Does my sixline wrasse hate cleaner shrimp?

[Dudester]

My tank's been up for over a year now, and it's a 30g mixed reef. Temp 80, S.G. 1.026, Ca 400, alk 8.8 dKh, nit 0, phos 0. Last weekend I added a cleaner shrimp which was attacked by my sixline wrasse as soon as it hit the water. The shrimp seemed to get away, although a minute later it was dead. I wasn't watching inside the tank the whole time, so I'm not sure if the wrasse continued to pursue the shrimp. Fearing that I acclimated the cleaner shrimp improperly, I got another cleaner shrimp and acclimated it over 45 minutes (temp x 10 min, then 1/8 cup tank water every 5 minutes until water volume in bag doubled, poured out 1/2 of water and repeated). Upon entering the tank the sixline went after it momentarily, but then left it alone. I observed the shrimp for probably 20 minutes and all appeared well, so I left to take a shower. When I returned, this shrimp, too, was dead.

Could my sixline wrasse be killing the cleaner shrimp? I've had 3 peppermint shrimp that have never been harmed by the wrasse? Should I never get another cleaner shrimp as long as I have this sixline?

 

[ophiuroid]

Absolutely - I would consider it a likely predator of the shrimp...or at least it would possibly take enough interest in it to kill it. That is not unusual IMO.

However, if these are soon after acclimation, that could be an issue in and of itself. But the wrasse might definitely take too much interest in the shrimp from the shrimp perspective.

 

[Dudester]

Interesting, especially since the wrasse never even approached the shrimp once they were dead, so it's not like the wrasse was interested in eating them. So would you recommend that I avoid cleaner shrimp altogether as long as the sixline is in my tank, based on this experience? Maybe I could try it again, but place the shrimp in the tank in a protected area (like a 1 gallon jug with holes in it that would allow circulation but be too small for any livestock to get through) for a while before releasing it?

 

[Alex33324]

six line

six line

For some reason I will never understand most books consider the six line wrasse a peaceful fish. In my experience it could be as nasty as a maroon clownfish. I had one that bother my anemone and every single fish in my 75 gallon reef tank. By the way the never mix a firefish with a sixline wrasse the six line wrasse will make its life miserable until it starve to death. I know six line wrasses are very colorful and hard workers cleaning every single possible infestation on live rocks specially parasite snails in clams, but think twice before adding one to your tank they may behave or the may not they are very unpredictable.