Sexy Shrimp are disappearing! Who is the culprit?

[tony_A_C]

As the title says!

I have a 29G mixed reef. My girlfriend loves funky invertebrates so we decided to get a few. Then we discovered sexy shrimp. What started with 2, became 8! They were ok for a few months, but now over the last two weeks, they’ve been disappearing one by one every night.

Here are the inhabitants:
Two clownfish
One Azure Damsel
One royal gramma
One pom pom crab
One emerald crab
One skunk cleaner shrimp
One urchin
One sand sifting starfish
Two bumblebee snails
A bunch of cerith snails
Two zombie snails



It started when my clownfish started spawning. A sexy shrimp somehow managed to make it up to the powerhead at night. I really don’t know how these guys do it. I saw it just hanging on the power head, and knocked him down for fear he would get sucked in and chewed up. Well… chewed up he was, because he floated right over the clowns’ eggs, got chewed up by the male, and thrashed around as if it was a shark attack. What was left of it fell to the bottom of my tank. My cleaner came to pick at it a little and then my Pom Pom crab very quickly came and took it away. This was two weeks ago.

Ever since then, every other night or so, I’d wake up, count my sexy shrimp, and notice one missing. Someone clearly has found a new favorite snack.

I suspect it may be either the pom pom or the clowns because they are spawning and being aggressive. It’s very odd to me as when I had 8 sexy shrimp, no one bothered them, and all of the inhabitants were there in the tank to begin with.

I should also add that during the day, they all hang out by my hammer and torch coral, but at night, they spread out all over the tank, usually going towards my gorgonian and just hanging out with it.

Has anyone had anything like this happen to them?

I need some detectives here!

 

[SaltyT]

Sorry to hear that you're losing your sexy shrimp, they're one of my favorite inverts too. I keep a M/F pair in one of my pipefish tanks they're neat to watch especially when they rapidly flick their tails when they know food is coming lol.

You have 2 suspects in your tank: the royal gramma and your breeding clowns. Royal grammas have been known to eat sexy shrimp so yours may have realized shrimp is on the menu, but based on the timing I suspect your breeding clowns are the culprit. If the sexy shrimp are going anywhere near their eggs at night the clowns will kill them. If your breeding clowns are being hosted by a coral or nem they will kill sexy shrimp that attempt to occupy their host too.

 

[Tangs-A-Lot]

Could be the emerald crab, I’d suspect them over Pom Pom crab.

 

[KK's Reef]

As the title says!

I have a 29G mixed reef. My girlfriend loves funky invertebrates so we decided to get a few. Then we discovered sexy shrimp. What started with 2, became 8! They were ok for a few months, but now over the last two weeks, they’ve been disappearing one by one every night.

Here are the inhabitants:
Two clownfish
One Azure Damsel
One royal gramma
One pom pom crab
One emerald crab
One skunk cleaner shrimp
One urchin
One sand sifting starfish
Two bumblebee snails
A bunch of cerith snails
Two zombie snails



It started when my clownfish started spawning. A sexy shrimp somehow managed to make it up to the powerhead at night. I really don’t know how these guys do it. I saw it just hanging on the power head, and knocked him down for fear he would get sucked in and chewed up. Well… chewed up he was, because he floated right over the clowns’ eggs, got chewed up by the male, and thrashed around as if it was a shark attack. What was left of it fell to the bottom of my tank. My cleaner came to pick at it a little and then my Pom Pom crab very quickly came and took it away. This was two weeks ago.

Ever since then, every other night or so, I’d wake up, count my sexy shrimp, and notice one missing. Someone clearly has found a new favorite snack.

I suspect it may be either the pom pom or the clowns because they are spawning and being aggressive. It’s very odd to me as when I had 8 sexy shrimp, no one bothered them, and all of the inhabitants were there in the tank to begin with.

I should also add that during the day, they all hang out by my hammer and torch coral, but at night, they spread out all over the tank, usually going towards my gorgonian and just hanging out with it.

Has anyone had anything like this happen to them?

I need some detectives here!

Pom pom crab.

I had 4 sexies in a small pico and all disappeared within a month. I blame the pom pom.