Skunk cleaner shrimp picking at acan

[capnjazz]

I got a new rainbow acan for my (mainly) sps nano reef tank. The shrimp I have in there sometimes skims the sps with his legs to check for food and then goes on his way but tonight when I watched my tank after the lights when off, I noticed some concerning behavior. I noticed that he was prying open the acan that I spot fed mysis shrimp to and trying to steal the food from its stomach(?)

I chased it off with some small tongs but noticed he's still hanging around the acan picking around it or just standing by it. Anyone have similar experiences or helpful comments?

 

[chimmike]

feed the shrimp first, then feed the acan

 

[capnjazz]

I started distracting the cleaner shrimp by giving it a few mysis shrimp with some small tongs before spot feeding the acan with the same tongs. It has started to grow bigger and has a baby forming on the side. The frag also came with a half polyp and that one is growing bigger and fuller as well. Thanks for the reply!