cleaner shrimp gone

[ahiggins]

Hey all!

I was going to give my cleaner shrimp to my brother for his reef tank....then this series of events unfolded.

a few weeks prior to all of this unfolding, I bought a brittle starfish. The body (not including tenticles) was about the size of a dime.
Then I bought 3 peppermint shrimp to see if they would take out the aiptasia in the tank-which they did (happy dance!).
I went searching for the cleaner shrimp to give to my brother and found what I thought was his shed, pretty close to the brittle star's cave.
Ive been waiting 3 weeks for him to emerge from his new shed shyness....and it hasnt happened lol

Im not complaining-he was always eating the food out of my acans mouths (I have 8-10 frags and feed 3 times a week). He is/was a pain hence why I was getting rid of him.

Anyone have any theories on where he could have gone? or did he die and the cuc took care of him?

 

[djd3mon]

Hey all!

I was going to give my cleaner shrimp to my brother for his reef tank....then this series of events unfolded.

a few weeks prior to all of this unfolding, I bought a brittle starfish. The body (not including tenticles) was about the size of a dime.
Then I bought 3 peppermint shrimp to see if they would take out the aiptasia in the tank-which they did (happy dance!).
I went searching for the cleaner shrimp to give to my brother and found what I thought was his shed, pretty close to the brittle star's cave.
Ive been waiting 3 weeks for him to emerge from his new shed shyness....and it hasnt happened lol

Im not complaining-he was always eating the food out of my acans mouths (I have 8-10 frags and feed 3 times a week). He is/was a pain hence why I was getting rid of him.

Anyone have any theories on where he could have gone? or did he die and the cuc took care of him?

Sometimes I dont see my peppermint shrimp for months. Every now and then I will see him out the corner of my eve under a rock somewhere.
This past few weeks he has been pretty much in the same spot...at least every time I looked at him. I thought he was dead so I shined a flashlight on him and he scurried away,

Your shrimp could just be chilling in one spot and not moving around much. Yours sounds pretty active though when you did see him. The only time I really seen my shrimp move around is when I first put him in the tank, he has stayed under rocks every since then though. The only way I know he is really still alive is when I see his shed randomly. I do not know if a brittle star will eat them Ive never had one that I could see at least. I bet the will eat them if big enough though, because everything eats a shrimp.

 

[ahiggins]

LOL everything eats a shrimp
Good advice

 

[KcAQUARIUMS]

Sometimes I dont see my peppermint shrimp for months. Every now and then I will see him out the corner of my eve under a rock somewhere.
This past few weeks he has been pretty much in the same spot...at least every time I looked at him. I thought he was dead so I shined a flashlight on him and he scurried away,

Your shrimp could just be chilling in one spot and not moving around much. Yours sounds pretty active though when you did see him. The only time I really seen my shrimp move around is when I first put him in the tank, he has stayed under rocks every since then though. The only way I know he is really still alive is when I see his shed randomly. I do not know if a brittle star will eat them Ive never had one that I could see at least. I bet the will eat them if big enough though, because everything eats a shrimp.

+1 on the peppermints just finding a spot and staying there. Usually mine come out when I throw some sinking shrimp pellets out (messed up I know) but they scavenge around for a bit and go back to hiding. Sometimes I'll go days without seeing them, then there they are

 

[ahiggins]

Hmm mine are all over. They took out the aiptasias that I had and now they just wait for me to spot feed the acans lol

 

[KcAQUARIUMS]

Hmm mine are all over. They took out the aiptasias that I had and now they just wait for me to spot feed the acans lol

Really? See this has been a recurrence for peppermint shrimp in my reading. I guess you just have to get lucky with your batch, some go rogue and some are more docile. Curious.

 

[gashunk]

Look in the tank at night when the lights are off you'll see him popping out of a cave

 

[spscubed]

I noticed in your avatar you have a mystery wrasse I have a mystery wrasse as well and it will eat any shrimp I put in the tank. By far the meanest fish I've ever had picks on everything!

 

[ahiggins]

Thanks but he's in the small rock nem tank :) he's my sweetheart though lol
Of all the "mean fish" mine have been nice. Dottybacks, 6 lines, mystery. Honestly, my single clown is the biggest jerk.

 

[bevo5]

I'm missing two cleaner shrimps over the past few days. I think something in my tank developed a taste for shrimp. My guess is the checkerboard wrasse....he's mean.

 

[ahiggins]

I'm thinking it either died while shedding and got eaten by cuc and/or brittle starfish or it got eaten before it died lol

 

[KcAQUARIUMS]

Will peppermint shrimp harass my new zoas? I'm noticing them close more and more and the shrimp seem the linger there. Don't know if they are grazing the new rock or eating the zoas themselves.

 

[ahiggins]

Umm maybe someone else can chime in too but mine don't bug the zoas

 

[KcAQUARIUMS]

On a side note, why would zoas Ballon out?

 

[ahiggins]

They just do that sometimes. I have one head of a sunny d that has never not ballooned lol
When I move them, sometimes it closes normal, other times it inverts.

 

[ahiggins]

Another side note, when I first put them into the system, I did notice that they were eating around them. Maybe what they wanted was around the zoas not the zoas themselves

 

[KcAQUARIUMS]

They just do that sometimes. I have one head of a sunny d that has never not ballooned lol
When I move them, sometimes it closes normal, other times it inverts.

What would you recommend doing if it happens? I moved them to a tiny bit shader spot, half were closed, half ballooning. Hopefully I made the right move.

 

[ahiggins]

It's very hard to give them too much light unless you do it too quickly.

I almost always air on not enough light lol

When mine do it it's because I (or a member of the cuc) brushed up against them. The one sunny d polyp is just a jerk and does it no matter what. They're growing and the rest are happy so I don't worry about it.

Do you have any pics? Also, what lights are you running and how long have they been under them before you moved to lower light?

 

[Clownreef]

Sorry to hear :(