Coral banded shrimp...Reef safe???

[ynotme4886]

When my clean up crew order came the other day it included a coral banded shrimp.

Looking it up it said it was reef safe but am starting to have my doubts.

Came home last night to find him sitting there on a rock with something small and glowing in his mouth area.

When I got a closer look it was a really small piece of either hammer or frogspawn he was snacking on. It looked really odd and glowed under the moonlights.

When I put my face up to the glass to get a closer look he gave me the two claw pump with his two claws in a really threatening manner....finished his snack and walked away to his normal hangout.

I said to my wife who was sitting in the kitchen that the stupid shrimp just threatened me with his claws. She had said he had done that to her as well and has an attitude problem.

So is he gonna be a snacker on my hammer/frog on a reg basis and is the attitude a normal thing with these critters? He is really cool looking but I think he needs to find a new snack to eat in there.

 

[MadReefer]

I have a very large CBS for over a year nad never saw it snack on of my corals. Including hammer, torch, frogspwan, bubble, etc. Could have been trying to get somen food out the coral and snipped a piece by accident. Mine feeds on anything I put in the tank such as frozen mysis, brine, etc.

 

[calaxa]

Like all shrimps, they will be opportunistic. Coral Banded especially so. It probably grabbed an ejected polyp or snipped a bit while plucking food from it. It's why mine is in a separate tank that only houses stuff I care very little about.

 

[Hawkeye]

Shrimp are just ornamental (opportunistic) cute critters for the tank. They should not be sold as part of a clean up crew. They basically need to be fed just like your fish. If you do not keep them happily fed they will gladly plunge their claws into coral polyps and pull food out. It's possible yours got a piece of coral flesh while looking for food.

Maybe your CBS is just hungry?

On the plus side the CBS is known to help maintain bristle worm populations...obviously it's not going to touch the big coral ones - but the little guys will be a meal. Personally I think they are cool to look at.

>lol calaxa is too fast for me<

 

[calaxa]

I disagree with one point that Hawk made. They will be opportunistic no matter what, well fed or otherwise. My cleaners/peps can have 5 meals a day and still take the time to steal the nicer meals given to my corals/anems. Sometimes they will be nice and be happy with the table shrimp I've given them and other times they will be greedy and take several pieces. My peps have depleted my feeder guppies from 18 down to 4.

Another example, I used to feed cyclops granules to my palys.....to "distract" the shrimp I would give them a big piece of shrimp. They will put the shrimp down, steal all the cyclops, then eat the shrimp. I don't examine what my coral banded does but these guys are a lot more bold so I can only imagine. I do know they will eat other shrimp if given the chance and is why I don't keep them with the cleaners and peps.

 

[ynotme4886]

I'm gonna try to spot feed him tonight after work.

He still looks like he has an attitude though.

He is very active after the moonlights come on so it should be interesting to watch him with his nighttime snack.

 

[mnat]

CBS are very much oppurtunistic feeders. I would not put any other shrimp in that tank, once ours molted a few times it would just eat the other shrimp. My fiancee also watched as a cleaner gobie landed on the same rock and was quickly snapped in half and eaten. We never had any corals in that tank, but they will eat just about anything else. Also, they get BIG.

 

[JerseyWendy]

My CBS has been with me for nearly 2 years and has always been a model citizen. I also keep a skunk cleaner and a pair of blood shrimp (which started off wee small). Never had any issues with the CBS.

 

[jimroth]

I had a pair for 5 years and they never touched my corals. They did kill any other shrimp that they could catch molting, and brutally dismembered (*sob*) my arrow crab. I basically like 'em.

 

[JerseyWendy]

I had a pair for 5 years and they never touched my corals. They did kill any other shrimp that they could catch molting, and brutally dismembered (*sob*) my arrow crab. I basically like 'em.

Jim, you never had any problems with your arrow crab? I LOVE how they look, but am somewhat leery they're gonna go on a rampage. (I have to admit I giggled when I read your description with the *sob*)

 

[ds4x4]

I just got one on this GB and it is cool as i dunno what.. it looks like somethign Tim Burton Came up with from Nightmare before Christmas

 

[JerseyWendy]

I just got one on this GB and it is cool as i dunno what.. it looks like somethign Tim Burton Came up with from Nightmare before Christmas

LOL. A friend of mine told me once that my (ex)Sally Lightfoot reminded him of a creature of "Men in Black."

PS. Does GB mean Gold-Banded? ???

 

[jimroth]

I had a pair for 5 years and they never touched my corals. They did kill any other shrimp that they could catch molting, and brutally dismembered (*sob*) my arrow crab. I basically like 'em.

Jim, you never had any problems with your arrow crab?  I LOVE how they look, but am somewhat leery they're gonna go on a rampage.  (I have to admit I giggled when I read your description with the *sob*)

Yeah, an arrow crab with only 2 legs left is a sad sight. One day the CBS decided the arrow was better than the buffet at the Sizzler. The arrow crabs aren't evil per se, but they are very pesty, they cross the tank very fast and will steal food from LPS, etc. They love to eat bristleworms of all sizes, and you will never see many bristles in a tank with an arrow crab. AFAIK, they are really short lived, a year is about it, so no big commitment. Cool critter, but I never bought another one, even after the CBS died off.

Back in the days of good live rock, I got a really neat little orange decorator crab in mine. It used to snip some zoos and wear them like a hat. It was just about an inch across, so potential for harm was limited (NOTE: That was in the days before $100 zoos, I got some on my live rock.)

 

[ds4x4]

Sorry Wendy GB was Group Buy in this instance.


Jim lol, Sizzler Jeez its been ages since i even seen one of them .. I would die if i saw it with a zoa on its head.

 

[RSman]

i have a coral banded shrimp in my reef tank, i have never seen it bother any of my corals. It is supposed to be reef safe.

 

[RobbiesReef]

mine was reef safe but guarded his teritory, that is until 4 of my fire shrimp got hungry and ate him.

 

[onefish2fish]

wow, the fire shrimp ate the coral banded? teamed up on the little guy?

 

[ynotme4886]

Well it hasnt eaten any corals lately but still is a bit nasty tempered. I think he got my fire shrimp when he molted though.

They are opportunistic to say the least. But at least he is not camera shy

 

[thylacine]

Mine appears to be . Even with other sorts shrimp in the tank. He is an angel.

 

[Deleted member 10862]

i HAD a CBS..HAD is the key..i think he would kill any small fish..i had a few gobies that disappeared..took ne forever to catch him..i used THE TRAP..and now he is my friends problem..hehe..and i now have happy blennies!!