Poll: Favorite Shrimp

[Heckel]

Mine or my blue coral bandits

 

[JoeIII]

I voted skunk cleaner, because They have so much personality, but then the comments reminded me how hard it is to feed the anemone with them around and changed it to pistol - their behavior is very interesting, especially with a goby friend.

I have also had a harlequin I loved, but once our asterinas were gone I re-homed it. the specialized feeding needs keep them from being a favorite

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

best time 2 ask. Do they have behavior similar to peppermints gangster stealing food and become that when food enters they become annoying.

They can be just as bad as peppermints and skunk cleaner in stealing food from corals as your feeding them but I also find the flame shrimp to be a bit more timid if you chase it off the coral. Mine usually won't come back to the coral and steal more food after I chase it off until the next feeding.

 

[sdcosta]

Love my cleaner shrimp pair, they frequently spawn... have yet to see any survive though. Free fish food

 

[alten78]

My blood red is the prettiest shrimp you'll never see...so I voted for my skunk cleaner

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Pedersons Shrimp.

 

[dede]

I personally dislike all shrimp! Even though I have a cleaner shrimp, it annoys my fish and steals food from corals.It also makes a big mess with algae sheets. I dislike peppermint shrimp even more because when they get hungry they will tear into fleshy corals (search for this on YouTube if you don't believe it).

Just experienced that with my new peppermint shrimp I put in q-tank with new corals. I had to move him so he wouldn't kill my more expensive corals I just purchased. Now I am worried about moving him into my dd but got him for aptasia control.

 

[dede]

My favorite right now is my Skunk cleaner shrimp. My tangs were bothering the hell out of my coral banded shrimp to get cleaned and he wanted nothing to do with it. So I got them the Skunk and he goes to town on them. The Sailfin is big enough that the skunk will climb on top of him and walk all over him, quite entertaining.

 

[Xandernfs]

I love my cleaner shrimps over the past years, but I just got a candy cane pistol shrimp and I LOVE watching him build his tunnels! My guy even will brush his claws after each sand push much like we brush our hands together to make sure they are clean.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Cleaner Shrimp for me. They have a ton of personality. Always out and swaying on the rocks. They react to any stimulus and love an audience. They like to check everything out. They are probably not just my favorite shrimp, but are my favorite animal of any kind in a saltwater aquarium.

As noted, they do go after all of the food and will steal from anemones and corals, but I still love them.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I have a coral banded shrimp... he pinches my hand and tries to grab fish and caused my six line wrasse to jump over board. It turned into a potato chip before I realized what happened. That evil shrimp is banished to my nano/frag tank. ;Rage;Punch

I'd have to go with the pistol or sexy shrimp(voted for pistol, because goby/pistol pair is so cool) as my favorite reef shrimp. While pretty, all the cleaners have a tendency to rip the mouths of LPS corals open and steal food, eventually killing the coral.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Pedersons Shrimp.

I wish they were bigger!

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

The mantis shrimp is not a shrimp but it is still a crustacean. They are stomatopods a group of their own.

 

[Corey Baker]

CORAL BANDED! Ive had mine a few years now and what a personality. its a monster but very peaceful with all other tank mates and really could care less about the much smaller peppermints in the tank. Sweetlips and flamehawk leave it allow so ++

 

[Instigate]

They can be just as bad as peppermints and skunk cleaner in stealing food from corals as your feeding them but I also find the flame shrimp to be a bit more timid if you chase it off the coral. Mine usually won't come back to the coral and steal more food after I chase it off until the next feeding.

I have a coral banded shrimp... he pinches my hand and tries to grab fish and caused my six line wrasse to jump over board. It turned into a potato chip before I realized what happened. That evil shrimp is banished to my nano/frag tank. ;Rage;Punch

I'd have to go with the pistol or sexy shrimp(voted for pistol, because goby/pistol pair is so cool) as my favorite reef shrimp. While pretty, all the cleaners have a tendency to rip the mouths of LPS corals open and steal food, eventually killing the coral.

You just have to pay off the cleaner shrimp their protection money and they'll leave the corals alone. I give mine each a large piece of clam or something that will take them a while to eat and that gives me the time needed to feed the corals in peace.

 

[4FordFamily]

I chose cleaner because they’re out and you can actually see them. Fire are prettier but much more cryptic so cleaner won out.

 

[mort]

My friends feeling where hurt when they saw this poll. I figured I would let them speak their mind. Mantis shrimp are by far my favorite reef shrimp even though they are not safe to house with a lot of other inverts and sometimes fish. In my main reef displays though I have always been a fan of cleaner shrimp even though they steal food from corals.

The mantis shrimp is not a shrimp but it is still a crustacean. They are stomatopods a group of their own.

I was then going to post that.

I'm a stomatopod not a pesky shrimp

 

[vlangel]

I see there are lots of peppermint shrimp haters here but they are great in a seahorse tank., that is as long as the food bowl is up high on the glass where they wont get in it. They find any mysis that the ponies waste and keep the tank clean and I love that about them. Their larvae makes a good snack for the ponies too.

 

[AlexG]

I was then going to post that.

I'm a stomatopod not a pesky shrimp

True but I was looking at this from more of a common name perspective where mantis shrimp normally used over the term stomatopod. That's a great picture.

 

[Eagle aquatics315]

Agree. Nothing prettier than the fire shrimp. My daughter loves puttinf her arm in my tank and having our fire shrimp crawl up it. She says "Daddy, can we do the shrimp trick?"

That is such a cool picture