Two coral banded shrimp questions: size and compatibility

[redfishsc]

I have a friend who has a "sump monster" coral banded he's giving away. I already have one, in a 20-long. If I recall, coral banded shrimp tend to NOT get along together well. In other words, if I add my friends sump monster to my tank (with a medium sized cb shrimp) am I running a risk of one killing the other?



Lastly....

Do the gold varieties, and the purple ones... get as big as the "normal" types?

 

[philter4]

I always keep mine in pairs, but I have never been able to pair them up. What usually happens is the bigger one kills the smaller one so I would not try it in a small tank like a 2o.

To answer your other question the genus Stenopus has large and small species so you have to give me more then just the pruple or gold one, though the common shrimp is one of the larger species, the largest is my favorite, Stenopus pyrsonotus which gets huge, I have one that is 4 inches long from head to tail, and with the claws might hit 7 inches.

 

[redfishsc]

Sorry, I didn't think to give the species name.

There is the common one you see at LFS's and other online stores that have the "golden" coral banded shrimp, and I've never seen one bigger than about 2" long (head/body).

I'll try to dig up the specie names in a min...

 

[redfishsc]

Golden coral shrimp (Stenopus scutellatus)....

 

[philter4]

A 2 inch one of that species vwould be a big one, but there is another gold one (I can't think of the name) that doesn't get that big.

 

[redfishsc]

Glad to know that! If I decide to put more fish in my 20g-frag tank I may just let someone else have the big boys and get the smaller golden variety. May also be less of a threat to peppermints and cleaners.