Fire Shrimp

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CaliGal

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Sep 3, 2002
Messages
109
Location
Norfolk, Virginia
I wondered if I could encourage discussion about this beautiful shrimp, Lysmata debelius. I purchased one several months ago, finding after I was home that I had paid almost $30 for it. (This is not the first time I failed to inquire the price of an animal purchased for my tank. I would not have paid this much, had I been diligent.)

At any rate, the shrimp is a vivid, bright red with white spots with long white feelers. I figured I'd added some great color in the tank. Well, not exactly. This is a very, very shy shrimp, and I seldom see him in my tank. I have seen him hanging out in a cove cleaning a fish.

Just a note... Shrimp and starfish, especially, needed added time to acclimate to a new tank.

Any other comments about Fire Shrimp?
 
IMO, that is probably the prettiest shrimp around! I had one several years ago, it did the same thing, only time I saw it was at feeding time. IMO it is prettier than the skunk cleaner, but not nearly as entertaining. I did find that if you have several of these shrimp in your tank they are much more brave and active. If you don't mind spending the money, add 2-3 more and I think you will get a little more activity out of your shrimp...
 
Beautiful Shrimp for sure. They have yet to be propogated so all you find will be wild caught.

They are Nocturnal and feed on Polyps in the wild. They also are noteable for cleaning Giant Groupers while they sleep. They can easily be trained to eat any type of meaty food, especially if you don't have any Polyps.

They are social animals and should not be kept singly.
 
The Fire Shrimp, also known as Blood Shrimp or Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp, is one of the most popular shrimp in the aquarium hobby. It has a blood red body with white spots and a long white antennae. It will set up cleaning stations and remove dead tissue and parasites from fish that present themselves, but it also will scavenge for meaty bits along the substrate bottom. It prefers a cave or overhang where the lighting is not too intense. Often, only its antennae will be visible. Depending on which region of the Indo-Pacific from which it originates, it may have the white dots just on its carapace, or covering its entire body. The diet of the Fire Shrimp should inlcude freeze-dried, live or frozen foods, and flake foods. Johnny:)
 
Wonderful feedback, everybody! It is always such a pleasure to read your personal experiences. Fire Shrimp are very interesting, gorgeous; and, Johnnie, you are right. His antennae sticking out behind a rock is often how I know where my little guy is in the tank. And those antennae are long and very white, just beautiful.

The suggestion that these shrimp are social is interesting. It never occurred to me to offer my one beauty a partner or two. It's now on my list to add a second to my tank.

I will report back after adding another. Thank you all for responding.

Sue
 
Aaron, thanks for doing my online footwork. The prices you found are in the ballpark of what the LFS charges when Fire Shrimp are available, sans the shipping, of course. I appreciate your researching for me.

And Rob, thank you for the link to Fire Shrimp husbandry. How interesting! BTW, would you be willing to say a little more about your dilemma with keeping these shrimp? As I have not had a problem keeping my Fire or three Cleaner Shrimp, possibly I or one of us here can help.

Sue
 
they were trying to sell those for $50 a pop at my lfs. rediculous...but i guess i live about as far away from an ocean as possible in north america.
 
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