New anemone facing rock

KeepAFish · Mar 15, 2023

He is looking happy and relaxed. He has however shed a couple dozen of his glowing tips. He has thousands, but I am curious if this is from transit, normal, or a symptom of a problem.

KeepAFish · Mar 15, 2023

KeepAFish said:
He is looking happy and relaxed. He has however shed a couple dozen of his glowing tips. He has thousands, but I am curious if this is from transit, normal, or a symptom of a problem.

So mystery solved. My cleaner shrimp steals food that is caught in the anemone’s tentacles and is ripping off the tentacles stuck to the food. How do I stop the cleaner shrimp and protect the anemone?

Also the shrimp walk all over him and takes food from his mouth. Sooner or later the shrimp may become dinner??

52728299 · Mar 15, 2023

May want to consider rehoming the shrimp. They can be pretty relentless

KeepAFish · Mar 16, 2023

Aluco said:
May want to consider rehoming the shrimp. They can be pretty relentless

Not what I was hoping for, but you are probably right. Have you seen it play out before? How did it progress?

Any creative ideas to make it work:

Could I harass the shrimp to get him to move and change feeding habits? - feed the shrimp first and give the anemone larger pieces of food too big for the shrimp (anemone is about 8-10 inches).

If the clowns host the anemone will that deter the shrimp?

The shrimp was added at the same time as the anemone. Could I get another cleaner?

I love the benefits of a cleaner shrimp and wanted to have him as one of several prerequisites before I add any tangs.

52728299 · Mar 16, 2023

Clowns would help imo but you never know if/when they will make it their home. You could give a porcelain anemone crab a try. They are peaceful but will defend the anemone from intruders

OrionN · Mar 16, 2023

Shrimp seem to be protected, or alt least impervious to anemone stings on the legs. I would remove the shrimp to the sump until you have clown fish in the anemone or it is stronger and able to fend for itself.

REM2021 · Mar 16, 2023

Depending on how fast your anemone eats, you could try managing it by feeding the shrimp first on the other side of the tank. I have a skunk cleaner and a BTA and initially had the same problem, took a few days to train the shrimp that tongs on the other side of the tank = easy mysis, but I haven't had an issue since then. I feed him directly from the tongs and the shrimp takes several minutes to get through the mysis, during which I feed the BTA. The BTA is fast at eating, so by the time the shrimp wanders back over, its meal is digested enough that the shrimp doesn't seem interested in digging for it.

KeepAFish · Mar 18, 2023

REM2021 said:
Depending on how fast your anemone eats, you could try managing it by feeding the shrimp first on the other side of the tank. I have a skunk cleaner and a BTA and initially had the same problem, took a few days to train the shrimp that tongs on the other side of the tank = easy mysis, but I haven't had an issue since then. I feed him directly from the tongs and the shrimp takes several minutes to get through the mysis, during which I feed the BTA. The BTA is fast at eating, so by the time the shrimp wanders back over, its meal is digested enough that the shrimp doesn't seem interested in digging for it.

The shrimp and anemone are doing better together. We fed the tank away from the anemone for a couple days. Then fed the anemone a fish head. The shrimp tried to snatch it, but the tentacles have become more sticky and stronger. The shrimp still stays next to the anemone, but hasn’t been able take much food and no longer seems to remove tentacles.

The clownfish also hang out with the anemone, but haven’t hosted it yet.