shrimp killing clown?

[zotzer]

My female perc has become very protective of her anemone. I added a cleaner shrimp last week, and he was so fun to watch, but she was adamant about keeping it out of the 'nem. Anyway, she was back in the rockwork behind the anemone the other night (she NEVER disappears into the rockwork), and I haven't seen the cleaner shrimp since.

 

Also, have only seen one of the two peppermints for the past couple of weeks. Do you think she might be killing the shrimp? I can't think of who else might be doing it: Potters Angel, Blenny, and small Candy Hogfish.

 

Tracy

[gastone]

IME clowns leave shrimp alone. However, hogfish are famous for eating shrimp.

 

Garrett.

[zotzer]

IME clowns leave shrimp alone. However, hogfish are famous for eating shrimp.

 

Well, the cleaner was added after the hogfish, but since he's still so small (the hogfish, that is), I didn't think this would be an issue. Looks like I may have been wrong. :( Bummer. I really liked the look and personality of of the cleaner shrimp in the tank.

[gastone]

Could also be that the shrimp has molted. Sometimes when this happens they will go into seclusion for a day or two as they are quite vulnerable.

 

Have you noticed a molt laying around?

[yauger]

seriously, my cleaner shrimp has fooled me several times before with its molt... the molt really looks like a dead shrimp but in a day or so you will see the little bugger come out to play again... Mine usually molts once a month...

[zotzer]

I saw what looks like a white antennae, but it is deep in the rockwork and I can't grab it with the tweasers.

Yes, the molts looks like dead shrimp for sure (I have another cleaner in the nano). There is nowhere for that cleaner to really hide in the little tank, so I never thought that maybe the new one molted and is hiding.

 

Guess I will give it another day and see if he resurfaces.

 

Tracy

[jason the filter freak]

i don't see the clown causing any harm to the shrimp, your hogfish may be small but a shrimp in molting or fresh from molting is a easy target for any fish

[traveller7]

A few of my clowns have a taste for cleaner shrimp, one female(chyrsogaster) in particular wiped out a breeding colony of scarlet cleaners before I caught her in the act.

 

I doubt a perc would be able to kill the shrimp, unless it molted, and got too close to her home.

 

Even a small hogfish can be quite opportunistic.

 

With the trend of missing peppermints and now a cleaner, add some food an hour of so after lights out...if they don't show up, I would not add any more to that system.

[zotzer]

I've had a peppermint go missing before, and then two weeks later, there they both were. Even at night now though, I only ever see one of them.

 

The only thing that made me think it was the clown is that she was back in the cave for a good while, and she never goes back in there. You all are probably right though, that if it DID meet it's maker, it was probably the hogfish that made the introduction.

 

Will see if anyone resurfaces over the coming days.

 

Tracy

[treesprite]

I have heard other people tell of clowns purposefully killing shrimp. My shrimp was killed by a clown-initiated avalance.

[zotzer]

One peppermint accounted for tonight at dinner time. No sign of my little cleaner friend.

 

T

[davelin315]

I've seen clowns take down shrimp and rip them in half, but that's typically because the shrimp were new introductions to the tank and were considered food. If you already have them established, I would think the hog fish would be your culprit. Who knows, though, they could still be there, died of a molt, been preyed upon by something else...

[zotzer]

The cleaner was indeed a new introduction....only been in there for about a week. :( I was especially picky to get the biggest one in the store, but I guess it may have been in vain. He was very persistent about trying to steal mysis from the anemone, which is one of the reasons I suspected the clown more than the hogfish.

 

Time will tell, but I've visually scoured the tank, which is not very big, and I don't see any sign of it. I thought I saw an antenna last night, but I don't see that anymore either.

 

BTW, I adore the hogfish. If it means not having a cleaner shrimp, so be it. He's peaceful, very pretty, and a very adept swimmer. I love watching him fly through the tank without seeming to move a single muscle. Tonight I was a little worried, as it looked like he couldn't get his mouth closed, only to watch him spit out about half a dozen mysis that he'd hogged up during feeding time. What an appropriate name!! LOL

 

Tracy