Who is the bully?

[Leverage Lad]

My banded shrimp lost an arm over the weekend. I have a bicolor blennie, a Mandarin Dragonet and a skunck shrimp. Who do you think renamed my shrimp "Strech" to "Lefty"?

[GeorgeW]

What's the difference in size between the banded and the rest? Is there any evidence that your banded molted recently and therefore would have been more vulnerable?

My bandeds are fairly good at defending their territory (not much contention, really, though the happy couple does squabble now and then).

[Leverage Lad]

No molting going on. He's only been in the tank about two weeks. The blennie is my suspect. They are about the same size and the blennie is kind of pushy. The Mandarin's mouth seems to small and the skunk shrimp is a little smaller than the banded. Could it be a molt? I have not gotten a real good look at him. Would he molt only an arm? That is all I have seen in the tank so far. I have seen enough of him to see that the other large arm is still atached. I will try to get a shot of him tonight. He is pretty shy.

[GeorgeW]

He wouldn't molt away his arm, but he'd be virtually defenseless for a short period after the molt until his exoskeleton hardens.

I'd agree on looking at the blenny since mandarins are pretty much docile except to other mandarins (AFAIK) and I can't believe a skunk could take a banded unless the skunk is alot bigger.

Unless, of course, you have aquired a predator you don't know about.