cleaner wont clean

[clown jr]

we have one cleaner shrimp, a blood shrimp, and 3 peppermints in our tank. we rarely ever see any of them, they never walk around, and the cleaner wont clean. after rearranging rock he finally stays in a spot where we can see him but the only fish he cleans is the lionfish, even if the others bother him all day.
why doesnt he clean anybody else??? and, the blood never comes out, dont they normally setup a station too, theyre lysmata species too. where are the shrimp?? they should come out!! any thoughts?

 

[bang guy]

I can only assume you mean you have a Scarlet/Skunk Cleaner that won't clean. All of the shrimp you listed are Cleaner Shrimp.
I would suggest getting another Scarlet Cleaner. It will be much more likely to set up a cleaning station.
The Blood Shrimp are Nocturnal by nature. If you try looking at night it will probably be out. It too will do better in a pair or more.

 

[clown jr]

thanks. I've heard a lot about this pairing or grouping of shrimp, but will a scarlet (lysmata ambionensis) and blood pair up together? They haven't yet found eachother.
And also, do you think 2 scarlets, 2 bloods, and 3 peppermints is too many for a 90 gallon? That seems like a lot of shrimp. But we might be getting a bigger tank in spring (fingers crossed!).
thanks all for thoughts.

 

[sebae0]

i put 2 scarlets in a 180 and they dont clean a thing!!! they hang out together but they love to grab the food when i feed my fish. also if there is no parasite to clean what will they clean? mine are visible all the time though and today when i added seeweed selects 1 jumped on my hand and started to pick at it. it was so funny because i burnt my hand on the stove and he actually picked some of the burnt skin off and ate it!!!!!

 

[entice59]

IMO, they probably wont clean anything because everything has been cleaned already, no need to fear

 

[mrfish]

Not all fish like being cleaned so the Ceaners won't touch them. My percular is very agressive to them if they get near it. My two Skunk cleaners are very active around the tank and the only fish they clean is the Flame angel. They are much happier in pairs.
My blood doesn't do anything in the day but comes out at night.