Newbie Question...Basic Shrimp Care?

[S.O.S.]

Hey everyone. I just put my first inhabitants in my 27gal soon to be reef yesterday. 5 astrea snails and a coral banded shrimp. Is there anything I need to know about the care of this shrimp? Does it need to be fed? Do they have any special requirements like calcium supplements or vitamins or anything? Also, how big do these shrimp get and how ong do they normally live? Mine seems pretty big, 2" body not including the big huge claws and antennae. Any info would be great. Thanks!

[Minnreefer]

I don't know anything specific about that shrimp but I would say that shrimp do need to be feed until they can get the scrapes from the fish. Other wise they don't need anything special. They do molt on occasion.

Jon

[J-shrimp]

coral banded shrimp reach a maximum of 3" they will kill other shrimp and may kill small fish. It should be fed meaty foods. coral banded shrimp will live to be a couple of years old. thats all I know about the coral banded shrimp

[beach bum]

The only pressing requirement they have is food, anything meaty with do, but will eat veggie food like formula two, you will know if they are hungry because they will become quite active when the food hits the tank. I have never had one kill anything, even a mild-mannered cleaner shrimp that set-up shop right next door to his hideout. I have seen an arrow crab rip a claw, and the arm it was attached to, off a coral-banded once. I gave it to my roommate so he could have some extra life in his tank, not knowing he would be intent on buying a lionfish! Well, no more coral-banded!
So if he gives you any problems just throw a lion in there!

fwiw, Chris

[beach bum]

Oh yeah, and iodine will assist proper molting, but there should be plenty in whatever synthetic sea-salt you are using.

[DaveJ]

Hi guys...

Just a couple of things that I would add and comment on. Coral Banded will only be aggressive to others of their kind from all accounts I have read. They will go after other shrimp if there is a space problem or fighting over food. Most smart shrimp will keep away from them and most shrimp are faster. These guys move a little slow so they should be able to manuver away should an attack come. I had one in my 125 along with 8 other shrimps of various species with no attacks or deaths due to the Coral Banded.

The feeding is correct, meaty or shrimp pellets kept mine happy. They also will rummage through the rocks for worms and such, as well as the sand. Dr Ron doesn't recommend them in keeping a DSB since they will do this, but I am not positive that they are that destructive to a DSB. I simply have not had enough experience or read enough about it.

Arrow crabs are very aggressive to others Have to watch them, they will also munch on all your good bristle worms.

Now to the Iodine question. I have read alot of posts that say that Iodine is poison to Inverts and that while some is always present as a base element or trace amounts, dosing it as an additive could be leathel. The molting is due to the irritation to the shrimp. I think Doug made a comment once he dosed Iodine in order to encourage molt in order to reduce his Camel Backs that he couldn't catch So....... I wouldn't worry about adding it. That is just my opinion though from what I have read here and other places. I'm sure one of the more experienced folks can add or detract that.

[julieanne399]

I have had my coral banded shrimp for several years, i also have fire shrimp and peppermint shrimp. I have never had any trouble with him, he does charge out of his house on occasion and looks fierce but he never does any damage. Mine sheds it's exoskeleton several times a year. I read somewhere that if the shrimp have broken antenna then you dont have enough iodine... i added it for a while and never saw any difference so i dont add it anymore. The shrimp are fine, they do like to eat. Have fun. Julie

[S.O.S.]

Thanks for the info. By meaty foods, what do you all mean? You mean real fresh strips of fish from the supermarket, beef, chicken Sorry, I'm just a rookie trying to learn as much as I can

[DaveJ]

Meaty foods like small chunks of scallop or fish... raw of course No beef or chicken or anything... figure anything that swam or crawled in the ocean is fine. For shrimp just toss in couple small pieces of fish or scallop and watch them tear at it. Small pieces like dime sized.