cleaner shrimp...

jawfish177

jawfish177

Member
hi... i was wondering how delicate they are... i just got my new additions to the tank... (2) cleaner shrimp and (1) flame angel... 1 of the cleaner shrimp is not looking too good... i wonder if it's just adjusting... i know that they are sensitive to salinity change... i hope that he's just acclimating... anyway, any input would be appreciated...
i'll let you guys know tomorrow if he's able to hold on...
thanks...
 
bhav_88

bhav_88

Member
I'd rate them as a very hardy shrimp. The key word was shrimp, though. Shrimp are not exactly tanks when it comes to water conditions. They are far from the weakest organisms but also far from the strongest. Now, I personally have not had very good luck with cleaner shrimp. I attribute that to my late Sally Lightfoot crab, who seemed to enjoy eating them. I now have one who seems to do fine.
It's late now, but in the future I would put them in a breeding net for the night. I do that with all shrimp. It seems to help, somehow.
 
heavenly damsel

heavenly damsel

Member
You need to acclimate shrimp twice as long as you would fish. Mine have always done well, they seem to be pretty hardy if you acclimate them correctly. Hope yours does well.
 
ijeh99

ijeh99

Member
my cleaner shrimp (4") died after 3 weeks in my aquarium. nothing else died. my camelback shrimp enjoyed the treat . . . of course when I woke up and saw in sliced in half I freaked out.
 
misty

misty

Member
Wow...it's been SOOO long since I've been on this board (good, I guess, since I haven't have any major issues with my tank, now over a year old).
When I got my cleaner shrimp, I made sure to "introduce" him to my tank water conditions using the drip method. I bought him on September 14th, (retail fish therapy) and spent the whole night taking care of him. If he hadn't made it, I probably would have had a breakdown!
He's still doing very well. Eats like a pig, isn't shy, doesn't clean a darn thing...just waits for me to feed him! He's HUGE!
FYI...other inhabitants are brittle star, serpent star, blue and scarlett hermits, sally lightfoot, bi-color blenny, mandarin and 2 bangaii cards. Very friendly tank.
:) MJ
 
stupid_naso

stupid_naso

Member
They are about the hardiest thing you could possibly keep. Let me put it this way. After my tank cycled for a month, I put one in. Not the best decision I could possibly made but I did it (not very wise back then, not saying I'm any better now :D). Anyway, it lives until one day my heater broke and it was boiled, as simple as that.
I got another one, it's almost 6 months since I bought him. A great thing, I hand-feed him sometimes. If not then he just dig into the syringe (sp?) that has brine shrimp in it. He cleans well. He waits until the fishes are asleep then he cleans them :D.
He's just great.
stupid_naso
 
karlas

karlas

Member
IMO they are a very hardy critter. acclimate them slowly inverts are more sentisive to different water conditions. i love ours and have them over a year now. and a pair of fire shrimp for about 4 mths now
 
M

marcandkelly

Guest
I got one yesterday along with two peppermints. Suffice to say the peppermints are doing fine but the cleaner didn't make it. :(
 
demosthenes

demosthenes

Active Member
So far I've had a good experience with Cleaner Shrimp. I always make sure to use the Drip Method whenever I acclimate a new member of my tanks. Take a length of air tubing, and tie a know in the middle, and put one end in the tank water, and one in the specimen bag, and siphon some tank water into the bag. Due to the knot, it only siphons a "drip" at a time. This slowly acclimates the fish. HTH
 
clownfish1452

clownfish1452

Member
has anyone ever had a sailfin tang eat a cleaner shimp. because i went on vac. and i had my mom taking care of my tank and when i came home my shimp was gone. my mom said she thinks the tang ate the shimp.
sarah
 
demosthenes

demosthenes

Active Member
Unless the Tang is HUGE and the CS is very, very small, I don't think that's what happened. The Tang may have killed it, but could in no way eat it. Have you not been able to find it? If so, then it may be rotting away behind a rock(hopefully not), or just hiding. Sometimes they don't show up for months on end, and then boom, there they are. Hope it shows up.
 
sgt__york

sgt__york

Member
QUESTION: How well do Cleaner shrimp and Sally Light Foots get along??
I saw one post above say his sally ate the shrimp. I saw another say they have been together a year. I realze there are no absolutes, and in same situations different results often happen - but what is the "NORM" for the compatibility of these 2 get'n alone??
I want ODDS man.. ODDS! 68.2% success rate?? 42.88 success rate?? I want empiracal data, graphs and pie charts.
Or just an opinion of experience will do :) :rolleyes:
 
grayne

grayne

Member
I agree with everyone who says that the cleaner shrimp is a hardy addition. As long as you take the time to acclimate it properly you should have few problems with a cleaner shrimp.I have had mine for about a year now and never had a single problem. The only fish that I have that will allow him to clean it though is my coral beauty (I figure it is because the shrimp is bigger than the others- its body is close to 2 1/2 inches!). Feeding the shrimp is not a problem either, as mine has learned when feeding time is, and will run up the side of the tank and take what food it wants (from my hand or off the surface of the water) before the other fish even get a chance.
 
chrismilano

chrismilano

Member
Never had a problem with my sally and my cleaner shrimp.
Coral banded shrimp, however are NASTY. Maybe thats why they're half the cost. Shame, they're nice to look at. They also attack arrow crabs.
 
wrassecal

wrassecal

Active Member
As jwtrojan said it may have just molted and is hiding. Both my cleaners and my fire shrimp molted shortly after I added them. Then they hide out for a few days and re-appear. Hope this is what happened to yours. Mine have been very hardy as others have said.
 
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