Note to Newbies....Coral Shrimp & Cleaner Shrimp

[Eric81]

These two don't mix! I am sure most people knew that, but I found out the hard way. I bought two Cleaner Shrimp on Thursday, acclimated them that night, and was ready to wake up Friday and watch them doing the "Car Wash" dance while cleaning all my fish. Woke up Friday morning to them hiding in the corner behind my in-tank UV Sterilizer. They stayed there the next few days, and I thought I had been sold some bum Cleaner Shrimp that didn't want to work for their rent (kind fo like some of my old college roommates). Then Sunday, I saw my Coral Shrimp going after them......he basically had them scared in the corner and trapped. A little later, he got ahold of the smaller one and clipped a few of his antenna's off! I spent the next 30 minutes, dis-assembling my rock work and finally caught the bully. He is now in jail, in an in-tank breeder net, waiting to be picked up by a fellow member. I always liked the guy, but feel that a few active cleaner shrimp will add more to the tank than he will.

Anybody thinking about combining the two in the future.....consider yourself warned!!!

[Matt]

CBS Shrimp are very aggressive and shouldn't be kept with other shrimp. To take it a step further, I stumbled on this article a week ago and found it interesting with respect to "trying" to keep a pair of Lysmata amboinensis.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/11 ... ir-rivals/

[Eric81]

Thanks for posting the article...I was going to add a third, but may hold off now!

[jnmarshall]

I have two mated pairs and a spare. The pairs always seem to sit side by side on a rock bobbing back and forth. I've always worred about the spare. He/she sits alone by the overflow looking down on the rocks like it's going to jump into the middle and start something. VERY suspicious or jealous looking.