Clueless cleaner shrimp

[Tat2demon]

Got a regular skunk cleaner from liveaquaria today. Hes a little guy but doing fine.

Tonight I was watching him go after a piece of flake food when my Orangeshoulder Tang came in. The tang evidently knows whats going and tried his best to get a scrub down.

He pushed up against the little shrimp as much as he could. Any more and he would have been sitting on it. He pointed the nearest pectoral almost straight out in front of him but the shrimp just sat there with what I would imagine was a Gomer Pyle like stare into the distance, if only shrimp had expressions.

After a minute the tang left, dejected. :sad1:

Hopefully the shrimp comes to his senses soon and figures out what his role in life is.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

:lol: He'll get the hang of it eventually. Every skunk cleaner I've had has figured it out, even cleaning my hand and arm.

 

[Tat2demon]

Yeah Im not too worried, its just a little baby one but I felt so bad for the tang. He was trying really hard.

 

[gweston]

My skunk cleaner has an insane cleaning instinct and is constantly harassing my fish. It is also an agressive feeder. When food hits the water, it comes running/swimming at full speed and barges through the fish without a care. The strange thing is... the fish move. Makes me wonder who the boss of the tank is!

It does seems to calm down at night and likes to snuggle up next to my clown pair. The clowns were initially freaked out, but they are use to it now.

 

[Tat2demon]

Makes me wonder who the boss of the tank is!

:lmao:

 

[Flightpipe]

if he just grabbed a piece of food then he wont care who comes and wants a cleaning! when he gets a little hungry it will be all over you fish and you!

 

[SushiGirl]

I have the opposite problem. My cleaner is the same size as my fish, and they're all afraid of him. He lunges after the largest cardinal, who runs like heck to get away from him. He sneaks up on one of the gobies, who'll sit until the cleaner gently reaches for him, then hops away. Got a smaller cleaner the other day, hoping they'll all figure it out!