Bought a new Cleaner shrimp Yesterday

[something'sfishy]

I wonder if having one is effective in erradicating parasites on fish. what is their main diet? what should I give him to eat :notsure: ? Have you seen yours cleaning? When I woke up this morning, my coral beauty was asking to be cleaned and got sloser to the shrimp. Awesome sight! But I ten noticed that my CB was kind of attacking the shrimp? Is it beacause they're trying to get to know each other at first?

 

[madison]

a skunk cleaner or CB? you said both...
I have never seen a CB clean a fish unless the fish is dead...
I had cleaners (6x's) successfully clean off my yellow tang of black ich and almost "cured" my powdered blue of reg ich until I made a mistake and killed the PB myself :-(
IMO...cleaner shrimps works better as a scavenger then as a doctor to your fish...they do eat parasites off of your fish...unless you have many shrimps and if the fish is willing to sit there for periods of time for the cleaning...they are just more pretty to look at

 

[something'sfishy]

It's a cleaner shrimp. He tries to clean my CB but the CB is kinda attacking him. Maybe they don't feel comfortable yet with each other or maybe the CB is exhibiting territorialsim?

 

[guppy slayer]

My cleaner shrimp doesn't clean my maroon clown, not that I've seen anyway but does clean my cromis and the two tangs that I have. I feed it flakes and it will also go after frozen brine/mysis sometimes.
They molt alot. Like once a month.

 

[hun25]

My cleaner shrimp like to clean me! He rides around on my hand while I clean the glass. Does this mean I have parasites? :thinking:

 

[michelle l]

I had a problem with ick quite a while ago, so I bought some cleaner shrimp to see if they could help out. The fish that was affected kept presenting himself to be cleaned, so the shrimp did clean him then. After the ick cleared up, the fish never went back to the shrimp, and they don't pursue my fish to clean them. So now, they eat scraps of food that float by them, plus I feed them by hand to be sure they get enough to eat. I hold food down by them and they hop on my hand and eat, plus sometimes they "clean" my hand. It's very cool and feels funny!!

I'm not sure of this, but I thought that coral banded shrimp (that's what you mean by CB, right?) would kill other shrimp and eat them???

 

[guppy slayer]

Coral Beauty

 

[michelle l]

Oh, uh, duh!! Sorry.............

For some reason every time I see "CB" I think "Coral Banded."
I would say, from my limited experience, that unless a fish actually has parasites and needs cleaned they won't solicit service from a cleaner shrimp. Once my fish's ick cleared up, they never went near the cleaner shrimp again.
So, maybe your CB sees your shrimp as lunch, or just as something interesting to harrass!

 

[wax32]

Both my tang and my damsel visit my fire shrimp for cleanings every couple of days... no signs of any parasites, I think they just like being cleaned in general.

 

[michelle l]

Maybe they have dry skin and have an itchy back!!