Cleaner Shrimp with a Taste for Blood?

[mhardish308]

Recently I've been separated from my 55g tank. I've moved into an apartment with my newly wed wife and have yet to transport the "kids." Since our departure there's been a rather strange occurrence. I just got word from my sister that my cleaner shrimp may be a killer.

I picked up 3 Banggai Cardinals about a month ago to add a little life to the tank (most of the other fish in it are a little shy). They were great. They schooled together very well floating gently from one corner to the other, exactly what was needed. Unfortunately, during the night, one disappeared a couple days ago without a trace. I assumed that something happened to it and that my small reef lobster had drug him into his hole for a late night snack. This all changed about a half hour ago when i got a rather frantic call from my sister telling me that she and my mother had just taken a trip to the lfs and picked up a replacement cardinal. He'd acclimated quite well but when he ventured closer to the cleaner shrimp, the cleaner lunged at him, pulling him down to the substrate where he proceeded to devour the poor fish in somewhat of a zombie-esk manner.

Now, my first suspicion would have been that he hadn't been getting fed very much, but this is not the case. He eats mysis and pellets along with everybody else during breakfast and dinner. Has anybody else experienced something like this before? I'm at somewhat of a loss for what to do.

 

[ritter6788]

I'm assuming the fish died first and then the shrimp made a snack of it. I don't see any cleaner shrimp taking out a healthy fish.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Well first off don't let anyone sell you this as a Cleaner Shrimp YIKES!

Seriously though I'm with above in questioning a Cleaner Shrimp taking down a healthy fish ??? Maybe something else going on ???

Cheers, Todd

 

[NanaReefer]

My Skunk Cleaner Shrimp didn't even go after my sick/dying Blenny, let alone a healthy fish. Sounds kind a fishy to me! (Someone had to say it)

 

[mhardish308]

Haha, i appreciate the replies, and they're certainly in line with my thinking. I just wasn't sure if anybody else had heard of something like this happening before. If they hadn't witnessed it happening, i wouldn't have given this theory a chance. (Btw, that mantis...his face is just precious...lol.)

 

[MistaOrange]

I had a cleaner that took out a few fish but only noticed that once I added a healthy mandarin which the cleaner grabed it & started to chow away, I was shocked as I would never think the shrimp would ever do such a thing...

Sorry for your losses but honestly take the shrimp out & sump it if you can or pass it on to another reefer who can sump it...

 

[JMSKI333]

Give him a live sentence in the sump without parole!

 

[fishheadz]

Just scavenging off an already dead body!

 

[Countrybob]

mantis shrimp

T.J. that is too funny LAMAO!

 

[mhardish308]

Suspicions have been confirmed...another cardinal has "mysteriously" disapeared this morning. It's time to find a new home for this shrimp. :\ Thanks all.

 

[digitaledge]

Mine bit me the other day, what I think was a bite. I was like what the..... Having other cleaner shrimps in the past, I had no idea they could bite me. lol

 

[mcarroll]

Suspicions have been confirmed...another cardinal has "mysteriously" disapeared this morning. It's time to find a new home for this shrimp. :\ Thanks all.

How big is this cleaner shrimp???

I'm not saying leave him in the tank, but there is no way in REEF2REEF that a healthy cardinal is getting taken down by a garden variety cleaner shrimp!


Are the Cardinals wild or captive bred and how big are/were they?

Whatever you do with the shrimp, I'd still be worried about the remaining cardinal. At various times, wild caught cardinals have been known to mysteriously succumb within weeks for no reason.


Lobster?

Lobsters are opportunistic fish predators IME. Whether he's involved in this incident, co-conspirator, or not, he's risky to have in the tank IMO.

-Matt

 

[mhardish308]

The cleaner's on the moderate to large size. I've had him ever since the tank was first cycling almost a year ago and he's been a happy neighbor to everybody in the tank. However, the fish in it have never been receptive of his cleanings, which i'm not sure if that's normal or not. I have two ocellaris clowns of medium size, a small lawnmower, a large melanarus wrasse, a full size orchid dottyback and that's been it fish-wise, none of which have wanted anything to do with him. ...So i don't know, it may just be pent up frustrations!

The Cardinals we bought were captive bred and on the small side.

As for the lobster, he may be a grump, but he's always been patient with the fish we've had in there, never showing signs of aggression towards anything, except some hermits that crawled towards his lair. A few pokes, and they were escorted out.

 

[mcarroll]

Something else that occurs to me is that the dottyback and wrasse could very well be stressful to the cardinals - and after hours behavior might be quite different than daytime. If they are being stressed - even if not directly - it will eventually wear them down. That they were still pretty new and small makes this a bit more likely and makes them have less constitution to deal with this kind of situation. A worn down fish could easily be captured by a hungy shrimp - or a powerhead, etc.

In your own observations, how has the Dottyback's attitude been historically? (Not sure you've been around enough to see how he's been lately.) I know the Orchid's are known as being more even-tempered than most Dottybacks, but they don't always read the books - the potential for territoriality (in both living and sleeping quarters) is there.

-Matt

 

[mhardish308]

The dottyback wasn't overly welcoming to the new arrivals. She tends to be rather protective of her spot in the left corner of the tank. When we first introducted the cardinals, the flow sort of stuck them there for all of about 5 minutes. The dottyback did pester them and they ended up heading to the opposite end of the tank, and this is where they stayed. During the rest of my observations, they were left undisturbed by her.

The wrasse has a track record of being very friendly with everybody. He's been in there since the beginning and has never bothered anybody. (Which i feel is in part to him being so skiddish to begin with. He spends about 75% of his day happily burried in the sand, and when he is out, he tends to dart to and fro from his hiding places.) But as i said, he's never shown aggression towards anyone.

I appreciate the input. If stress came from any source, I would probably link it to the dottyback.

 

[mcarroll]

dottybacks and banggai's are definitely an "odd couple" combination - especially in a tank that's not that big.

I also wondered how those Cards fare during feeding with that melanurus and Dottyback getting backup from the Clown-posse and Lawnmower? Are they getting much/any?

Also, forgot to ask about the Lawnmower? It's not completely typical, but they can also be real jerks sometimes. (I've been bitten by more than one.) Anything with yours that you've noticed?

-Matt