Ok guys here's the match-up. When I started my tank almost a yr ago I knew I wanted a cleaner shrimp and I heard they do well in pairs so I got 2 cute tiny shrimps named Juaque and Jean Paul. I have 6 other fish, all on the smaller side bc I wanted everyone to grow with the tank. A bangii cardinal (my biggest), a pair of clowns, a cave gobi (the drama queen of the tank), a lawnmower blenny, a firefish and a my newest and shining star a green mandarin who is small but doing very well. So actually I have 7 fish lol
Anyways about 2 months ago I saw my clowns deciding to host my magfloat tankcleaner in the corner of the tank and felt bad and decided to get them a bta to see if they would like that instead. But sadly as soon as I added him he went straight to the bottom of the tank and found a hole and said leave me alone. After 2 weeks he was still alive but didn't seem interested in moving and the clowns never went down there anyways so I got another bta and "placed" him as best I could near the clowns at the top. This time he stayed at the top. After about a week of target feeding everyday he started to really open up and the clowns seemed slightly phased which was good but then all of a sudden....Boom. The age old war of BTA v. SHRIMP began.
I noticed everytime I started to feed the fish (mysis mostly) the shrimp would come and literally snatch the food out of the anemones mouths. (After a while anemone #1 made his way up the rock work it just took a while) They were lightning fast. I literally have to fight off the shrimp from the bta's at feeding so they have enough time to eat. Does this happen to anyone else who have both in their tanks?????? Sometimes after a little while the anemone will get big and happy and the shrimp leave him alone for a few days but usually at night the shrimp will go to town and they are tiny the next day again. I've seen how big they can get if left alone. One of them got huge once. And I know the shrimp help by eating their waste but they also will literally shove their greedy little hands right in their mouths and steal their food from them if I don't watch them. Now Jaque and Jean are huge and fat and I just wonder if my bta's will ever get big enough to host my clowns .
Is there any solution to this cycle or does one just have to go for the other to do well? Sorry for the long post I get carried away sometimes lol I post a pic of them now and one before of when one was big and happy. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Anyways about 2 months ago I saw my clowns deciding to host my magfloat tankcleaner in the corner of the tank and felt bad and decided to get them a bta to see if they would like that instead. But sadly as soon as I added him he went straight to the bottom of the tank and found a hole and said leave me alone. After 2 weeks he was still alive but didn't seem interested in moving and the clowns never went down there anyways so I got another bta and "placed" him as best I could near the clowns at the top. This time he stayed at the top. After about a week of target feeding everyday he started to really open up and the clowns seemed slightly phased which was good but then all of a sudden....Boom. The age old war of BTA v. SHRIMP began.
I noticed everytime I started to feed the fish (mysis mostly) the shrimp would come and literally snatch the food out of the anemones mouths. (After a while anemone #1 made his way up the rock work it just took a while) They were lightning fast. I literally have to fight off the shrimp from the bta's at feeding so they have enough time to eat. Does this happen to anyone else who have both in their tanks?????? Sometimes after a little while the anemone will get big and happy and the shrimp leave him alone for a few days but usually at night the shrimp will go to town and they are tiny the next day again. I've seen how big they can get if left alone. One of them got huge once. And I know the shrimp help by eating their waste but they also will literally shove their greedy little hands right in their mouths and steal their food from them if I don't watch them. Now Jaque and Jean are huge and fat and I just wonder if my bta's will ever get big enough to host my clowns .
Is there any solution to this cycle or does one just have to go for the other to do well? Sorry for the long post I get carried away sometimes lol I post a pic of them now and one before of when one was big and happy. Any suggestions would be appreciated.