star vs shrimp

I have a pretty large green brittle starfish in my 45G tank and I wanted to get a cleaner shrimp. Do you think it would bother the shrimp? He's pretty big these days. And what are the advantages and disadvantages of a cleaner shrimp??
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by ivycharlaine
http:///forum/post/3133094
I have a pretty large green brittle starfish in my 45G tank and I wanted to get a cleaner shrimp. Do you think it would bother the shrimp? He's pretty big these days. And what are the advantages and disadvantages of a cleaner shrimp??

I have a huge green brittle star and 2 cleaner shrimp...they get along fine.
Cleaner shrimp actually picks the ich off a fish and eats it. The fish will go to it for a good cleaning, opening the gills wide so they can do a good job and they go for a ride on the fish sometimes...very funny to watch.
It must feel good to the fish. They eat other food so they won't starve if no ich is in the tank. They may eat other parasites as well but I don't really know. The fish sure like them.
 

katsafados

Active Member
I have a serpant and cleanner that are best friends! The cleanner will ride the serpant soemtimes.
Plus if you have alot of LR the brittle will just hide more of the time, so you swont even see it. I'm lucky i get to see my serpant, it sin a 10g and there isnt a lot of LR for it to hide with. 8lbs.
 

ophiura

Active Member
It is a known risk with the green brittlestar.
If you don't believe it, see below. Yes, it was a live shrimp.
The green brittlestar is a known predator in the wild. While most of my stars do hide during the day, note that at least 2 of my greens are out in the open, and can reach well in excess of 20" tip to tip. these are huge stars, and not comparable in behavior to most other brittle/serpenstars in the hobby. However most do come out at night.
I happen to have 3 very large greens (and about 7 other brittles) with a cleaner shrimp and so far so good, but I keep them very well fed and realize it may happen some day. There is a risk there, so if you will be annoyed if it is eaten, then don't risk it. If you can shrug it off, then ok.
My cleaner shrimp does not clean fish, or at least the fish don't want it to. But that is what they would do in the wild. In the tank, I guess you can consider them part of the clean up crew as they are just as good as scavenging as cleaning fish. Unless you have very large fish, you may not see them cleaning the fish. I think in my case the shrimp is as large as the fish and that must freak them out.
The biggest risk is when the shrimp is introduced. This is true of fish as well. Brittlestars - especially greens - can "smell" this stress and the animal is in signficant danger at this time. make sure the brittlestar is exceedingly well fed when anything is introduced. Absolutely, positively, spot feed green brittlestars, though this may not eliminate the risk of it eating something.
 

naclfish

Member
my skunk is always picking at and cleaning my fish its really cool to watch my angel could fit him in his mouth without any problems but 2 years since the angel arrived and no problems i also have 2 brittles one serpent and one green who arrived as a freebie with some rock. who knows it may or may not work out a skunk is an awsome addition to a tank the relationships they form with the fish is really cool to see. if in doubt toss the star out.. to the sump
 
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