Cleaner Shrimp question
- Thread starter Deuce67
- Start date
Crit21
Active member
Uh oh. Mine's about 2 years old right now.
Somebody (LFS) was selling them for about $17 recently. Can't remember who it was, but if I find out who it was I'll let u know.
As an alternative, I hear neon gobies are starting to show up again. I've had both neon and shrimp in the tank at once, and the neons are much more active cleaners. My last one would actually clean my hand and glass scraper when they were in the water. About a year ago I had a minor ich outbreak. I added a neon and within a couple days it was under control, and within a week the fish were ich-free. I saw some in the southern Petco for $10. I also hear that Exotic has them in too. Being small fish, I guess they don't live all that long either though.
Somebody (LFS) was selling them for about $17 recently. Can't remember who it was, but if I find out who it was I'll let u know.
As an alternative, I hear neon gobies are starting to show up again. I've had both neon and shrimp in the tank at once, and the neons are much more active cleaners. My last one would actually clean my hand and glass scraper when they were in the water. About a year ago I had a minor ich outbreak. I added a neon and within a couple days it was under control, and within a week the fish were ich-free. I saw some in the southern Petco for $10. I also hear that Exotic has them in too. Being small fish, I guess they don't live all that long either though.
Mustang394
Premium Member
[violation]
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Deuce67
New member
Just 2 years huh? Wow. That shrimp survived through a kalk overdose and 6 interceptor treatment. I wonder if it ate some fresh superglue. I found a frag last week that was knocked down so I reglued it back on. I saw my shrimp picking at the glue once I got it on. Or it could have just died of old age.
COreefer
Premium Member
Russ, the two year average is something that a supplier and a fellow reefer once told me. I guess it's an average, so some could live much longer and some much shorter. I would venture to say that 6 interceptor treatments definitely weaked the shrimp...sheesh mine died on the thrid. The one question I would ask is this...have you noticed a molt recently?
Dan are you saying the south petco has cleaner gobies...I've been trying to find one but I refuse to pay the $20 some places have been asking for these. BTW, have you had any problems with the neons going after your sps, clams, etc??
Dan are you saying the south petco has cleaner gobies...I've been trying to find one but I refuse to pay the $20 some places have been asking for these. BTW, have you had any problems with the neons going after your sps, clams, etc??
Crit21
Active member
Yes, Petco at Circle and I-25 had a bunch of the blue/black ones for $9.99. I called this afternoon. They have 5 left. I also heard that Exotic Tropicals had them too, but I don't know the price.
My only concern with Petco is that they put their fish into very low salinity tanks (1.012-16 if I remember correctly) to kill parasites and reduce stress, as they put it. You have to be extremely careful when you acclimate their fish to your tank. I add my tank water to the bag very, very slowly over a good 2 hours vs. the normal 1 hour. That's a huge difference in salinity to account for.
I don't know who else might have them. Neptunes is too far away for me to visit more than once a year, I don't think Mr Aqua ever has them, and I stop at Seascape about once every 3-4 months nowadays.
My only concern with Petco is that they put their fish into very low salinity tanks (1.012-16 if I remember correctly) to kill parasites and reduce stress, as they put it. You have to be extremely careful when you acclimate their fish to your tank. I add my tank water to the bag very, very slowly over a good 2 hours vs. the normal 1 hour. That's a huge difference in salinity to account for.
I don't know who else might have them. Neptunes is too far away for me to visit more than once a year, I don't think Mr Aqua ever has them, and I stop at Seascape about once every 3-4 months nowadays.
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COreefer
Premium Member
Fish are the least susceptible organism we keep to salinity shock. Think about it...many people take their fish and drop it into freshwater without reprocussion. I wouldn't spend anymore time acclimating a fish from a SG of .016 to a SG of .025 than I would a fish coming from two tanks of similar values...many retailers keep the SG low as it is a less condicive habitat for parasites. It's not just some squirrly notion Petco concocted...
Equalizing PH and temperature are the primary reasons for acclimation...fish can tolerate considerable swings in SG; however, they are less tolerable to swings in ph and temp.
I guess my overall point is, I wouldn't be concerned with the SG values at any retailer unless they were extremely low or extremely high
Crit21
Active member
I'm sure it's common. I've just had better results when I acclimate Petco fish over a longer period.
I used a FW dip a couple of times (more like 1.010 dips) for a few minutes with so-so results. It seems to have worked better on LR. I killed a tang in 3 minutes with FW though (not RO/DI).
I used a FW dip a couple of times (more like 1.010 dips) for a few minutes with so-so results. It seems to have worked better on LR. I killed a tang in 3 minutes with FW though (not RO/DI).
Mustang394
Premium Member
Lower SG values do have a negative effect on a fihes internal organs as well that may not always be noticable at first. IMO it is never a good idea to keep fish in low SG enviroments for any length of time the internal damage caused by this is almost always permanent. Greatly reducing the life expectancy of the fish.
Leopard Wrasse
New member
I believe it is against the users agreement for a store owner or employee to post prices.
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Leopard Wrasse
New member
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COreefer
Premium Member
I agree, long term husbandry should emmulate natural conditions as best they can. However, for the short term treatment and or prevention of parasitic infections, hyposalinity treatments have been proven effective and far less detrimental to the fish than parasitic infection.
Mustang394
Premium Member
Yes it is, my mistake. However I can not delete a post after 60 min or I would have removed the post myself. Thanks to beerguy for taking care of it for me.. and to avs21 for removing the quote from his post.
Mustang394
Premium Member
Ah true but define short term? At what point does it do more damage to fish than good? I agree with Eric hyposalinty treatments can be very effective. But they should be done as a treatment not has a preventive. IMHO
