Be careful before adding cleaner shrimp to your reef!!!

[djheywood]

Just an FYI coming from the unluckiest man in the world lately! I have had two cleaner shrimp in my reef for a couple of months no problem but they won't let me put a clam into the tank. I had a lawnmower blenny that ate one clam then the shrimp took notes and ate another!!! I caught the little shrimp right away but it took a two dam nweeks to catch the big one. I tried traps, nets, 1 inch hose to suck it out, nothing worked. Finally last night I dismantled half my reef to catch the little crapper. Anyway just though I would vent a little and warn everyone if you have clams to watch those cleaner shrimp!

Brian

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http://www.ssaland.com/reefpages/reefhome.htm

[Rin]

Too bad about your cleaners...thanks for the warning. Luckily, I've hand-tamed my two shrimp. I have picked them up many times by feeding them shrimp with my fingers.

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-Todd
'Only the corrupted can recognize true innocence for what it is.'

[FishKid]

i caught my shrimp eating the left overs of a trocus that my hermits killed [img]/ubb/mad.gif[/img]

[Bughead]

Yeah, the cleaner shrimp are quite the little carnivores. But I had to laugh at your lawnmower blenny eating a clam. I had a lawnmower blenny once, "Good Blenny Gone Bad", who decided polyps and mushrooms were much more to his liking, and stopped eating algae altogether. That blenny killed a Benggai cardinal in a head-on collision in a race for the meaty food I'd just dropped into the tank. Needless to say, that blenny went back to the lfs, where the owner took him home to his predator tank as a sort of curiosity. Good ridance!

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If it's broke, don't fix it---hide it.

[djskott]

Interesting, I have had my cleaner shrimp for almost a year now and i just got another one a month and a half ago. they get along fine, dont attack anything, dont eat any coral, cept for dead snails that die off, sorry for ur luck..
My cleaner shrimp are now in the female stage, both of them are carrieing eggs =) FREE FOOD YAY! heheh
take care
http://www.djskott.com
DJ Skott

[djheywood]

My cleaners never bothered anything but for some reason liked clam mantles. I just think Clam's are way cooler then cleaner shrimp, if I had to pick. They are both now happily living in my 5 gallon nano soon to be upgraded to a 12 gallon.

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http://www.ssaland.com/reefpages/reefhome.htm