Expensive lesson with Cleaner Shrimp

Laura and Jim will be hosting the May meeting this Saturday the 12th and it will be the usual of food, drinks, raffle and fun.
 
Doors will be open at 6:00 pm for social talk and the meeting will start at 7:00.  Parking gets a little tight and the city says you can't park on 4th but there is a parking lot a block away.   Meeting is usually held in the backyard so feel free to bring your favorite lawn chair, weather permitting of course.

If you need address/directions, contact a club member.

Best if you park at Mini Mall (where the spaghetti establishment use to be)
 
You will get to see his new frag tank set up in the making.
 
Hope to see you there!

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[Ron]

We had an expensive lesson with Cleaner Shrimp today.  Our Cleaner shrimp died about a week ago.  We had it about nine months and it was full grown when we got it (I do not know what their life expectance is).  It was one of the first things we got and it has been doing great ever since we got it.  We have always thought it was cool, so we bought another one today.  About a half hour after I turned him loose, I saw him and the Hippo Tang going at it.  Then all of a sudden the Clown grabbed him from behind and drug him under the rocks.  That was the last I saw of him until about a half hour later when we saw the other fish feast on what was left of him.  This was an expensive lesson today and I need to learn from it, so I am coming to all of you.  The other Cleaner Shrimp got along with everything fine.  Can I ever have another?  How should I introduce new shrimp?  I have had everything in the tank for quite a while now.  Are they becoming teritorial?  Will they attack anything I add now?

Ron

[angelscrx]

Wow Ron, that's not good!  Sorry to hear about that.  Sometimes clowns can get territorial but rarely against shrimp.  I would wait until the lights have been out for a couple of hours and the fish are asleep if you plan on adding another shrimp.

[Ed]

Ron,
    I am really late on this.   I wondered how small your cleaner shrimp was?   I will do some asking on this one.   You have me scratching my head on this one.   Usually there is a partner ship.
sorry about your loss
Ed

[Ron]

Our First cleaner shrimp got up to about 2" in length after about 9 months.  It was almost that big when we got it.  The new one was about 1-1/2" long.

[Ed]

Ron,
   Do you have a pair of clowns?   I am concerned if your clowns had eggs and felt the shrimp was a threat to the eggs.   If that was the case I am thinking the clown would drag the shrimp into a anenome.   I have been pondering this for a while.  I will do some more looking, this is really unusual.  :?:

[angelscrx]

You know with all the cleaner shrimps I have had I have never seen one go near a clown in my tank.  They will clean everything else in there but never a clown.  Interesting?

[Ron]

We have only the one clown.  It appeared that the Hippo tang and the clown were after the cleaner shrimp.  Thanks for your thoughts.  Maybe someday we will try again only next time add it after the lights go off.

[Ed]

Ron,
   What type of clown fish is it?   I am asking a guy I consider a expert on Reef Frontiers on a thread.
Ed

[angelscrx]

So the clown and the hippo were after the shrimp?  I thought when you said they went to town you meant the shrimp was cleaning the hippo!  Interesting!

[Ron]

It is a Gold Stripped Maroon Clown.  At the time that the clown grabbed the shrimp, it was face to face with the Hippo Tang.  At first I thought that the clown was trying to clean the tang, but as a watched for a minute they were not acting very friendly to each other.  I do not know for sure if they were wanting to fight or just getting use to each other, but it looked somewhat aggressive.

[Les]

The last gold striped maroon clown I had to remove from the tank.

[angelscrx]

The last gold striped maroon clown I had I tossed in the burn barrel.

Man that is sad, you could have traded him at the store for something!  Remember most of these little fish come from the ocean and all they know is how to fight to survive!  Then they get to our tanks to be thrown in a burn barrel!

[luvnsalt]

Geez Les, Aren't you a little extreme? :shock:  Poor lil' maroony.