Orchid Dottyback and Cleaner Shrimp

[Levito]

Hey all,
So I've figured out which fish I want to add next to my 65g. The current inhabitants are 2 Ocellaris Clowns, 1 firefish, 1 lawnmower blenny, 1 engineer goby, 1 small skunk cleaner shrimp (body about 1.5"), and an assortment of turbo, astrea, nassarius, and stomatella snails, a fighting conch and an emerald crab.

The fish I'd like to add is an orchid dottyback. They're beautiful fish, and fun to watch. Most places I've read state that pseudochromis in general are reef safe, with the exception being small snails and most shrimp. But I also see that orchid dottybacks are an exception, and won't harm shrimp or snails, unless extremely small. I'm not concerned about the somatella snails they can be a meal for the fish for all I care, really, I'm only concerned about the shrimp.
Does anyone here have any experience with orchid dottybacks and cleaner shrimp? Will my cleaner be in danger if I add an orchid?

P.S. This isn't one of those threads where I'll ignore the advice because I really want the fish. I really do want the fish, but if he's gonna kill my shrimp, I'll look for a different fish.

Thanks!

 

[Zebodog]

You should be fine; the orchid should make for a peaceful citizen. My orchid ignores all the shrimp in my tank.

 

[sunil6784]

+1... Mine is pretty shy... doesn't harm a soul.

 

[FlaReefDude]

i had one in my first tank and it ate my hermits, peppermint shrimps and it terrorized every fish i put in the tank. i would never buy one again.

 

[Agu]

Pseudochromis will kill and eat shrimp. Maybe not this week or this month, but eventually the predator will kill the prey. That's what they do ......

 

[HndMafia]

I have a pair of orchid dottys in my tank with a pair of large skunk cleaners for almost a year now and no issues so far

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

[Levito]

Eek, seems like pretty mixed results here. FlaReefDude, was the dottyback one of the first fish in the tank?

 

[rsaha]

Mine is a model citizen

 

[PGUY1]

I have a tank raised orchid and two cleaners and a fire shrimp and never a problem. I would be more concerned about the firefish because of the similar shape and coloration causing territorial issues. And flareefdude, that sounds like a purple pseudochromis not a friedmani. They look very similar but the purple is a terror.

 

[Jeremy1988]

Hey guys, not trying to highjack the post but had a question for ALL. So I am thinking of some tank mates to keep in my future 90 gallon. I was planning on 2X scissortail dartfish, Tanaka's pygmy wrasse, yellow clown goby, rainfords goby, blue assessor, yellowheaded jawfish, and a tail spot blenny. My tank is more of a cube shape 36*24*24, and of course I plan on having a lot of caves and overhangs for some of these cryptic fish. Seeing what you guys think of putting a orchid dottyback towards the back end of the stocking process. I also plan to keep a fire shrimp and cleaner shrimp...of course they would also be of bigger size before the dottyback may be added.

 

[johnc99]

Hey guys, not trying to highjack the post but had a question for ALL. So I am thinking of some tank mates to keep in my future 90 gallon. I was planning on 2X scissortail dartfish, Tanaka's pygmy wrasse, yellow clown goby, rainfords goby, blue assessor, yellowheaded jawfish, and a tail spot blenny. My tank is more of a cube shape 36*24*24, and of course I plan on having a lot of caves and overhangs for some of these cryptic fish. Seeing what you guys think of putting a orchid dottyback towards the back end of the stocking process. I also plan to keep a fire shrimp and cleaner shrimp...of course they would also be of bigger size before the dottyback may be added.

I would be more concerned about issues between the fire and cleaner ship myself.

Back to the OP:

I have 2 fridmanis (ORA bred) and 3 cleaner shrimp and have not seen any predation attempts toward the cleaner shrimp. It seems just the opposite as the fridmanis appear to like being stroked by the shrimps' antennae.

 

[Reef Frog]

I've never owned the fish in question but have watched them quite a bit. I had an adult skunk cleaner for years. I just can't imagine a Purple Dottybsck being able to eat anything that size. It's not going to fit in its mouth and couldn't possibly be swallowed whole, could it? I can't see it bashing the shrimp against a rock and tearing it apart to eat it. It doesn't seem to be that type of fish or have a large enough mouth or teeth to eat something that big. But I'm just speculating here. I'm always surprised in the hobby and it can't be ruled out entirely I suppose.

