How long do shrimp, crabs and snails live...

tome

tome

Member
First, what fish are in the tank? I have a cleaner shrimp in my 20g for about a year now and have had some snails and hermits for 2 years. Though hermits will kill others for the shell and (I learned this the hard way) an arrow crab is a nice way to lose you entire clean up crew quickly. Hope this helps
 
ant

ant

Member
I mostly want to know life expectancy. I have a friendly tank and have had it for a year and a half. Nothing has ever bothered him before. I've had my cleaner shrimp for over a year and found him dead this am.
 
tome

tome

Member
Sorry for your loss, but I am not sure about life expectancy, sorry i could not be more help.
 
bowser220

bowser220

Member
The cleaner shrimp may not be dead. I thought mine was dead several times. It grows and then sheds its smaller body (molting). It will hide for a few days while the body hardens.
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
im sure ant has seen the molts from the shrimp after a year, but sometimes i still get fooled when the molts are still fresh, so its still a valid point
 
ant

ant

Member
THanks you all but yes, I've seen many molts from him and I'm sure this is not a molt. In fact he just molted two days ago. Still I'm bummed. I haven't had a chance to do chemistries yet today but I'm not so concerned because all the fish and corals look great. The crabs are moving around fine, my pulsing xenia and green hammer are open and full. Just wondering if it was his time anyway. I didn't buy him as a baby. At that time I didn't even know what to look for. Now I'd like to get small ones. Ah well. Thanks anyway.
Ant.
 
auntkaren

auntkaren

Member
I was researching shrimp the other day and was surprised to read that cleaner shrimp the skunk cleaner, anyway, lives 6 years!
 
susieq

susieq

Member
I think my royal gramma went crazy a while ago and attacked my peppermint shrimp. 1 was half eaten and others developed what looked like hickeys on their abdomens. They died. I have other shrimp that haven't been bothered. What fish do you have?
 
ant

ant

Member
Wow! Six years, really?! :scared: Ah man. So I wonder what happened. I have two clown fish, one enginere gobi, one watchman gobi and pistol shrimp and one six line wrass. They've all lived together for at least a year or so. Never seen anyone bother the other. The pistol shrimp grabs any hermit crab passing by and takes him in his hole. He also grabs all of the extra shells and builds his mighty fortress under the rock but the cleaner shrimp doesn't usually go near them at all. Oh well. Thanks everyone for responding. Ant.
 
N

n_sarno

Guest
I have also heard that cleaners live 5+ years.. but never actually read it anywhere..
 
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