Who's chomping on the Cleaner Shrimp's antennae?

[Charles Henderson]

The suspects:

1 Coral Beauty
1 Yellow Tang
2 Clarkii Clowns
2 Yellow Tail Blue Damsels
4 Green Chromis
6 Red Leg Hermit Crabs

The pair of Cleaner Shrimp were magnificent, proud members of the tank,
claiming a prominent outcropping and hanging there for all to see and
for everyone to visit for cleaning; especially active at feeding time,
swimming and jumping about to catch another morsel...

Then they disappeared. Took to hiding and wouldn't come out. It seemed
very sudden to me - one day they were out and about, and the next they
would barely show themselves even at feeding time.

After a few days of puzzling over this and only catching fleeting
glimpses of a leg or two way back in the rock, I finally saw one emerge
to eat - and his antennae were drastically shorter and uneven!

Who's been munching on the Shrimp's antennae? The other shrimp?? He
doesn't look damaged at all, but he almost *never* comes out anymore,
either... Is he just better at evading the marauder, or is *he* the
culprit?

--Charlie Henderson

[Marc Levenson]

None of the usual suspects. All those fish you mentioned should be fine with
Skunk shrimp. I'd keep a watch on them.

Mine like to come out in the open during the dark hours, but they definitely
don't hide.

Marc


Charles Henderson wrote:

> The suspects:
>
> 1 Coral Beauty
> 1 Yellow Tang
> 2 Clarkii Clowns
> 2 Yellow Tail Blue Damsels
> 4 Green Chromis
> 6 Red Leg Hermit Crabs
>
> The pair of Cleaner Shrimp were magnificent, proud members of the tank,
> claiming a prominent outcropping and hanging there for all to see and
> for everyone to visit for cleaning; especially active at feeding time,
> swimming and jumping about to catch another morsel...
>
> Then they disappeared. Took to hiding and wouldn't come out. It seemed
> very sudden to me - one day they were out and about, and the next they
> would barely show themselves even at feeding time.
>
> After a few days of puzzling over this and only catching fleeting
> glimpses of a leg or two way back in the rock, I finally saw one emerge
> to eat - and his antennae were drastically shorter and uneven!
>
> Who's been munching on the Shrimp's antennae? The other shrimp?? He
> doesn't look damaged at all, but he almost *never* comes out anymore,
> either... Is he just better at evading the marauder, or is *he* the
> culprit?
>
> --Charlie Henderson

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[reefman MC]

It's the coral beauty. I had lots of problems a long time back with a
coral beauty. It killed probably 20 peppermint shrimp. Ate off their
legs and antennas. I saw this with my own eyes.


--
reefman MC
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[Dragon Slayer]

I've seen tangs as well as coral beauty's go after cleaner shrimp and
eventually kill them and eat them.

I wouldn't suspect the clowns, damsels or the chromis.

kc

"Charles Henderson" > wrote in message
...
> The suspects:
>
> 1 Coral Beauty
> 1 Yellow Tang
> 2 Clarkii Clowns
> 2 Yellow Tail Blue Damsels
> 4 Green Chromis
> 6 Red Leg Hermit Crabs
>
> The pair of Cleaner Shrimp were magnificent, proud members of the tank,
> claiming a prominent outcropping and hanging there for all to see and
> for everyone to visit for cleaning; especially active at feeding time,
> swimming and jumping about to catch another morsel...
>
> Then they disappeared. Took to hiding and wouldn't come out. It seemed
> very sudden to me - one day they were out and about, and the next they
> would barely show themselves even at feeding time.
>
> After a few days of puzzling over this and only catching fleeting
> glimpses of a leg or two way back in the rock, I finally saw one emerge
> to eat - and his antennae were drastically shorter and uneven!
>
> Who's been munching on the Shrimp's antennae? The other shrimp?? He
> doesn't look damaged at all, but he almost *never* comes out anymore,
> either... Is he just better at evading the marauder, or is *he* the
> culprit?
>
> --Charlie Henderson

[Richard Reynolds]

just to toss in a different opinion
> The suspects:
>
> 1 Coral Beauty
> 1 Yellow Tang
> 2 Clarkii Clowns
> 2 Yellow Tail Blue Damsels
> 4 Green Chromis
> 6 Red Leg Hermit Crabs

the only thing id take off the list is the chromis, and even then its only because the 2 i
have are very shy and wouldnt fight for anything in the tank.

