Mudplayerex...coral banded question...

[monalisa]

Hey Mud,
My coral banded shrimp just molted (again). Just before molting though, he got pretty nasty with my fish, my coral beauty angel in particular. I found him and her in a tussle just a day or 2 before the big event, and she (my coral beauty) came out of it with a fat lip and a couple of small pincer marks on her back. She's since healed very nicely, and actually didn't really make anything out of the altercation, she's perfectly fine now.
I thought at that time that I was going to take him out and be done with it. Is this something that is normal? Will it get worse as he molts more and more? I really feel like I need to make plans for him if his molting is going to cause problems with my fish. Ever run across something like this before? Suggestions?
Thanks again Mud,
Lisa :happyfish

 

[monalisa]

Just saw it again, he's history!!!
Lisa

 

[mudplayerx]

Thankfully my coral banded shrimp has not fought either of my fish. I think that they know better than to swim near the cbs. I'm pretty sure that if I had more fish in my 55 gallon that the cbs would be more agressive towards them.
Like I said, I only have about 2 inches of fish in a 55 gallon tank, so I owe the peace due to that.
I'm sorry to hear that you are getting rid of your cbs Mona If it was up to me, I'd get rid of the fish hehe. I'm biased towards coral and inverts though.

Does your cbs has a secluded cave-like area to retreat to when he needs to molt? I've found that a very good method of avoiding confrontations is having at least one hidey-hole per mobile critter in your tank. One for everything: starfish, crab, shrimp, fish, etc...

 

[monalisa]

Originally Posted by mudplayerx
Thankfully my coral banded shrimp has not fought either of my fish. I think that they know better than to swim near the cbs. I'm pretty sure that if I had more fish in my 55 gallon that the cbs would be more agressive towards them.
Like I said, I only have about 2 inches of fish in a 55 gallon tank, so I owe the peace due to that.
I'm sorry to hear that you are getting rid of your cbs Mona If it was up to me, I'd get rid of the fish hehe. I'm biased towards coral and inverts though.

Does your cbs has a secluded cave-like area to retreat to when he needs to molt? I've found that a very good method of avoiding confrontations is having at least one hidey-hole per mobile critter in your tank. One for everything: starfish, crab, shrimp, fish, etc...
I really didn't think that I would have a problem with this either. In my 37, I only have my pair of false percs and the cb angel...who happens to be in and out everywhere. So far she's been able to get away from him, but I don't want to take the chance of losing her to "him". I'll need to take a look at her tomorrow to make sure she didn't get hurt tonight...that really flamed me when I saw that happen tonight!!!
Scampi has always kinda taken over a hole in a rock in my tank for his secret little rendevous, molting, whatever...and as far as I've seen, everyone else has respected that. This time, he decided to just molt behind the general rock formation...psssttt
Any suggestions on how I can catch the little bugger. Also, I'm going to have explain to my son-in-law why he's gone cause Scampi is his fav in the tank...any suggestions there also welcomed. Geez...
Lisa was a :happyfish

 

[mudplayerx]

Shouldn't be too hard to catch since they are semi-agressive even towards nets and human hands. I'd wait until nightime when he's out and about and scoop him up. You can lure him out with seafood, but that probably isn't even necessary.
You might bust off his claws if you use a net to catch him, but it won't hurt him in the long run, and I'm sure you aren't overly concerned about his welfare in light of recent events

 

[monalisa]

Originally Posted by mudplayerx
Shouldn't be too hard to catch since they are semi-agressive even towards nets and human hands. I'd wait until nightime when he's out and about and scoop him up. You can lure him out with seafood, but that probably isn't even necessary.
You might bust off his claws if you use a net to catch him, but it won't hurt him in the long run, and I'm sure you aren't overly concerned about his welfare in light of recent events

Well Mud,
I just had a very profound thought. Scampi has not been spot fed in a while. I tried giving him some meat the night that he was molting, just this weekend (I didn't know that at the time, of course, that he was molting). I'm thinking that he got hungry. I just gave him a nice big piece of squid, and I think that he's a happy camper right now, and I think I feel better. I'll keep an eye on things though. He just BETTER behave himself!!!

Lisa :happyfish

 

[mudplayerx]

Lol poor guys was probably just hungry. How long since his last feeding? I usually feed mine every 3 days and he tends to molt about once per two weeks. He used to molt even more frequently than that, but it has slowed down as he has gotten larger.
Just smack scampi on the butt and give him a warning. I think he deserves a second chance. :joy:

 

[monalisa]

Originally Posted by mudplayerx
Lol poor guys was probably just hungry. How long since his last feeding? I usually feed mine every 3 days and he tends to molt about once per two weeks. He used to molt even more frequently than that, but it has slowed down as he has gotten larger.
Just smack scampi on the butt and give him a warning. I think he deserves a second chance. :joy:
Yeah, I figure this was my bad.
I did try to feed him over the weekend, but he wanted nothing to do with the meat. Little did I know that I would find "him" stuck to the siphon of my filter 10 minutes later!! This is actually the second molt he's had in about 3 weeks, who would've guessed??
He's staying for sure. Usually I try to feed everybody meat 2-3 x per week. Maybe his little adventure just made him crazy. Geez that freaked me out though!! He did get a good warning, I shook my finger at him and gave him "the look"

I think he got the hint.
As always, thanks for your help.
Lisa :happyfish