Getting cleaner shrimp to eat

jpitch · 03/14/2006, 08:43 AM

Hello, tank has been up and running for nearly 3 months. 95-wave with an assortment of fish: Clown, 3 purple firefish, 3 bj cards, tonga blenny, 2 green chromis, 1 yellow tang. Assortment of coral frags and a BTA. Just got a cleaner shrimp. After an hour of acclimation the shrimp bunkered down in the cave in the middle of my tank. Perfect spot for viewing! Unfortunately, the fish won't go near him and it's been about 4 days. The shrimp isn't starving (I don't think) because I see him plucking out tiny things in the rock work. Should I be worried? I'd like to add 2 more shrimp but I won't until I know the first will be alright. All my readings are fine. Nitrates are around 5-10ish though...

Thanks in advance for your responses!

goda · 03/14/2006, 09:01 AM

typical cleaner shrimp

i doubt he will ever do much fish cleaning . most shrimp loose the cleaning activity when added to our tanks. theres easyer stuff for them to eat in the liverock. why bother with a fish...

i know my old one used to clean my clownfish but it was kinda rare.. he rather steal the food from the BTA that i had

anyways your shrimp should be fine.. i g2g ill post some more later

NCreefwannabe · 03/14/2006, 02:45 PM

My cousins scarlett cleaner shrimp holds down his fish and rides them around the tank lol. Depends on the shrimp and fish if they let the shrimp clean them.

whiteshark · 03/14/2006, 02:52 PM

My fire cleaner and coral banded cleaner are champs at keeping the fish clean. They also take any frozen food I add. I guess every indevidual shrimp is different.

Amphiprion · 03/14/2006, 02:57 PM

If you are worried aboutt the shrimp starving, feel free to offer it some frozen food--most will take it greedily.

ACBlinky · 03/14/2006, 03:33 PM

Shrimp usually don't eat much for a day or two before molting, but otherwise IME they're gluttons. Mine takes pellets, frozen foods, picks the rocks and cleans the fish.
He took about a month to get comfortable in his tank and set up a 'cleaning station'; he spends most of his day upsidedown under a rock waiting for food or an itchy fish to come by

fishinchick · 03/14/2006, 03:38 PM

Keep in mind that as recently as a week ago that shrimp was hanging around on a rock somewhere wondering what he was goign to clean next.

Since then he's been caught up, put into a tank with a bunch of brothers and sisters, bagged, boxed, bounced in the dark for a while, opened back up and acclimated, placed in a big holding tank with thousands of brothers and sisters with a large net swiping them out from time to time, rebagged, boxed, bounced again in the dark, acclimated to a smaller tank with a lot of funny looking fish (humans) staring at them, rebagged, bounced home, acclimated to another tank with fish he's never seen in his life and this one big funny one that keeps staring at him.

He's had a hard week. Give him a few days to adjust and take in what all has happened to him. You can't expect what is basically a wild animal to jump up and do what you think it should do after what all he has handled recently.

goda · 03/14/2006, 03:59 PM

mine just molted today. apparently you can induce a moltiing with heavy feeding.. not sure about that tho but i think it was said in "the reef aquarium" book... not sure tho

fishinchick · 03/14/2006, 04:22 PM

Stress can produce molting too. A lot of times shrimp come in from the suppliers and they have molted from shipping stress.

Kinda funny but kinda not.

goda · 03/14/2006, 04:26 PM

true. but there is somthing important to say about molting shrimp. you (apparently) need water quality to be good with proper CA , ALK iodine and stronium for him to have a healthey molt.

MCary · 03/14/2006, 04:28 PM

FYI, A coral banded shrimp isn't a cleaner. My fish kept thinking mine was and would swim up and wiggle only to get such a pinch. Made the little prawn nervous in the service.

fishinchick · 03/14/2006, 04:29 PM

as juvies they have a tendancy to clean. They get grouchy with age

MarkD40 · 03/14/2006, 05:00 PM

If your shrimp is overfeeding, molting is like loosening your belt after Thanksgiving dinner!

goda · 03/14/2006, 05:35 PM

i think we got off topic

jpitch · 03/14/2006, 07:05 PM

lol, thanks for all the responses. i had the extreme pleasure of seeing my shrimp hop on my yellow tang today for the first time! was an awesome experience!

03/14/2006, 08:43 AM	#1
jpitch Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Middle Island, NY Posts: 908	Getting cleaner shrimp to eat Hello, tank has been up and running for nearly 3 months. 95-wave with an assortment of fish: Clown, 3 purple firefish, 3 bj cards, tonga blenny, 2 green chromis, 1 yellow tang. Assortment of coral frags and a BTA. Just got a cleaner shrimp. After an hour of acclimation the shrimp bunkered down in the cave in the middle of my tank. Perfect spot for viewing! Unfortunately, the fish won't go near him and it's been about 4 days. The shrimp isn't starving (I don't think) because I see him plucking out tiny things in the rock work. Should I be worried? I'd like to add 2 more shrimp but I won't until I know the first will be alright. All my readings are fine. Nitrates are around 5-10ish though... Thanks in advance for your responses!

03/14/2006, 02:52 PM	#4
whiteshark Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Bethlehem, PA Posts: 3,024	My fire cleaner and coral banded cleaner are champs at keeping the fish clean. They also take any frozen food I add. I guess every indevidual shrimp is different. __________________ Deep Blue 60 gallon cube: Setup in progress.

