My poor poor cleaner shrimp :)

[Doan]

LoL well tonight my poor cleaner shrimp who hasen't moved from under one of my rocks for the three weeks he has been in there is very busy.. As alot of you may or may not know I put in my first fish on Sunday night a Flame Angel.. Well My wife and I come home today and the cleaner shrimp is chasing this fish all over the tank.. the fish will go to one side of the tank and on the rocks on that side the shrimp scampers over.. and this has been going on all night the fish though will not let him clean her.. It's almost sad he sits on the rock rocking his little claws and body back and forth in eager anticapitation only to have the fish swim somewhere else.. So away goes the shrimp follwing to wherever the fish is going all night.. it's been so funny but now I am starting to feel bad for the little guy. I hope at some point that the fish will just let the poor guy clean her..

[pecan2phat]

Are you sure that you have a cleaner & not a false cleaner shrimp, I've read where the false cleaners irritate the fish rather than clean.

[Doan]

hmmmm never heard of a false cleaner.. he looks like every other pacific cleaner shrimp I did research on and saw on the web and in here.. I was just thinking the fish was still a little spooked from being in a new environment for only about 48hrs.. hmmmmm I need to find some info on a false cleaner..

[tkos]

Watch out to if you add any crabs to your tank. My brother added a sally light foot and within a week, bye bye Cleaner Shrimp.

[Doan]

hmmm.... I have one emerald and that is it he has been in there for almost a week prior to the shrimp... for about a month they were the only 2 and they seem to get along ok.. My wife got a blood red fire shrimp for christmas though everyone seems to be ok lots and lots of hiding places and really only planning on getting one more cleaner somwhere down the road as I heard that cleaners like a buddy and will be less shy and the blood reds only like mates so I guess he will be lonley ... Not gonna risk having 2 upset bloodreds at $52.00 a piece.. I mean really I only see him at feeding time anyway.. If I would have known that everyone was gonna hang out at the back of the tank where I can't see them all the time i would have turned it around on set up jk

Doan

[snapcrackler]

My cleaner shrimps are compulsive neurotics.. my CBS looks like inspector clouseau on the prowl, and the blood red shrimp is continuously desperate to ride a fish around, although he has long since cleaned the fish to sparkling, so they avoid him most of the time.

Give your 2 guys some time to get used to eachother and they'll probably hang out.

Post a pic of the cleaner shrimp in question so we can check it out?

[Doan]

I don't have a pic of mine I will post one tonight but he looks exactly like this...
http://www.photovault.com/Link/Anima...V01P06_08.1708


I will post a pic of mine tonight


Thanks guys

Doan

[Doan]

There are no matches for false cleaner shrimp on Google... anyone know where I can find some info

Thanks

Doan

[snapcrackler]

That's a skunk cleaner shrimp, Lysmata amboinensis.

The only false ones that I can think of would be the nonpeppermint versions of the peppermints, the real peppermints are Lysmata wurdemanni but coral-eating camelback shrimp (Rhynchocienetes uritai) which looks sorta like the peppermint, will. But as far as their fishcleaning ability I don't know.

Also the CBS (coral banded) are pretty rough with fish when cleaning them and will also eat a fish if given the chance, I am told.

[jamal-188]

Wow Doan, you pay $52 a peice for fireshrimp!! Check out saltwaterfish.com They are around $25 there and if you spend $75 you get free shipping.

My 3 emerald crabs have never bothered my cleanershrimp and my sallylight foot died before I got the cleaners so I don't know what whould have happened.

I've had my 2 skunk cleaners for several months now and I finally saw one cleaning my blenny last nigth!!! They always try to jump on my fish but the fish just move out of the way or swim off.

[gfishguy56]

I have 2 skunk cleaner shrimps and they can care less about cleaning any of my fish and vise versa. Instead they wait patiently, rocking back and forth, perched under a rock ledge at the spot where food falls from the sky. Then it's an all out free for all food frenzy of fish and shrimp. Quite amazing to see.

[Doan]

Yeah I see your in PA as well jamal-188. If you are overhere in the civilized half (Pittsburgh) yeah they are $52 at Seahorse out in Allison Park and the only other place I would buy livestock from is Elemers down in Monroeville but That is about 1.5 hours away from me.. The reason i really can't order online is I have no one at home nor do I have any neighbors so I am afraid that the UPS guy would just put them outside my door like he always does and I would come home to fishcycles... But thank you very much for the tips..I am hoping that eventually the fish loosens up a bit.. he's only been in there for 48hours so I would imagine that he is still kinda acclimating to the new tank and eventully he will let the shrimp clean him due to him being ok with it or exhaustion due to running from the shrimp forever

Doan

[ChrisCancell]

the coral banded shrimp will only clean the bottom of the tank, not the fish. I have a coral banded and it seems to get along with my cleaner. By get along I mean there both alive at the same time, one controls one side of the tank and the other gets the other side.

[ChrisCancell]

the coral banded shrimp will only clean the bottom of the tank, not the fish. I have a coral banded and it seems to get along with my cleaner. By get along I mean there both alive at the same time, one controls one side of the tank and the other gets the other side.