Cleaner Shrimp actually cleaning fish - a concern?

One Reefing Boi

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 29, 2020
Messages
1,177
Reaction score
734
Location
New Jersey
Rating - 100%
3   0   0
So after like 3 months I finally saw my cleaner shrimp pounce on my fire fish and start cleaning it’s gills and mouth. The fire fish just chilled there for about 30 seconds as the shrimp seemingly violated it. Besides me being super excited to actually see it doing it’s job, does this mean there is anything inherently wrong with my fire fish that would require ‘cleaning’ like parasites or something? Or is he just kinda eating dead skin or anything else he might find?
 
Very normal and mine is into parts of my fish that makes me SMH
 
Both my cleaner shrimp and neon gobies do it all the time. Before my 14" sailfin tang died he would go to the gobies area backwards typically and open up his gills wide for it to clean on occasion. Seems a bit freaky to me. Imagine letting something down your throat to clean out your lungs.
 
shove your feet into a tank full of skunk cleaners as a pedicure exfoliation service.....hmmm.. i think i'm on to something....
 
Totally normal, my clown tang and cleaner shrimp are buddies now. The tang will swim into the cave and get a good cleaning the go about his business.
 
I have been in the hobby for years but always had small aquariums. Now that I have a large aquarium and large fish I was finally able to witness this. Very cool!
IMG_5543.jpeg
 

TOP 10 Trending Threads

WHAT IS THE LOUDEST PART OF YOUR REEF SYSTEM?

  • Return pump

    Votes: 1 3.4%
  • Powerheads or wavemakers

    Votes: 1 3.4%
  • Protein skimmer

    Votes: 7 24.1%
  • Overflow or drain

    Votes: 7 24.1%
  • Sump vibration or plumbing

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Cooling fans

    Votes: 5 17.2%
  • Dosing, ATO, or other equipment

    Votes: 1 3.4%
  • Nothing. My reef is surprisingly quiet

    Votes: 6 20.7%
  • Other (Tell us what makes the noise)

    Votes: 1 3.4%
Back
Top
Home
Post thread…
Market
What's new