cleaner shrimp vs bubble tip

[chapagetti]

hi guys, I'm new to this forum and new to the marine fish world.. I recently established the nitrate cycle and have since then added a few fish and critters.. 3 green chromis, an orange striped shrimp goby, a candy pistol shrimp, and two anemones, and a cleaner shrimp. I just recently re-scaped the live rock and now the shrimp won't leave one of the nems alone (rose bubble). it's now closed up and seems to be hiding maybe. is this aggressive behavior? is the shrimp harmless to the nem? is it trying to host? what should I do?

 

[chapagetti]

oh, and when I fed the nem, the shrimp picked out all the shrimp and ate it.. straight jacked him! :/

 

[chapagetti]

oh and I forgot the obvious one.. is the cleaner shrimp simply cleaning him and I'm misunderstanding the situation?

 

[Spsfan]

Ya mine use to do the same thing an unfortunately I lost my sun coral cause of it so now I don't keep anything that you need to hand feed cause the shrimp will get it every time I've tried everything feed img the shrimp a good size chunk the the corals an the nem but he would still go back even covering them but he was patient

 

[chapagetti]

so I gotta get rid of one or the other?

 

[chapagetti]

it almost seems like he wants to host it..

 

[CJO]

You can also stay around and scare the shrimp away until the anemone has had a chance to feed it. Also, how long has your tank been set up?

CJ

 

[shred5]

Allot of shrimp and anemones dont mix... They will try to steal food from the anemone and in some cases can damage the anemone or tear it apart.

How new is your tank and how new are you to the hobby. I really do not suggest anemones for beginners. . Anemones also should not be in tanks that just recently cycled. The bta is more hardy and easier anemone but I stll do not suggest it to someone new in the hobby..

How big is your tank and how long has your tank been up?

I know how the temptation when setting up a tank and filling it up right away with allot of cool stuff but patients and taking it slow pays off the most in this hobby, if not the hobby will become fustrating.

Dave Polzin

 

[chapagetti]

my tank has not been set up for long at all.. about two weeks now since I started cycling.. took about a week to cycle, and then have had fish and inverts for about a week. the nem is now open but it looks like the shrimp is guarding it or something.. I almost feel like I should get a couple clown fish and try to get them to host in that thing so they can scare it away.. thoughts? my display is 55g w/ 29g sump.

 

[chapagetti]

I pushed the shrimp out of the nems cave and will continue to keep him out. he doesn't seem to mess with the green one though.. weird. anyways thanks for the advice guys. I had no idea cleaner shrimp could be such punks!

 

[Spsfan]

I tried the scarring away the shrimp but out gets to were you stand there forever trying to keep him way an even tried putting clear plastic cup with holes drilled in it but it takes a while for it to digest it the shrimp will rip it out of its mouth the first chance it get s I lost my rose I believe from it am my sun coral so now I just keep things I don't have to hand feed

 

[whyzee429]

It just seems like you are adding A LOT to this tank at once. I wish you much success, but I know a lot of people here tend to adopt the "slower-is-better" philosophy. Heck, I didn't introduced fish to my tank until probably a month after it was setup. (I was starting from complete scratch)

 

[CJO]

my tank has not been set up for long at all.. about two weeks now since I started cycling.. took about a week to cycle, and then have had fish and inverts for about a week. the nem is now open but it looks like the shrimp is guarding it or something.. I almost feel like I should get a couple clown fish and try to get them to host in that thing so they can scare it away.. thoughts? my display is 55g w/ 29g sump.

I wouldn't add anything else for quite a while. Normally, you shouldn't add anything for at least 3 weeks and it's best to wait about a year before adding an anemone!

CJ

 

[shred5]

my tank has not been set up for long at all.. about two weeks now since I started cycling.. took about a week to cycle, and then have had fish and inverts for about a week. the nem is now open but it looks like the shrimp is guarding it or something.. I almost feel like I should get a couple clown fish and try to get them to host in that thing so they can scare it away.. thoughts? my display is 55g w/ 29g sump.

That is a lot of live stock for a new tank. Most anemones I recommend a mature tank around 1 year but bta's could be ok after 6 months.

You need to slow down. 2 weeks after cycle you should maybe have one or two hardy fish and maybe some clean up crue. Most tanks are not fully cycled until after around 3 months or longer. Ammonia cycle might be complete but there is a lot more to cycling a tank and that is allowing the bacteria to catch up.


Dave Polzin.

 

[chapagetti]

I will keep the levels to a minimum with frequent water changes, I read that it is okay to do that..

 

[chapagetti]

thanks everyone for the advice.. I'll hold off on adding more fish for a while

 

[sucker_fish]

my thoughts are, dont worry about getting rid of one or the other right now, I'm sure that in a few weeks the nem will be dead or well on its way, sorry if I seem harsh but just trying to tell it like it is. You said your tank has been set up for a couple weeks and you started the cycle, but did the cycle complete? You should have no ammonia or nitrites, and very low nitrates and these should all be stable before attempting to keep an anemone.

 

[chapagetti]

my tank has zero nitrites or ammonia and very low nitrate.. it cycled really fast.. skipped the nitrite stage even. the anemone seems to be fine now the shrimp hasn't really bothered it but when I do catch him I shoe him away with a plastic stick.. lol. and my phosphate was high and then I put in phosphate reactor media in and it went to zero as well.. this was before I addedbit

 

[chapagetti]

the only problem is now I'm fighting a crazy parasite that probably hitchhiked from my LR.

 

[Birdee]

Good luck on BTA survival... not a good start adding it so soon, but it's there so check water very often and do regular changes.
6 mon to 1 year is generally the soonest advisable for 'nem addition. I added my first one at about 8 months... it's still with me 7 years later. If you treat them right they are easy, but it's also easy to kill them by rushing.

The "it cycled really fast" notion usually comes from people with prior freshwater experience. Saltwater is VERY different from fresh... This is an important lesson to learn if you don't want to just kill stuff left and right.

As far as the shrimp/BTA relationship... have you tried feeding the shrimp first?
Try getting something a bit tougher for it to chew on like a bit of squid tentacle, feed the shrimp a small piece of its food (they learn you are the treat provider pretty quickly and will usually start coming out to you to be fed). Feed the shrimp it's meaty bit as far as possible away from the BTA.
Then, feed the BTA a small meal of something meaty and very small (mysis) or finely chopped (I prefer a highly varied diet for mine, squid, scallop, shrimp, clam, mussel, ocean fish). It will usually slurp the meal down and the shrimp won't be bothering it.

My cleaners NEVER bother any of my 3 BTAs... could it be that the BTA is declining and the shrimp is interested in it for that reason?

You have a "crazy parasite" on what? What does it look like?
Lots of strange looking stuff hitchhikes in on LR, most of it is actually good. If you haven't positively identified it I wouldn't necessarily call it a parasite. If it's on your fish, it probably didn't come in on the rocks...