Missing Cleaner Shrimp

greymach

greymach

Member
I got a new Cleaner Shrimp today and i acclimated him for 2.5 hours and then put him in the tank on top of a rock right before i went to work. Well i got home about 5 hours later and he is no where to be found. I looked all over my tank with a flashlight. I Looked EVERYWHERE and i really have no idea where he could be. Are they known to be good hiders? I Hope he is ok. Please someone let me know if they are known to hide or anything like that. Thanks
 
greymach

greymach

Member
All i have are 2 false percs. A Royal Gramma which i also got today. 9 hermits.12 Turbo snails. and a RBTA. Do you think he was killed if he is missing?
 
greymach

greymach

Member
how long does it take to molt? I still think it is weird though because it doesnt seem like there are many good hiding spaces in my rockwork. He was a pretty small shrimp though.
 
tankyou

tankyou

Member
Originally Posted by GreyMach
All i have are 2 false percs. A Royal Gramma which i also got today. 9 hermits.12 Turbo snails. and a RBTA. Do you think he was killed if he is missing?
Doesn't sound like it from that list... unless you have some kind of hitchiker hiding in your rockwork. My shrimp are pretty much out and about all the time, even when molting. What's your waters SG?
 
tankyou

tankyou

Member
Also cleaners prefer their lighting subdued, if yours is intense it might be cringing in the shade of your rockwork.
 
windmill

windmill

Member
I had 3 peppermint in a 55 gallon a while back with lots of rockwork. I remember one random day I couldn't see any of the 3 from any angle all day. It pissed me off because I didn't have anything in my tank that could've ate one and I checked all around the stand many times looking for a jumper. I found them the next morning out in the open, making fun of me.
 
greymach

greymach

Member
Could he have died and been eaten by a cleanup crew of 9 hermits, and 12 snails overnight? Completely Eaten without a trace?
 
tankyou

tankyou

Member
Originally Posted by GreyMach
Could he have died and been eaten by a cleanup crew of 9 hermits, and 12 snails overnight? Completely Eaten without a trace?
Probably not, you'd find bits of whiskers, legs, etc. scattered about. Checked inside your overflows yet? Mine like to crawl on them looking for food which hasn't been sucked over.
 
greymach

greymach

Member
I looked everywhere. The skimmer the filter the power heads. He completely dissapeared. Its really weird. My LFS said they will give me 50% off on a replacement though. Im guessing it died but i have no idea where it went. This sucks!
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by GreyMach
I looked everywhere. The skimmer the filter the power heads. He completely dissapeared. Its really weird. My LFS said they will give me 50% off on a replacement though. Im guessing it died but i have no idea where it went. This sucks!
This has been what a couple of days? Don't give up hope. Often times when they are introduced into a new tank they will molt (if the water quality is good) and then hide while their new shell hardens. Give it a day or two more. If you still don't see him then it is probably safe to say that something happened. BTW the cleanup crew will eat everything. They eat my shrimps entire molt everytime. I don't bother pulling it out of the tank anymore.
 
greymach

greymach

Member
Oh cool thanks for the hope...That would be great to take a look at the tank in the next couple of days and see him. Id be all excited.
 
zanski

zanski

Member
I added a cleaner shrimp to my new 75... didnt see him for a couple days, but now he has already set up a cleaning station for my coral beauty. Im sure yours is just hiding.
 
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