03/14/2006, 02:57 PM	#5
Amphiprion Premium Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Mobile, AL Posts: 6,611	If you are worried aboutt the shrimp starving, feel free to offer it some frozen food--most will take it greedily. __________________ You've done it now, haven't you? Current Tank Info: 40g breeder patch reef w/ seagrass; 2-250w XM 10K; Vortech MP40wES & MP10wES; BM Curve 7 skimmer; carbon & occasional GFO

03/14/2006, 03:38 PM	#7
fishinchick Mrs. Aquaman ;) Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Saint Cloud, Florida Posts: 1,494	Keep in mind that as recently as a week ago that shrimp was hanging around on a rock somewhere wondering what he was goign to clean next. Since then he's been caught up, put into a tank with a bunch of brothers and sisters, bagged, boxed, bounced in the dark for a while, opened back up and acclimated, placed in a big holding tank with thousands of brothers and sisters with a large net swiping them out from time to time, rebagged, boxed, bounced again in the dark, acclimated to a smaller tank with a lot of funny looking fish (humans) staring at them, rebagged, bounced home, acclimated to another tank with fish he's never seen in his life and this one big funny one that keeps staring at him. He's had a hard week. Give him a few days to adjust and take in what all has happened to him. You can't expect what is basically a wild animal to jump up and do what you think it should do after what all he has handled recently. __________________ Often the best answers are the ones using the least complicated explanations and smaller words. Adrienne Longo-White Current Tank Info: 55 gallon mixed soft/LPS

03/14/2006, 04:22 PM	#9
fishinchick Mrs. Aquaman ;) Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Saint Cloud, Florida Posts: 1,494	Stress can produce molting too. A lot of times shrimp come in from the suppliers and they have molted from shipping stress. Kinda funny but kinda not. __________________ Often the best answers are the ones using the least complicated explanations and smaller words. Adrienne Longo-White Current Tank Info: 55 gallon mixed soft/LPS

03/14/2006, 09:01 AM	#2
goda Moved On Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: fortlauderdale florida area Posts: 1,874	typical cleaner shrimp i doubt he will ever do much fish cleaning . most shrimp loose the cleaning activity when added to our tanks. theres easyer stuff for them to eat in the liverock. why bother with a fish... i know my old one used to clean my clownfish but it was kinda rare.. he rather steal the food from the BTA that i had anyways your shrimp should be fine.. i g2g ill post some more later

03/14/2006, 02:45 PM	#3
NCreefwannabe Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 953	My cousins scarlett cleaner shrimp holds down his fish and rides them around the tank lol. Depends on the shrimp and fish if they let the shrimp clean them.

03/14/2006, 03:33 PM	#6
ACBlinky Premium Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Peterborough, ON, Canada Posts: 4,954 Blog Entries: 20	Shrimp usually don't eat much for a day or two before molting, but otherwise IME they're gluttons. Mine takes pellets, frozen foods, picks the rocks and cleans the fish. He took about a month to get comfortable in his tank and set up a 'cleaning station'; he spends most of his day upsidedown under a rock waiting for food or an itchy fish to come by

03/14/2006, 03:59 PM	#8
goda Moved On Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: fortlauderdale florida area Posts: 1,874	mine just molted today. apparently you can induce a moltiing with heavy feeding.. not sure about that tho but i think it was said in "the reef aquarium" book... not sure tho

03/14/2006, 04:26 PM	#10
goda Moved On Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: fortlauderdale florida area Posts: 1,874	true. but there is somthing important to say about molting shrimp. you (apparently) need water quality to be good with proper CA , ALK iodine and stronium for him to have a healthey molt.

03/14/2006, 04:28 PM	#11
MCary Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Hardin, Montana Posts: 3,142	FYI, A coral banded shrimp isn't a cleaner. My fish kept thinking mine was and would swim up and wiggle only to get such a pinch. Made the little prawn nervous in the service.

03/14/2006, 04:29 PM	#12
fishinchick Mrs. Aquaman ;) Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Saint Cloud, Florida Posts: 1,494	as juvies they have a tendancy to clean. They get grouchy with age __________________ Often the best answers are the ones using the least complicated explanations and smaller words. Adrienne Longo-White Current Tank Info: 55 gallon mixed soft/LPS

03/14/2006, 05:00 PM	#13
MarkD40 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Kansas Posts: 647	If your shrimp is overfeeding, molting is like loosening your belt after Thanksgiving dinner! __________________ My ship came in. Unfortunately it hit a reef. Current Tank Info: 110 gallon reef display tank, fish, LPS, SPS and mushrooms. A 75 gallon sump in basement with protein skimmer, 40watt UV sterilizer, RO/DI, refugium with chaeto, phosban reactor. 40 gallon frag tank.

03/14/2006, 05:35 PM	#14
goda Moved On Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: fortlauderdale florida area Posts: 1,874	i think we got off topic

03/14/2006, 07:05 PM	#15
jpitch Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Middle Island, NY Posts: 908	lol, thanks for all the responses. i had the extreme pleasure of seeing my shrimp hop on my yellow tang today for the first time! was an awesome experience! __________________ 36X36X30 DT, 75g sump, Vertex Vectra L1 return pump, Apex 2016, Apex DOS +DDR, Apex 1link, 4 X Kessil A360's, Vertex Alpha 170, Maxspect Gyre 250 x2