Catch Up Post Number 1: The Tail of Two Fish and a Suicidal Shrimp

Fwah… Have I gotten behind!  So we will do this in a series of catch-up posts.

The weekend before Halloween, hubby and I were looking for something to do and had the idea to go up to Reef Culture just to look at stuff.  Luckily, or unfortunately, they were having a 20% off all black and orange livestock sale for Halloween.  And can you guess what black and orange fish is a great beginner fish?

Clownfish!

While also investigating, my husband being the deal hunter* he is, decided we should get a fire shrimp since he would be 18% off.  

After spending an amount I’d rather mention, we set off home with our precious cargo.  An hour later, we were in the process of drip acclimating our first interesting inhabitants that did not live in a shell.  We acclimated the fish for about forty-five minutes at a rate of one drip per second, the shrimp we acclimated for one hour also at one drip per second.

All of our animals were well behaved and doing well for the first two weeks.  Then we noticed something odd.  First, the shrimp’s whisker was shorter.  Then, his claw went missing.  Next, his other whisker was shorter.  

On closer observation, we realized he was getting well acquainted with our circulation pumps.  I posted my concerns on Nano-Reef and someone suggested putting panty hose around the pump.  We tried that and all was well for a few days until it looked the panty hose was disintegrating in the tank.  I assumed that was probably not healthy.  So we did some rearranging, took the pantyhose off, and closely monitored the shrimp for the following days.  All seemed well.  He molted and all of his missing appendages came back.  

Poor deceased Shrimp.

 On November 5^th, my mother in law went by the house to drop off some chairs while we were at work.  She said our shrimp looked nice.  She thought it was normal behavior for the shrimp to hug the pump… The shrimp got to friendly with it, and apparently the pump did not reciprocate the feeling.  So now we have no shrimp.  We are brainstorming anti-shrimp eating pump tactics for any future purchases.

*= I say deal hunter because I frequently feel we never would have bought what we buy if there was no sale.  Therefore, we would have saved money on an item we didn't need if it wasn't on sale. lol

Help us choose: Shrimp

Which shrimp do you think should go into our tank?

Our tank is almost done cycling.  So here are the fun posts!  Tell us what you think should go into our tank.  Anyone can comment without registering, so have at it!

The CUC (clean up crew) is the first thing to go into a freshly cycled tank.  These are animals that clean poo, algae, and uneaten food.  Examples of these critters are shrimp, snails, and crabs.  We will have all three.  

There are many varieties of shrimp and here are photos and profiles of a few that we think would be interesting to go into our tank.  We can’t have them all, so tell us what your favorites are!

PEPPERMINT SHRIMP

Image from Blue Zoo Aquatics

These little dudes are must.  They are non-negotiable. Not pretty critters, but our tank will have at least one of them.  They eat Aipstasia which is a nasty little pest that’s pretty until it takes over your tank. So, we think one of these little guys would be good to have on hand.

You can view their full profile here at Live Aquaria.

BUMBLE BEE SHRIMP

Image from Scuba Board

 These are some awesome looking shrimp.  That's mainly why we're looking at them.  Most of the fun of a reef tank is having variety of species and a variety of looks.  Some of these shrimp lend themselves very well to that.

These are small shrimp reaching a max length of 1" and we would probably buy them in a pair.

You can view their full profile here at Live Aquaria.

SEXY SHRIMP

Image from Reef Sanctuary

 Why is the Sexy Shrimp sexy?  Because it dances!  It sways it's lower abdomen back and forth when it walks like a sexy women.  These shrimp usually host anemones in the wild or home aquarium but will also host coral and rocks when anemones are not available.  These too are small shrimp at about 1" to 1 1/2".

You can view their full profile here at Live Aquaria and here's a video of the sexy dance!

FIRE SHRIMP

Image from Rate My Fishtank

Now, this is a type of shrimp we want.  The Fire Shrimp is a cleaner shrimp.  What is a cleaner shrimp?  Think of Jacque from Finding Nemo.  The shrimp will perch on a piece of a live rock and fish will come to be cleaned.  Large species of fish will even open their mouths for it.

You can view their full profile here at Live Aquaria and here's a video of a Fire Shrimp in cleaning mode.

BANDED CORAL SHRIMP

Image from Reef Delivered

 The Banded Coral Shrimp is another cleaner.  They are also a bit larger than the Fire Shrimp.

You can view their full profile here at Live Aquaria.

SKUNK CLEANER SHRIMP

I hope to have an eel one day.  Just not as big... Image from About Fish Online

The Skunk Cleaner Shrimp is another cleaner.  They are also usually a bit cheaper than their more flashy cousins.




You can view their full profile here at Live Aquaria.

So tell us what you think! We're in the market for one Peppermint, one cleaner, and one "decorative" shrimp.  Which ones are your favorite?