Stingray and cleaner shrimp help!!!

[Sharklover]

Please nobody mention how much space is needed or how hard they are as i already know this but i was wondering if i have a cleaner shrimp in an aquarium to help keep my blue tang ick free along with 2 ocellaris clownfish and a bi-colored blenny will my cortez/california stingray eat my shrimp even if he is in my tank like a month before the ray or will the shrimp help clean him too?ps- if you have a cortez ray with a cleaner shrimp please respond!!!

 

[pat8you]

He may last a little while but I believe eventually the ray will get him. The cleaner shrimp may not be out in the open to clean your fish if it is feeling threatened. If you keep the ray well fed he may not bother chasing the shrimp to much. There is really no way to say one way or the other. It will depend on the personality of the ray. I would assume it will not work though.

 

[hackteck]

yea one day the shrimp may look at the ray funny and become a snack lol no way to tell

 

[cmor1701d]

LOL, the first problem I see is using a cleaner shrimp to keep a tang Ich free. Has no one else picked up on that absurdity?

If there is Ich in the tank, treat that problem first. Once the display tank is Ich free you can start to worry about your other problems.

 

[nxb161]

LOL, the first problem I see is using a cleaner shrimp to keep a tang Ich free. Has no one else picked up on that absurdity?

If there is Ich in the tank, treat that problem first. Once the display tank is Ich free you can start to worry about your other problems.

Ha, yeah what species of cleaner shrimp is that? I WANT ONE!

 

[Sharklover]

I do not have it yet and the shrimp,if u didnt know eats parasites off fish aka tang pretty much ich free!!!

 

[nxb161]

I do not have it yet and the shrimp,if u didnt know eats parasites off fish aka tang pretty much ich free!!!

I am very aware that cleaner shrimps pick parasites off of fish. Also very aware that ich is not one of them

Ich burrows too deep into the fish, and studies show 'wild or captive' that ich wasn't found in dissected cleaner shrimps either...

 

[David S]

I do not have it yet and the shrimp,if u didnt know eats parasites off fish aka tang pretty much ich free!!!

If only it was as simple as that

 

[Sharklover]

Look guys i know its not that simple but it helps relive stress and strenghtens its mucas coating making ichs job harder anyway will my stingray deffinately eat it cuz im getting one no matter what because he will be in there for like 2 months cleaning my fish before the ray even goes in

 

[nxb161]

Look guys i know its not that simple but it helps relive stress and strenghtens its mucas coating making ichs job harder anyway will my stingray deffinately eat it cuz im getting one no matter what because he will be in there for like 2 months cleaning my fish before the ray even goes in

I'm not saying anything against putting the ray in and such since I have no experience with them. I just don't want saltwater newbies to read that cleaner shrimps remove ich, that was my main concern.

 

[Bige]

The ray will certainly eat the shrimp when given the chance. I have had a cleaner shrimp for years and it has never "cleaned" any of my fish. If your getting it for that, I would save yourself the money. I have also had cleaner fish (neon and shark nose gobies) and they have never cleaned my fish either. I think it works different in the ocean and may be for specific species that live together in the wild. And as stated above, nothing eats ich.

 

[nxb161]

My cleaner shrimp does clean my fish, even tries to clean my fingers too. That said I do not think they remove ich, nor should someone purchase one for that reason. I do like cleaner shrimps though! Would be sad if it was just lunch for the ray...

 

[Bige]

True. My cleaner shrimp picks any scabs or cuts or dead skin I may have. They have great personalities and make are a great inhabitants. Sad it be, for ray to eat. (sorry I sounded like yoda)

 

[edgard786]

I have a blue spotted stingray and cleaner shrimp together, and they have been doing great. The stingray always allows the cleaner shrimp to clean it. I also had the same cleaner shrimp with a yellow head moray eel and the moray would leave it's mouth open so the cleaner shrimp could clean it. This same moray eel killed about 10 of smaller fish, so it was strange it never ate my shrimp. This my experience though, and other people may have completely different experience with both.

 

[Innovator]

Cleaner shrimp are usually the only viable possibility, especially with a reasonably sized moray (not worth a meal to them) and even certain pipefish serve as residential "cleaners" for some morays