what shrimp is the best?

kamuii · Jun 28, 2017

i'm just bored, and honestly curious.

what is the difference between the fire, cleaner, and peppermint shrimp? and which one is the best?

brett_schn · Jun 28, 2017

Real peppermint shrimp eat aptasia. Don’t have time for others

madweazl · Jun 28, 2017

Peppermint shrimp serve a purpose as annotated above while the other two are largely ornamental in our closed systems. The skunk cleaner is highly skilled at stealing food from your anemones and corals while the fire/strawberry is Yoda level at stealing the food.

Tahoe61 · Jun 28, 2017

The Fire Shrimp is fairly unintrusive, they can hide out in caves and over hangs so if you want a shrimp in constant motion this might not be the shrimp for you. I find the coloration enjoyable, I have never had one steal food from LPS or pick at corals. Out of all the shrimp mentioned I like Fire Shrimp the best.

lake985 · Jun 28, 2017

Tahoe61 said:
The Fire Shrimp is fairly unintrusive, they can hide out in caves and over hangs so if you want a shrimp in constant motion this might not be the shrimp for you. I find the coloration enjoyable, I have never had one steal food from LPS or pick at corals. Out of all the shrimp mentioned I like Fire Shrimp the best.

I couldn't agree more. I have a fire shrimp and a pair of cleaner shrimp in the same tank and the cleaners are such a pain in the butt when I'm feeding the corals...always stealing food. The only reason I even purchased them was because the fire shrimp is rarely out in the open. Although it's cool to have them crawl up my arms when I'm cleaning the tank, they are one of my biggest regrets.

kamuii · Jun 28, 2017

Tahoe61 said:
The Fire Shrimp is fairly unintrusive, they can hide out in caves and over hangs so if you want a shrimp in constant motion this might not be the shrimp for you. I find the coloration enjoyable, I have never had one steal food from LPS or pick at corals. Out of all the shrimp mentioned I like Fire Shrimp the best.

can you keep the fire shrimp in pairs? or one cleaner and one fire in one tank? i liked the cleaner shrimp bc he cleans the fish but the fire shrimp is a bit more in my price zone (cleaner shrimp at my lfs is $30+ for some reason... while the fire i believe is $15? could be off though i really can't remember)

LetItReef · Jun 28, 2017

Same here. I prefer Fire shrimp and I have two in my tank and spawning too .
I used too keep 2 Skunk and 2 Fire.
Skunk are just notorious in stealing food from corals, in my experience.

ZachsZoo · Jun 28, 2017

Peppermint shrimp are cheap at about 5$ each, small, and they eat aptasia but are easy targets for bigger fish and they sometimes kill each other. Cleaner shrimp are about 25$ each, they get to be about 3", they are fun to watch, and they eat parasites off of fish. Fire shrimp are the most expensive
at about 40$ each, they get to be about 3", they are very pretty, and they sometimes act like a cleaner shrimp in that they too will clean fish.

Tahoe61 · Jun 28, 2017

You can buy paired Fire Shrimp, I believe the key is to pair them when they are very young. Yes you can keep those types together, the larger the tank the better. In smaller tanks Shrimp can eat newly molted shrimp or ones in the process of molting, but a lot of smaller tank owners keep them together without issue.

Gil03 · Jun 28, 2017

I've owned a pair of mated huge cleaner shrimp and a pair of fairly large Fire shrimp, BOTH were pains in the **** in terms of stealing food from corals..in fact the cleaners would rip the mouths of my scoly's open only to reach in and remove food. I had to put strainers over coral just to feed them! needless to say I traded them in for a pair of fire's and although not as bad as the cleaners they too would steal food from corals to the point where again I had to trade them in. I'll mention my fires were large and didn't hide like most fire shrimp.

chefjpaul · Jun 28, 2017

I enjoy cleaner shrimp.

Sure, they can be quite aggressive for food, but thats cool to me, I enjoy feeding creatures and all their uniqueness.

TheLadyCrash · Jun 28, 2017

I too have decided shrimp aren't worth the hassle. Aside from the above mentioned food stealing, peppermint shrimp have been known to actually eat the coral itself.

LuckyEd · Jun 28, 2017

I have a peppermint shrimp to get rid of aistapia. I had a cleaner shrimp that I never saw clean a single fish. I learned to feed the shrimp first, and once it is busy eating then I feed anemones and corals.

jmerideth1 · Jun 28, 2017

I have 2 fire shrimp and 2 skunk shrimp and they are like wolves the fire shrimp shrimp stealing food from the skunks and anemones then the skunks come in and steal what's left. It seems like the nem's can even have swallowed food and the shrimp just tickle it out if them. I do love them both though. Sometimes the skunks ride the sailfun tang while cleaning him.

3mm3 · Jun 28, 2017

I have a pair of skunks cleaners. Same as the others mentioned, a big pain. I also have a fire shrimp he pushes the skunks around but mainly just stays in his claimed cave. But to keep the skunks and fire shrimp in check I have a big mean coral banded shrimp that rules the tank. I absolutely love the banded shrimp. Watching him inspect my hippo tang does give me the creeps though.

kamuii · Jun 29, 2017

3mm3 said:
I have a pair of skunks cleaners. Same as the others mentioned, a big pain. I also have a fire shrimp he pushes the skunks around but mainly just stays in his claimed cave. But to keep the skunks and fire shrimp in check I have a big mean coral banded shrimp that rules the tank. I absolutely love the banded shrimp. Watching him inspect my hippo tang does give me the creeps though.

arent the coral banded shrimp a little tough to care for? i could be wrong but i'm just going by what i remember lol, how big is he? also... that's the white and red striped fuzzy looking one... right?

3mm3 · Jun 29, 2017

kamuii said:
arent the coral banded shrimp a little tough to care for? i could be wrong but i'm just going by what i remember lol, how big is he? also... that's the white and red striped fuzzy looking one... right?

I think the care is the same as the other shrimp. Mine is still a small guy but his body (head to tail) is probably just over 2 inches. His arm span though is much larger. His antennae have around a 11 to 12 inch spread.

SashimiTurtle · Jun 29, 2017

I only have one banded coral shrimp in my tank. He's been in there about 4 months and molts once a month. Doesn't bother any corals or fish. I see his antenna sticking out of the eel cave but he only comes out at night. My Caribbean tang will swim up to where his antenna are sticking out of the cave and wiggle a bit signaling that it wants to be cleaned. I think the shrimp might clean the tang at night, it sleeps in that cave also. Never once have I intentionally target fed him, but he is growing.

Philt56 · Jun 29, 2017

Yes, my coral banded tends to stay back of the rocks til nite but occasionally comes out for feeding. I hardly ever see the fire shrimp, he hangs out upside down in one cave.

Coral banded and arrow crabs are sworn enemies so don't add one if you have the other.