Sebae and missing tankmates

[tha_reids]

Tonight I realized my dragonette is MIA. First it was my favorite large cleaner shrimp that I had owned for 1.5 yrs(my first shrimp).
I suspect it is my Sebae anemones fault(or my own depending on how you view it). I bought (rescued) the anemone a little over a year back and it has flourished since. Smaller then a fist back then, he has grown to 20+ inches across. He has been hosting my ocellaris clown for the last 6 months or so and they seem so natural together. I feed the sebae 1/3 of a silverside once a week plus whatever the clown brings him from the staple food.

I've always been amazed at how careless the other tankmates were as they skim over the Sebae stealing food as they went, especially the cleaner. The dragonette has always seemed fearless as he just moves about without a care in the world. If I placed a scraper next to him he would just ignore it.

If it wasn't for the clown I would just sell the sebae. I could never seperate them though. I don't even know if it is the Sabae who has eaten my lil' buddies. My wife says,"if the only 2 left in the tank are the Sebae and clown, then we'll know". True.

Such a tuff hobby

 

[GSMguy]

mandarins are hard fish to keep sometimes they die from starvation

 

[TheVillageIdiot]

I don't think mandarins are used to being around anemones. How big a tank is this?

 

[cschweitzer]

I'm pretty sure the sebae would not eat a cleaner shrimp...my cleaners hang out in anemones.

 

[GSMguy]

my mandarin used to swim all around My M.dorensis
my M.dorensis would eat a shimp it if was sick or molting
i think draggonets have protected slime coating so it would need to be sick to be eaten
or the sebae extra hungry

 

[rssjsb]

Actually, I think dragonets are quite common victims of sand-based anemones. They just don't know to avoid them.

 

[tha_reids]

Actually, she was quite plump as she took to F1 marine pellets right away. I agree with rssjsb on that comment. The dragonette seemed to lack in the survival area. I'm still hoping he is burrowed in the sand. Tank is about 90g w/ 30g sump. Its a custom acrylic I built myself. It is very lightly stocked.

I realize that shrimp can be lost while molting but it had molted a few weeks before he came up missing. All of them have very healthy appetites untill they come up missing.

 

[Amphiprion]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9239584#post9239584 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rssjsb
Actually, I think dragonets are quite common victims of sand-based anemones. They just don't know to avoid them.

This is true. I used to have a few peppermint shrimp and they were eaten by my anemone. In fact, a few were eaten when I first added them--they darted directly into the anemone after introduction :eek1: .

 

[tha_reids]

First time I added a peppermint it did the same thing, backwards right into his final resting spot. It must look like a great hiding space The other two were introduced a different way after that.

If my clown never hosted I'd sell the Sebae but won't seperate the two.