How long do Camel Back Shrimp live???

[crazyzeus1]

We have 3 horrible Camel Back Shrimp in our tank (have had them for about 6 months now) who are eating all our soft corals (have lost about $400 in livestock so far). My hubby ordered them without doing all the research, so I know it's our fault.
Tried trapping them, catching them with a net, waiting for them with the net...no good. We have 140lb of liverock, so I really, really don't want to tear the tank apart. I could never build it back up right anyway.
Our coral list is not so pretty right now, and I ssooooooo want to start stocking the tank again with corals, but have refused to buy anything else until these darn shrimp DIE!!!
So...anyone know how long they live????

 

[fishieness]

Originally Posted by crazyzeus1
So...anyone know how long they live????
FOREVER!! mwahahahaha

sorry, im not sure how long except that they can live for quite a while. your best bet is getting something that will eat them. maybe a large dwarf lion but that will take out any other small fish you have in there. possibly a CBS. Im about positive that is what ate my pepermint seeing how it disapeared, i never found remains, and my CBS would stalk and lunge at it. Try getting on and dont feed it.

 

[crazyzeus1]

Originally Posted by fishieness
FOREVER!! mwahahahaha

sorry, im not sure how long except that they can live for quite a while. your best bet is getting something that will eat them. maybe a large dwarf lion but that will take out any other small fish you have in there. possibly a CBS. Im about positive that is what ate my pepermint seeing how it disapeared, i never found remains, and my CBS would stalk and lunge at it. Try getting on and dont feed it.
Well, we've got 2 cleaner shrimp, a CBS, & a few Peppermint Shrimp that I just adore (especially the cleaner shrimp...they're HUGE!) and I don't want to lose them. Luckily our CBS seems to be happy in his corner of our tank, and won't bother anyone unless they come close to his domain, which nobody does!
We also have a tiny Clown Gobie, and a not-so-big Pesudochromis, which I would be afraid to lose too.
These Camel Backs were about 1/3 inch when we got them, and now they're well over 2 inches long...HUGE. So pretty, but I hate them! I've been feeding a cube of Formula One (because it sinks & won't break up easily & float around) at night to try & get them to eat that instead of our corals. Sometimes works, sometimes not. Ugh...

 

[laddy]

Mine lived right until he jumped out of the tank and did a little carpet surfing

I never had any problems with him eating the corals.