Yellow Coris Wrasse ate my Peppermint shrimp (with pictures )

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

At least that is my guess. I came home and did my manual dosing and top-off and found this stuck to my overflow.....


In this second picture you can see I spread it open and some guts oozed out.(I wasn't sure if it was just a molt from the recently added peppermint)
He bit the bugger in half!


I only have three fish currently, a lined chromis(harmless), a fridmani dottyback(possible culprit) and a yellow coris wrasse(likely culprit).
I feed very often, ~3-4 times a day in small meals of a homemade food including all the goodies.
Does this mean I am unable to get any shrimp in the future like a fire or skunk cleaner?

 

[SMOOTHIE]

I would guess it died and got munched on by either one of those fish or the cleanup crew. If it was stuck to your overflow I would also guess it would have been dead for a few hours in which time I would think the fish would have eaten the whole thing

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

It was seemingly healthy and it was one of the larger ones from the LFS. I would be 'very' suprised if it died on its' own and then got eaten.....but I guess it is a possibility.

 

[snorvich]

Hmmm. As I recall Coris Wrasses are NOT safe with invertebrates.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

I was going by Scott Michael's book and my lfs owner said she knew of many customers' tanks with yellow coris wrasses larger than mine in tanks that see less food with multiple shrimps and no issues.
So I thought I was safe.
I really like shrimp too, so I will have to decide which I want more now.

 

[sTefaniA]

Shrimp don't live very long... Usually two years and they're out.
You said your shrimp was one of the larger from the lfs, so chances are high that it was allready a year old.
Not all of them reach their maximum size, some get older too, but if you had it for a few months it could easily have died on itself.
It could have messed up it's molt too.
I have two big yellow coris with shrimp and they dont even look at them. I also have a big green coris, a model citizen so far!

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Well, I only had him for a week. He was my last addition to the tank.
I had a solo red legged hermit crab that ended up dead as well....all snails have always been accounted for though.

 

[sngl13b]

hope i have better luck,i have a yellow coris and two peppermint shrimp

 

[snorvich]

Well, according to Live Aquaria: A yellow coris wrasse will eat fireworms and pyramidellid snails, protecting corals and clams. In addition, it may eat feather dusters, wild shrimp, tubeworms, and flatworms. It may also eat parasites off of tank mates. So, while generally beneficial, shrimp are on its menu.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Suprising with how well he is fed.....

 

[IFbettas]

Hmmm. As I recall Coris Wrasses are NOT safe with invertebrates.

The yellow "coris" wrasse isn't actually a coris. Most halichoeres genus wrasses (including halichoeres chrysus) ARE safe with invertebrates. The larger species in the genus are less reef-safe though.

I kept a full grown pair of yellow coris in a tank with 4 small peppermint shrimp and 2 cleaner shrimp and they never paid any attention to them. I also kept a single yellow coris in a reef with cleaner shrimp and it never bothered them.

I think that your fridmani pseudo is the most likely culprit, assuming that it was actually a fish that killed your shrimp.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

The fridmani....hmmm.

 

[fstar25]

Re: Yellow Coris Wrasse ate my Peppermint shrimp (with pictures )

My mystery wrasse toasted my peppermint shrimp when he had a bad molt. He never even looks at my cleaner shrimp or blood shrimp. These things just happen sometimes. If it doesn't repeat I wouldn't get too worried.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

I suppose I could try another shrimp and see what happens. Maybe a larger skunk cleaner or fire or especially a coral banded could defend itself?

 

[snorvich]

Yes, but a coral banded shrimp has other downsides.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

So they will eat tiny fish and snails? My lfs owner said they wont.

 

[jason2459]

I took two of four peppermint shrimps out and put them into my refugium just in case the mystery wrasse had a taste for shrimp which he did. He took out the two peppermint shrimps in one night. All that remained was a small meaty piece of a tail left stuck to a powerhead in the morning. I also had and have a fireshrimp and a tiger pistol shrimp.

Took about a week but I was watching the tank one day and the fireshrimp darted out from a cave. Right behind it was the mystery wrasse. The shrimp was waving it's antennae at it pretty fiercely and backing away trying to figure out where to go. Then in a split second the wrasse charged right at the shrimp and took the head clean off. Happened so fast I was stunned. After that all the other fish along with the mystery wrasse were picking at the rest of the body. For some reason though he leaves the pistol shrimp alone. :fun2:

I miss having the other shrimp in the tank but I like the mystery wrasse more.