Will a breeding pair of cleaner shrimp kill other shrimp?

[ACBlinky]

I've got a pair of fairly large skunk cleaners, they've been breeding constantly since I put them together. I moved them into a new, larger tank and figured since these guys hang out in groups in the wild they wouldn't mind having a roommate. I put a new shrimp in, but to my dismay he didn't last long. I discovered my bubble coral eating the shrimp and assumed he was the culprit, but then he spit it out and the two cleaners shredded the corpse with relish. Now I'm wondering whether it was the bubble that stung the new shrimp, or if the pair killed it and the coral just grabbed what happened to be nearby (their cave is just inches away from this coral). Are these shrimp that territorial, or did they just do their job as part of the cleanup crew after the coral killed their buddy?

 

[bjolly]

probably the latter. In my experience cleaners aren't the least bit territorial. But if one of their own happens to die they'll rip him up and eat him with gusto. (pretty disturbing to watch, I agree).

 

[spawner]

Cleaner shrimps are loosely pair bonded, they aren't really found in groups like peppermint shrimp are. You can take two shrimp and get a pair, normally you don’t have the problems with pair bonding like fire shrimp. They are found in aggregations, but if one where to observe the "group" it would be likely that they are a lot of pairs in the "group"

They will kill another cleaner shrimp, normally when it molts they chase it around until they can catch it and then kill it instead of mating with it. Interesting enough the third shrimp knows this and tries to run and hide. So depending on how large your tank it you most likely the pair killed the new shrimp. For example, if you put three small cleaner shrimp in a 20 gallon high, they normally are fine until one or both of them become hermaphrodites; then they will attempt to kill the third shrimp when it molts, normally the third shrimp will escape but you will notice that it has gotten a hair cut (antenna are trimmed) that is from the aggressive pair.

You can keep fire shrimp and peppermint shrimp with cleaner shrimp, but normally you will not keep three cleaner shrimp for an extended period of time unless you have a very large tank with a lot of flow and hiding places.