From what I've seen, cleaner shrimp with while antenna seem to get receive immunity from harm from many but not all fish. It seems that it's the smaller non cleaner shrimp that are more vulnerable to predation.

Personally I would judge it a reasonable risk. You could always get a small juvenile which won't be able to hurt anything bad for a while and it will give your shrimp time to grow. The PDB will grow up with the shrimp and probably never regard it as food, especially if fed enough. Good luck with it.

 

[homer1475]

I have an electric neon dottyback(ORA cross bred to avoid the normal mean demeanor of dottybacks) and it's actually scared of my skunk cleaner shrimp. Anytime the dottyback is out and about and he brushes up against the skunks antenna, the shrimp bolts out to latch onto the dottyback, but the dottyback always runs and hides.

The funny part is dottybacks are supposed to be natural predators of shrimp, but mine is totally scared of my shrimp.

 

[alton]

The Orchid has always been fine with shrimp, I added a Neon once and went through four shrimp before I noticed him plucking the eyes from my fifth one. Never ate it or picked on it once the eyes were gone.

 

[snorvich]

Pseudochromis will kill and eat shrimp. Maybe not this week or this month, but eventually the predator will kill the prey. That's what they do ......

What he said

 

[Jeremy1988]

I would be more concerned about issues between the fire and cleaner ship myself.

Back to the OP:

I have 2 fridmanis (ORA bred) and 3 cleaner shrimp and have not seen any predation attempts toward the cleaner shrimp. It seems just the opposite as the fridmanis appear to like being stroked by the shrimps' antennae.

Yes, what are the issues with the cleaner and fire shrimp. They will just fight together I assume? Iv heard they can be kept together and not be kept together. Your personal thoughts?

 

[Jeremy1988]

I've never owned the fish in question but have watched them quite a bit. I had an adult skunk cleaner for years. I just can't imagine a Purple Dottybsck being able to eat anything that size. It's not going to fit in its mouth and couldn't possibly be swallowed whole, could it? I can't see it bashing the shrimp against a rock and tearing it apart to eat it. It doesn't seem to be that type of fish or have a large enough mouth or teeth to eat something that big. But I'm just speculating here. I'm always surprised in the hobby and it can't be ruled out entirely I suppose.

From what I've seen, cleaner shrimp with while antenna seem to get receive immunity from harm from many but not all fish. It seems that it's the smaller non cleaner shrimp that are more vulnerable to predation.

Personally I would judge it a reasonable risk. You could always get a small juvenile which won't be able to hurt anything bad for a while and it will give your shrimp time to grow. The PDB will grow up with the shrimp and probably never regard it as food, especially if fed enough. Good luck with it.

Thanks for the response...yeah I think my plan is going to be to add the dottyback way down the road. I am taking a conservative approach to having a peaceful tank, or as close as I can at least. I think like you said I will let the shrimp grow and other fish grow to larger size, get a super small orchrid dottyback and see how it does. I also consider it a moderate risk, and probably my biggest risk for selecting tank mates. Cool frog btw! My gf is obsessed with frogs and frog related things, drives me nuts!

 

[Jeremy1988]

I have a tank raised orchid and two cleaners and a fire shrimp and never a problem. I would be more concerned about the firefish because of the similar shape and coloration causing territorial issues. And flareefdude, that sounds like a purple pseudochromis not a friedmani. They look very similar but the purple is a terror.

I also read somewhere that captive raised orchrid dottybacks are possibly less aggressive then ones wild caught? Any truth to that?

 

[johnc99]

Yes, what are the issues with the cleaner and fire shrimp. They will just fight together I assume? Iv heard they can be kept together and not be kept together. Your personal thoughts?

I have never kept fire shrimp (spelled it correctly this time) but there have been a few posts on here that mentioned they are more aggressive than skunk cleaner shrimp. Fire shrimp look a lot more robust than skunk cleaner shrimp and, with the squabbling that goes among my 3 cleaner shrimp, I can easily imagine a fire shrimp getting involved and easily pulling off legs etc. from a skunk.

 

[ICE JUICE]

I had a Skunk and a Dotty. They hung out all the time and no problems. I took the dotty back once I put my Possum Wrasse in the DT. The dotty would not leave him alone until the lights were off for the night!