Mobile Invert Spotlight: Blood Red Fire Shrimp

[revhtree Verified Admin]

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Care Level: Easy
Temperament: Peaceful
Reef Compatible: Yes
Water Conditions: 72-78° F, dKH 8-12, pH 8.1-8.4, sg 1.023-1.025
Diet: Carnivore
Supplements: Calcium, Magnesium, Iodine, Trace Elements

The Blood Red Fire Shrimp, also known as Blood Shrimp, Fire Shrimp, or Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp, is one of the most popular shrimp in the aquarium hobby. It has a blood-red body with white spots and long white antennae. Depending on which region of the Indo-Pacific from which it originates, it may have the white dots just on its carapace, or covering its entire body.

The Blood Red Fire Shrimp prefers a habitat providing it with a cave or overhang where the lighting is not too intense. While it will tolerate its mate, others of its own kind will be chased away or harassed. It is generally peaceful with most other organisms in the reef system unless they impinge on its territory. As a "cleaner shrimp," it will set up cleaning stations and remove dead tissue and parasites from fish that present themselves. It will also scavenge for meaty bits along the substrate bottom. Often, only its antennae will be visible. It will not tolerate copper or high levels of nitrates in the aquarium, but will require correct levels of iodine in the water to promote proper molting.

The diet of the Blood Red Fire Shrimp should include freeze-dried, live or frozen foods, and flaked foods.
info via LiveAquaria.com

Please share your experience with these shrimp and photos!

 

[wysiwyg]

have never seen one at my lfs yet but when i do its mine

 

[ritter6788]

Short video of mine cleaning my hand.

92d5487d.mp4 video by ritter6788 - Photobucket

 

[Flyride95]

I love your vids ritter6788

 

[jonbar1]

I love mine but he has to be target fed mysis while I'm feeding the tank or he goes around stealing food from the corals polyps. For whatever reason my Royal Gramma has paired up with him similar to how a goby does with a pistol shrimp. A great addition to a tank!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I love your vids ritter6788

Welcome to R2R!

We appreciate your membership!

Thanks for joining and please make sure and post often!

 

[seafansar]

We bought 5 (found a really good deal on them) and slowly we were down to one. I don't know for sure, but I think they were slowly killing one another off. I would find one dead in the morning and it looked like nothing was wrong with it. Everything else in the tank (fish, corals, other blood shrimp) looked just fine and healthy. But the last one, we've had for 3 or 4 years now and it lives just fine with a small yellow bellied coral banded shrimp and have been for about 2 years now. It likes to hang out under a rock arch upsidedown. So beware keeping more than one in a tank, but should be fine with other kinds of shrimp.

 

[revsgirl]

Nice vid, ritter!

 

[Cl0ne1]

Jonbar1...that is awesome to hear because I just got a royal gramma and already had a blood fire shrimp. Didn't know they might do that but I will keep a close eye out.

When I got my coral beauty, the blood fire shrimp would follow it around in the rocks. The coral beauty would stop and let him pick at her gils...awesome symbiotic relationship these shrimp have with fish. BTW it does look like he is eating the fish...when he was cleaning her she would twitch a little but it is perfectly normal...they are not damaging healthy fish.

Tank you for your time,


Kevin

 

[larryl]

A must have for any tank.

 

[Steelerfan747]

I love mine, he is very active and ads great color to the display