Best shrimp
- Thread starter marco333
- Start date
sterling
Member
Cleaner shrimp is my favorite. They do many duties, including cleaning up left over food, garbage and pick stuff off the fish. Which they fish appreciate very much.
I had only one cleaner shrimp until a week ago and I got another. At first they fought like a couple of cats, now they are inseparable.
I had only one cleaner shrimp until a week ago and I got another. At first they fought like a couple of cats, now they are inseparable.
clown jr
Member
it depends on your setup. in a community tank, a cleaner is great. they will clean the fish and are very active. they arent harmful to anything, are reef safe and great to watch. if your tank is slightly aggresive or aggressive you can try a coral banded shrimp. they are sometimes aggressive to other shrimps or crabs ( not hermits ) although i have had a coral banded with my cleaner and two peppermints and they do fine. safe bet, CLEANER SHRIMP or coral banded.
carrie1429
Active Member
My favorite is also the cleaner shrimp because they are a very good member of the cleanup crew cleaning parasites off fish. I also like their personality. If they are friendly enough they will try to clean your hand whenever you put it in the tank.
clown jr
Member
Cleaner shrimp are definitely winning so far. Most people are probably referring to Lysmata ambionensis, or common cleaner. Another however is the popular peppermint shrimp, L. wurdemanni. The peppermints make for a great show when in groups of 3 or more. Even 2 are fun. I have two and they rummage around all day together and sometimes play around and it looks like tag as one hits him with the antennae and runs around. It makes a good show. They all get slong together and sometimes peppermints will take in common cleaners into their group, mine did, and they became good friends. 
It's really cool when they clean you!!!
It's really cool when they clean you!!!
ijeh99
Member
My 2 camelback shrimp devoured my large cleaner shrimp. It was in my tank for two weeks and then bye bye - a very expensive loss $46. with taxes. Ouch! Otherwise, I must say the cbs are fun to watch and are scared of going too far when my purple dottyback is swimming during the day.
justchillin
Member
clown jr:
just wondering how a cbs would survive in an aggressive tank...i've never tried since i've just assumed they would become fish food right away...
has anyone else kept a cbs in an aggressive setup???
thanks
just wondering how a cbs would survive in an aggressive tank...i've never tried since i've just assumed they would become fish food right away...
has anyone else kept a cbs in an aggressive setup???
thanks
S
sandy
Guest
Def. cleaner shrimp. I have two. They are fun. I also have 3 pepperments... but they are little pests sometimes. Always stealing food from the stars I'm trying to target feed. They ate the arm off my sand sifter star... had to return it.
Also -- the cleaners stay out in the open. Pepperments mostly come out at night. At least in my tank.
Be careful though... I lost a cleaner b/c I didn't know about how sensitive they were to changes in salinity. Just as a precaution I put my fresh top off water in at the other end of the tank and always add it slowly.
Also -- the cleaners stay out in the open. Pepperments mostly come out at night. At least in my tank.
Be careful though... I lost a cleaner b/c I didn't know about how sensitive they were to changes in salinity. Just as a precaution I put my fresh top off water in at the other end of the tank and always add it slowly.
musipilot
Member
After years of reefing (not the smoking kind, I get drug tested at work, come on!) I will tell you my favorite combination of shrimp is what we have now. A pair of common cleaner shrimp, a pair of peppermints, and a pair of blood (fire) cleaners. Everyone gets along great, and the personality of the common cleaners has made the blood shrimp much more "tame" then this species usually is. There is also a large banded coral shrimp in this tank, but he hangs out behind the rocks and grumbles about how nobody loves him.
Another added benefit is that paired shrimp in a healthy tank will always reproduce, and it makes a great food supply for SPS corals, and your fish.
We've actually had some shrimp that died of old age (thier life span is about 3-4 years in optimal conditions) and thats how we ended up with these at the present time. Great combo!
Also -- a tip for aquarist looking for cheap/efficient clean up crews...there is a species of shrimp known as glass shrimp that are available for DIRT CHEAP online. They are small and not colorful, but they clean the substrate and pick up a lot of debris no one else gets, and are not agressive at all. Best of all, they are CHEAP. You can get 36 of these guys delivered for about 15 bucks. Out of respect for SWF.com, write to me and I'll give you the link where to buy them. They are very hardy, they'll even live in hyposalinity, which makes them a great clean up addition to hospital/quarantine tanks. They come from the river deltas of the southeastern US, so varying salinity is not new to them.
Dave
mailto:dave@jfktower.com
Another added benefit is that paired shrimp in a healthy tank will always reproduce, and it makes a great food supply for SPS corals, and your fish.
We've actually had some shrimp that died of old age (thier life span is about 3-4 years in optimal conditions) and thats how we ended up with these at the present time. Great combo!
Also -- a tip for aquarist looking for cheap/efficient clean up crews...there is a species of shrimp known as glass shrimp that are available for DIRT CHEAP online. They are small and not colorful, but they clean the substrate and pick up a lot of debris no one else gets, and are not agressive at all. Best of all, they are CHEAP. You can get 36 of these guys delivered for about 15 bucks. Out of respect for SWF.com, write to me and I'll give you the link where to buy them. They are very hardy, they'll even live in hyposalinity, which makes them a great clean up addition to hospital/quarantine tanks. They come from the river deltas of the southeastern US, so varying salinity is not new to them.
Dave
mailto:dave@jfktower.com