coral beauty's are IME not coral or invert safe. yellow tangs will eat shrimp and nip at
some corals, clarkii can be evil when they want to establish teritory terrorizing
fish/inverts regardless of size, same for yellow tail damsels, even little hermit crabs
will take any opertunity presented to them. another possibility would be something that
sneaked a ride into your tank thru your LR maybee a mantis or .....

however.

my best guess remains that they molted and some interaction(fish/chemical/shrimp vs
shrimp/shrimp vs rock/.....) durring the molt caused it, ive seen this happen in a tank
with nothing but cleaners happening almost exactly like you mentioned all the sudden gone,
then reapearing with short antennae

there are some things you can do to make the process easier on them, test your water
qulity it should be good. fix it if its not. also feed meaty foods, keeping a variety of
different foods.

--
Richard Reynolds

[Kelly]

I have a yellow tailed Damsel that picks at my Coralbanded if he gets to
close to the Damsels territory, I've watched this many times.
"Richard Reynolds" > wrote in message
news:zdMLb.29169$WQ3.9652@lakeread05...
> just to toss in a different opinion
> > The suspects:
> >
> > 1 Coral Beauty
> > 1 Yellow Tang
> > 2 Clarkii Clowns
> > 2 Yellow Tail Blue Damsels
> > 4 Green Chromis
> > 6 Red Leg Hermit Crabs
>
> the only thing id take off the list is the chromis, and even then its only
because the 2 i
> have are very shy and wouldnt fight for anything in the tank.
>
> coral beauty's are IME not coral or invert safe. yellow tangs will eat
shrimp and nip at
> some corals, clarkii can be evil when they want to establish teritory
terrorizing
> fish/inverts regardless of size, same for yellow tail damsels, even little
hermit crabs
> will take any opertunity presented to them. another possibility would be
something that
> sneaked a ride into your tank thru your LR maybee a mantis or .....
>
> however.
>
> my best guess remains that they molted and some
interaction(fish/chemical/shrimp vs
> shrimp/shrimp vs rock/.....) durring the molt caused it, ive seen this
happen in a tank
> with nothing but cleaners happening almost exactly like you mentioned all
the sudden gone,
> then reapearing with short antennae
>
> there are some things you can do to make the process easier on them, test
your water
> qulity it should be good. fix it if its not. also feed meaty foods,
keeping a variety of
> different foods.
>
> --
> Richard Reynolds
>
>
>

[Charles Henderson]

In article <zdMLb.29169$WQ3.9652@lakeread05>,
"Richard Reynolds" > wrote:

> coral beauty's are IME not coral or invert safe. yellow tangs will
> eat shrimp and nip at some corals,

I initially suspected the Coral Beauty, mostly because he's *very*
active, and the tang...? No way! He's so peaceful and friendly - he and
one of the Chromis forage for uneaten food together at the bottom. One
will pick it up and the other will taste it, spit it out, then let the
other take it and go on to the next bit. They alternate. I'm amazed to
see this.

But since I've been watching closer, I'm afraid it might be the tang
that's hassling the shrimp. When he first went in the tank, he "made
friends" with the shrimp right away, presenting himself for cleaning
quite frequently, and the shrimp were glad to oblige.

But last night, during twilight, both shrimp came out (cautiously), and
the one with the stubby antennae had nice, long, newly-molted ones!
However, when the Yellow Tang came near, both shrimp shied away and went
deep into hiding. The tang hovered near; I couldn't tell if he was just
looking for a cleaning or a snack! But neither shrimp would have
anything to do with him...

Which figures. Because the tang is the one fish I don't want to get rid
of!

> clarkii can be evil when they want to establish teritory terrorizing
> fish/inverts regardless of size,

Yes, I think they're going to feel my boot. Figuratively. I'm thinking
of taking them back to the fishstore from whence they came. Nasty little
buggers - the poor Yellowtails are showing signs of vicious nipping
wounds and fungus; both their tails are down to nubs... even the
Chromis, fairly large themselves, are showing signs of harrassment.

So much to learn...

Thanks for your help,

--Charlie Henderson