I've been searching through the board looking for all the information that I can find on shrimps but I have run into a lot of repetition and I'm afraid that I'm missing something. Is it possible to list all the pros/cons of various types of shrimp such as coral banded, cleaner, peppermint?
Pros/Cons of Shrimps
- Thread starter Blk_Gto
- Start date
I bought a brown tang with HLLE once. My cleaner picked at it daily until it was gone. I don't think it cured it but it helped. You could tell the tang liked it, as it always turned black when getting "picked". IT was always fun when it would swim upside down and eat food out of my hand and cleaned my arm while doing maintainance. I just realized that it recently died. Time for another-no negatives in my book. Especially with fish.
Coral banded shrimp are good scavengers. Unfortunately, they also attack fish and other shrimp in the tank. Not necessarily for food, but they don't like these things getting too close. Also, they eat sandbed fauna.
ther shrimp, like cleaners and peppermint shrimp serve extra purposes that coral banded shrimp do not. These other shrimp are also much less prone to attack fish and other shrimp than the CB. All these shrimp will eat sandbed critters.
ther shrimp, like cleaners and peppermint shrimp serve extra purposes that coral banded shrimp do not. These other shrimp are also much less prone to attack fish and other shrimp than the CB. All these shrimp will eat sandbed critters.
I haven't read any complaints of cleaner shrimp.
As for the others, all shrimp are opportunistic carnivores. If they are hungry they may eat whatever is available - polyps, sand critters, fish, you name it. You can feed them to make sure they aren't hungry so they wont eat other animals in your tank, but this does not always work. I just had to fish out 3 peppermints because after two years they developed a taste for snails and mini brittlestars.
Some people have a peppermint or two, keep them in the sump most of the time, and only bring them out if they have an evil small anemone problem.
The bottom line is shrimp are always a risk in a reef tank.
RR
As for the others, all shrimp are opportunistic carnivores. If they are hungry they may eat whatever is available - polyps, sand critters, fish, you name it. You can feed them to make sure they aren't hungry so they wont eat other animals in your tank, but this does not always work. I just had to fish out 3 peppermints because after two years they developed a taste for snails and mini brittlestars.
Some people have a peppermint or two, keep them in the sump most of the time, and only bring them out if they have an evil small anemone problem.
The bottom line is shrimp are always a risk in a reef tank.
RR
I think MFisher, slimy & lefty pretty much summed up my experiences.
I just think the cleaner is the "safest" of the shrimp. I've had CB shrimp & an arrow crab
cost me a small fortune in fish and other shrimp.
Although, as I have discovered, each animial differs. I heard nothing but good thins about arrow crabs until I purchased one. I was great for about 2 months. During this time it tripled in size and became REALLY agressive towards everything in my tank!
GOOD LUCK!
I just think the cleaner is the "safest" of the shrimp. I've had CB shrimp & an arrow crab
Although, as I have discovered, each animial differs. I heard nothing but good thins about arrow crabs until I purchased one. I was great for about 2 months. During this time it tripled in size and became REALLY agressive towards everything in my tank!
GOOD LUCK!
I keep a couple of cleaner shrimp in my 30 gallon. Fun to watch and very, very personable. Yes, mine love to clean my arm when it is in the tank. I haven't had a case of ich in 10 years, so I haven't seen them do actual cleaning.
I also keep a blood shrimp in there. Gorgeous, but he almost never comes out.
I also keep a blood shrimp in there. Gorgeous, but he almost never comes out.
I have 3 cleaner shrimp, 3 fire shrimp and 1 peppermint all in the same 46 gal tank. I have never seem them go after anything other than the food I put into the tank. I do however feed them on a regular basis, they have a voracious appetite. I do believe though, that if they were not so well fed, that they would go after fish or snails. They don't seem like the type that would just roll over and die from starvation. They are a nice addition to the tank. and do help with the cleanup.
- Location
- Virginia
I'm partial to coral banded shrimp (have never ever had a predation problem with them in 10+ years except on same sex of the same species), fire shrimp (although I have never seen them breed in my tank), and cleaner shrimp (also have suffered from males killing each other, but not females). I'm not so hip on the peppermint shrimp. I added a couple the other day, and I know where they're hanging out, but haven't noticed them do anything useful, and I think they may have killed a couple of my queen conches.
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