There is a weird rumor going around about coral-banded shrimp...

[Mylilreef]

that might explain the mysterious disappearance of my mandarin a few months back. i know it didn't starve since the tank had been going on 7 years, there was/is tons of pods, and it was accepting frozen food as well. i wonder how my little 2" 7yo clown has no problems? all of my other fish are over 5", so idk if i will get rid of my CBS or not. he seems alot less aggressive since i now feed daily.

this is the first time i've heard about their bad reps. i have had him for a couple of years, now between 3-4" long and never really had an issue. and i never actually saw the mandarins body. could have even been the anemone(didn't know they shouldn't go in the same tank together)

all in all he's really quite the model citizen. maybe i just got lucky though.

 

[seapug]

Now you said watchmen gobies and tiger shrimp... what about other species of gobies? Do they all prefer tiger shrimp as well? Just curious, as I was looking at a red banded shrimp, Alpheus randalli, on Live Aquaria and they were saying Alpheus randalli will pair with shrimp gobies.

Looking for some more clarification since a nano means I can't get the symbiotic relationship of clown and anemone easily, so I'm interested in the shrimp/gobie duo.

In my experience, most pistol shrimp (apart from the large bullseye pistols) will partner with any shrimp goby species (and vice versa), but they do have their natural preferences in their native locales.

The bottom line is that CBS are not pistol shrimp and do not naturally pair up with shrimp gobies. Even if they weren't the jerks that they are, they aren't even capable of building a burrow, which is the shrimp's primary duty when they pair with gobies.

 

[Angel*Fish]

I'm really confused. I did a Google image search for CBS and it shows me pictures of the shrimp that I've seen sold and PERFORMING as cleaners. I've come close to buying one several times because I love watching the symbiosis. Sk8r, can you post a pic showing the species you are referring to please.

Thanks.

Well I'm not Sk8r but here's what you get when you google coral banded shrimp. When you saw it cleaning are you sure it wasn't just eating the fish?

 

[seapug]

I'm really confused. I did a Google image search for CBS and it shows me pictures of the shrimp that I've seen sold and PERFORMING as cleaners. I've come close to buying one several times because I love watching the symbiosis. Sk8r, can you post a pic showing the species you are referring to please.

Thanks.

Some CBS will clean larger fish like Tangs, but if you want a reliable, safe cleaner in a tank with smaller fish, go with a Skunk Cleaner shrimp. Get a pair and they will spawn on a regular basis. Like this:

 

[Angel*Fish]

Some CBS will clean larger fish like Tangs, but if you want a reliable, safe cleaner in a tank with smaller fish, go with a Skunk Cleaner shrimp. Get a pair and they will spawn on a regular basis. Like this:

Wow - that's sure something I didn't know! Sure enough I googled it and found this video of one cleaning a tang.

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[SushiGirl]

Not ALL CBS are big. The yellow and the blue only get about 1.5 inches in length. I had a blue one, and it hung out with my Diamond Watchman and Redheaded gobies, cleaning them in exchange for sharing the burrow.

Yellow CBS
Blue CBS

It doesn't really serve anyone well to fight a rumor with yet another rumor like all CBS kill fish, all hermits kill snails, no crab can be trusted in a reef tank, all peppermint shrimp eat aiptasia, etc. etc. etc. that I see get repeated as fact around here all the time. Something to keep in mind.

 

[wbdevers]

LOL! No it wasn't eating a fish! I had stopped by the one of my LFS and was talking to one of the owners. He says "watch this", sticks his hand in the tank and the CBS come up, checks his hand out with its antennae and then starts to "clean" his hand--just like that.

I can't see the pick you posted angel, but the one in the video is what I'm familiar with and what I was referring to.

However, I will just go with the skunk cleaner since it's known safe.

Well said Sushigirl.

 

[DeePDiSHeD]

It doesn't really serve anyone well to fight a rumor with yet another rumor like all CBS kill fish, all hermits kill snails, no crab can be trusted in a reef tank, all peppermint shrimp eat aiptasia, etc. etc. etc. that I see get repeated as fact around here all the time. Something to keep in mind.

Well said. I think this thread was started after i recomended a red banded shrimp and sk8r thought i meant a coral banded shrimp.

Sk8r is just trying give newbies a general guideline to follow. I've definetly learned from him/her.

 

[talktojvc]

Yellow Goby and CBS

Yellow Goby and CBS

I've had 4 CBS over the course of 11 years and a pair as well. It can be hit or miss. Some are angry little boogers and some are shy.

 

[Silly clownfish]

First - I would normally never disagree with sk8r or snorvich!

But I guess I have been lucky. I got my Coral banded Shrimp (Stenos hispidus ) 10 years ago because it was the one shrimp I could find that was too big for my flame hawk to eat. That strategy worked for me and I still have both. I have kept smaller fish with the CBS without incident, for example my randall's goby has been with it for over 2 years. They even live in the same LR pile, but are not paired (that never occured to me). My mandarin has been fine in there for a year and a half too. I actually always figured my serpent or brittle star was more of a threat, but they have both been there longer than the shrimp.

I can even recall one fish I found dead, uneaten, in the tank with these critters. I was rather surprised that no one found ot by the time the lights came on.

My only fish disappearane in 19 years other than carpet surfing was very early on when a mantis shrimp hitch hiked in on one of my first pieces of LR.

 

[Betaktical]

Anyone ever have one kill shrimps? I have 2 oc clowns but they kinda stay at the top off the tank but I do have 2 skunk cleaners that I don't want to lose


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[Sumfisher]

Well ladies and gents here's one for you.

I have a rose goby paired with a red banded pistol shrimp and get this in with that duo is a purple coral banded shrimp all three of them in one little cave. The cbs is about the size of a quarter. I thought I lost him in the tank then sure as hell when I went to feed all three of them eased out I'm working on some photos no post when I got em