Coral BANDIT shrimp

[reefBoyDc]

Heya,

I just got a coral banded shrimp a few days ago. He's awesome, but he seems rather aggressive. He is pestering my camel shrimp (about the same size). Now my tiny neon goby has disappeared. DO you think the shrimp ate him? There's nothing else in the tank that could have, unless the brittle star ate him. Maybe he went into the overflow? He seemed really healthy last night and had a good dinner of brine shrimp. Any ideas?

[ruhspolostar]

hey I also bought one this weekend, he probally will kill your shrimp, sorry, but the chances of him getting your fish are slim and none, they are two slow, carrying those pincher around are like me or you carrying sledge hammers all the time.

check the overflow, I lost 4 chromis to mine....

[blckmstng]

they could catch your fish while they are sleeping, but its not too likely. If the coral banded shrimp isn't getting enough food he might resort to fishing at night, so make sure he's getting some food.

[kingfisher]

I also bought one recently.. it was healty and the next day it lost one of his pincher (whole arm). Does anyone know if they grow back? as for your question I they are too slow to catch fishes so I agree with ruhspolostar... you might check your overflow...

[Geoff]

CBS are very aggressive as far a shrimp go. like ruhs has said it will prolly get your shrimp unless the tank is very large.

king- the next molt the shrimp should have all of its arms and legs. sometimes during a molt a shrimp will lose an arm or a leg. this usually means you are not doing enough water changes to keep your trace elements up. i suggest water changes long before i suggest chemical supplimentation.

G~

[Stanfill Reef]

Our Coral Banded shrimp was very aggressive. I saw it catch our yellow watchman goby one night; snuck up behind it during feeding time. It got a lucky grab and caught it right at the gill. The fish got away, but the gill was torn and it died a few days later. The shrimp was traded into the fish store a few days after that.

[ruhspolostar]

the coral banded dropping its pinchers is no biggie at all, in fact more than likely he did it on purpose, CB's will drop their pinchers if threatenned in the same way a lizard will purposley drop its tail, it will come back in the next molt as G said

no biggie at all, make sure iodine levels are okay, crustaceans need it to molt

[reefBoyDc]

Gawsh, if i'd known i wouldnt have gotten him. LFS said it would be fine with other shrimp and fish. I'm kinda worried. I like my camel shrimp. Should I take the BANDIT out?

Note to self: setup refugium soon!

[kingfisher]

Wow, I didn't know that the CBS are that aggressive. Are all of them like that? And do all LBS take trade in like the car dealership?

[reefBoyDc]

Hey Geoff, are you saying it's better to do water changes than add stuff like iodine and trace elements? Do they come in the salt?

[kingfisher]

If the CBS are a nussaint (sorry if spelled wrong) how would you guys get the shrimp out. I last time I tried to catch my shrimp I had a hard time. Also i heard that camel shrimp will gaze on corals.. so be cautious.. that the shrimp I took out of my tank... those suckers are fast... .

[reefBoyDc]

I'll use a trap! and use the camel shrimp as bait

[reefBoyDc]

Camel shrimp eat corals? uh oh.

Note to self: Need 2 refugiums.

[blckmstng]

I've had quite a few coral banded shrimp over the years (regular, blue, and gold) and I have never had a problem with them catching and eating fish. I've also had cleaner shrimp in there and they never seemed to bother them, but I don't know about camel shrimp. They are nocturnal I think, so that would be the most likely time they would get a fish. You might want to check on your tank at night some time and see what he is up to.

[Stanfill Reef]

I have used two methods for trapping. The take everything out of the tank (it needed re-aquascaping anyway, right?) and sweep it up. The other I used to catch an overly large (for our tank anyway) emerald crab. I used my experiences growing up on the coast of SC. I tied a piece of shrimp to a string. Then tied a wieght to the end. Placed the shrimp near the crab to get his attention. Placed a net underneath the string. I got the crab to grab the shrimp and pulled him off the rock (he really wanted that shrimp) and scooped him up in the net. It took about 30 minutes and several tries, but it worked. We then took the crab to the LFS and got a nice credit for our next purchase. Should work the same for a CBS.