Coral banded shrimp ate my Maroon Clown!

[dustint]

I had cut back on feeding to curb a small algae outbreak. I was still feeding a little each day, but apparently not enough. I got two small maroon clowns from Greg H off this board, and after 3 weeks they still hadnt taken to my bubble tip, so they are out in the open.

Well after work today I found half of one of my clowns outside his lair. The little shrimp bastard, Im so upset about it. I plan on exchanging him for a cleaner. My poor clown was probable snoozin when he moved in.

So lesson learned I guess. I want to break off his claws.

Dustin T
Atlanta GA

 

[TampaReefer]

What really happened was that your fish died man...

 

[monkeyboy]

That sucks, you can never trust anything!

Don't break off his claws, they'll just grow back... BIGGER.

 

[monkeyboy]

Oh, well hold on, was the shrimp actively eating it or was it just dead in front of it's "lair"? If it was, then the fish just died, if he killed it he would be gnawing on it, they don't kill just for fun!

 

[davelin315]

I doubt very much that your coral banded shrimp killed your maroon clown. If anything, it would be the other way around. Coral banded shrimp are pretty frail, and IMO wouldn't have a chance against a maroon clown.

 

[dustint]

Clarification:

noon today all's well. 7 today I found one of them, minus head and tail, below the shrimps hangout. I can only assume he got him, as my clowns have been eating and healthy for 3 weeks. They ate last night.

Is this totally unusual for this to happen?

Thanks for the responses...

Dustin T

 

[dustint]

Also, probable biggest detail I didnt add about my clowns. They are very small, An inch head to tail.

 

[esmithiii]

I am positive that your fish died of other causes and was consumed by the shrimp.

 

[dustint]

Really? Well I guess it could have been the other clown. They where a little rough with each other for the first week, but since then they have acted as if they paired?

So no aggresive experience with a cbs toward small fish?

 

[Rich-n-poor]

I would say your coral banded was just doing his job scavanging the dead clown

Maroon clowns should only be kept in pairs when they are a mated pair as maroons will kill other maroons (and will usually attack other clownfish as well) They are not community fish as far as any clowns are concerned.

In my expierence of 5 years keeping clowns there are only two exceptions to this

1) a mated pair which usually appears as one large maroon and one small one. I have never seen two maroon clowns the same size as a mated pair

2) tank raised maroons can often be kept with other clowns but only when the are added last to an established tank of other tank raised clowns

If you want maroons either keep only one or buy a proven mated pair (1 large 1 small) Or else you will end up with 1 maroon again

HTH

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[dustint]

I was informed that two maroons, if still babies, and tank raised, have a good chance of pairing. Is this just not statistically correct. Would trying a larger clown have a better chance of pairing than two very small individuals? I understand two the same size, but I was taking the age and size of the fish a big factor. Not so??

 

[Rich-n-poor]

Let me do some research so I can answer this based on proven fact rather than just my opinion and expierience and i will post an answer

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[Rich-n-poor]

I was looking for a maroon specific article and couldnt find it so this info is generalized to clowns

clowns choose/change sex as they mature when you see a mated pair 1 large 1 small the large is a female the smaller one male

Every article I read said if you are hoping to pair up small clowns you need to add at least 6 (this is not possible with maroons as I said before) this helps to divide the clowns agression over more fish so none suffers too badly

With maroons this is an impossibilty as maroons will kill other maroons. Adding one large maroon (female) in the hopes that it will pair with your smaller male is a possibility But so is falling in love with the the first girl you meet (the odds just aint in your favor) What if the female you add is Rosanne Barr would you choose to mate or become celibate ?

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