Very exciting.

[Screwtape]

That is great behavior, I think the cleaning gobies/shrimp are really interesting to watch. Have fun!

[sway]

I wish mine would clean the fish! The clowns seem scared of it. haha

[Luna81]

I wish mine would clean the fish! The clowns seem scared of it. haha

When I first released them the clowns were confused. They took after one, nipped it a bit, and then realized it wasn't their food. After that they were fine. It's rather cute.

[Payne]

my cleaner shrimp cleans way down inside my watchmen gobies mouth. my yellow tang stops by once a day also. The cleaner has his own corner of the tank and lives under my huge green favia. but really he's out all day taking care of business.

[Luna81]

my cleaner shrimp cleans way down inside my watchmen gobies mouth. my yellow tang stops by once a day also. The cleaner has his own corner of the tank and lives under my huge green favia. but really he's out all day taking care of business.

They're so cool...I'm glad I decided to get 'em.

[sway]

They are cool, mine comes up front everytime I feed the fish, I get a kick out of watching him try to swim!

[REEFSTOCK]

You know what I like about them. All those eggs they spew around the tank for my sps to eat :biggrin:

[Luna81]

They are cool, mine comes up front everytime I feed the fish, I get a kick out of watching him try to swim!

Yeah, mine attack the mysis when I feed the fish. Kindda nifty.

[Luna81]

You know what I like about them. All those eggs they spew around the tank for my sps to eat :biggrin:

Heh. Well, I haven't noticed any spewing yet :)

[Chad Vossen]

Heh. Well, I haven't noticed any spewing yet :)

give them time, if you have two, you WILL get lots of spawning. thus lots of larvae to feed the corals and fish if any survive till morning.

[REEFSTOCK]

Here is my pair gifted from Li
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn278/swempire/Store%20Displays/Display300-Shrimps1.jpg

[Mikko]

Would these be nice in my tank? I do need a better clean-up crew (by the looks of it)

[quilaho]

The cleaner shrimp are not as much tank cleaners as they are fish and coral cleaners. Look through some of the online store's clean up crew packages (bluezoo.com, liveaquaria.com, etc) to get a list of good algae / detritus cleaners then take that list down to your LFS to see what they've got in stock.

[REEFSTOCK]

Cleaner shrimp are the least shy and most visible shrimps. Most of us get them for their ornamental value. They pair easy (I think they are male / female wrapped up in one body).
They also clean fishes, but I consider that extra.

[Payne]

i dont know what i would do if there was a female wrapped in this body with me!! Never leave the house again. Then again i am a mated pair already and the shrimp probably want to see eggs fly all over the house. You guys are sick.

[insacron]

i dont know what i would do if there was a female wrapped in this body with me!! Never leave the house again. Then again i am a mated pair already and the shrimp probably want to see eggs fly all over the house. You guys are sick.

:brainoverload:

The crazy bus is calling your name...

[Luna81]

Cleaner shrimp are the least shy and most visible shrimps. Most of us get them for their ornamental value. They pair easy (I think they are male / female wrapped up in one body).
They also clean fishes, but I consider that extra.

They definitely clean the fish. Are they okay with the anemone? They have been hanging pretty close to it.

[Payne]

i would say they are ok with anenomes. mine sometimes forgets that it is there and walk right onto it. The tenacles stick to his little legs and he freaks and leaves. He also hangs out on top of my favia all day which i dont approve but how do you train a shrimp

[REEFSTOCK]

There is some risk, but relatively "OK".

[CMBECKER]

I got one last week, and yesterday when I was scraping algae I noticed a tickle on my hand, Pepe as my wife calls him, was running up and down my arm cleaning me!

I also saw him jump from a rock and land on my yellow tang a minute after my lights went out, the tang was hiding in a cave and completely wigged out, one of the funniest additions to the tank by far.

[Chad Vossen]

i would say they are ok with anenomes. mine sometimes forgets that it is there and walk right onto it. The tenacles stick to his little legs and he freaks and leaves. He also hangs out on top of my favia all day which i dont approve but how do you train a shrimp

ah yes, "how to train a shrimp". there is a book on that, http://www.amazon.com/Raise-Train-Your-Peppermint-Shrimp/dp/0966778421

[dougers31]

So are there disadvantages of cleaner shrimp?:lots:

[Screwtape]

I don't know if skunk cleaners will do this as much but I just had to remove my peppermint shrimp (same genus I believe) from my tank because they, or at least one of them, kept actually digging food out of my duncans after they had completely swallowed it. The duncan head would close up entirely as soon as the shrimp started "pawing" at it and the shrimp would still be shoving it's legs down into it trying to dig something out.

I tried feeding the shrimp extra mysis and tried fending them off the duncans with a poker for an hour but eventually they would get on it when I let my guard down eventually.

Maybe I got the evil twin, and like I said I have no idea if skunk cleaners have the same potential, but I couldn't let that happen, so I hope they like it in the sump!

EDIT: Also just to clarify, it was only my duncans, I could target feed my fungia just fine, and a paly in my tank grabs food from the water and they wouldn't touch him, they just couldn't resist the duncans.

[Luna81]

I got one last week, and yesterday when I was scraping algae I noticed a tickle on my hand, Pepe as my wife calls him, was running up and down my arm cleaning me!

I also saw him jump from a rock and land on my yellow tang a minute after my lights went out, the tang was hiding in a cave and completely wigged out, one of the funniest additions to the tank by far.

This actually just happened to me on Sunday! I had bought some coral at the meeting on Saturday. The urchin knocked some over (I may have to give him away :( ). As I was straightening everything out one of the shrimp got into the palm of my hand (which was facing down, as I was moving stuff) and started going to town. It felt so funny!

[Luna81]

So are there disadvantages of cleaner shrimp?:lots:

I am still very much a newbie, so I can't tell you for sure, but I haven't seen any. They, well, clean. They seem to be taking the same food (mysis) as the fish that I feed for "extra" food. I think it's healthy for the fish because they get nasty stuff/dead skin off of them.

When I was reading about acclimating them a lot of people seemed to claim they lost them right away/within a few days, but I've had no trouble *knock on wood*. I did a very slow acclimation though, just to be safe. And I know that your tank needs to be fairly stable/not brand new for them.

But really, they're fun...and cute :)

[Luna81]

Heh. So, this week one of the shrimp molted. Totally thought I had a dead shrimp until I saw them both.

AND, one of them has green eggs in it's belly. Yummy food for the fish soon?

[REEFSTOCK]

Yummy indeed!

[Luna81]

How long until they actually...lay...spawn...shoot out...whatever, the eggs?

I was girlishly (hey, I *am* a girl) excited about it.

And also excited that my Tunze Skimmer I got at the birthday sale seems to be working AND love the new rock, so thanks btw.