Your CBS and fish - tell me your horror/success stories

[iwishtofish]

I have a beautiful new coral banded shrimp in my 75g tank. I don't have any fish, but I'd like a few. I realized when I bought the shrimp that they can be problematic.

For those of you who have coral banded shrimp, I'd love to hear stories regarding them and the way they've interacted with your fish and other tank critters!

[falconut]

I've had my CBS for about 5 years, so it's pretty big. I haven't actually seen it eat or kill a single fish, but I can't buy any small fish. They seam to just disappear within a couple weeks of gettign them. This goes for fish like gobies, blennies & fairy wrasses. I can only assume they he finds them while they're sleeping one night.

Just be cautious with the fish additions. They may just wind up being dinner.

[Meshmez]

I've had my CBS for about 5 years, so it's pretty big. I haven't actually seen it eat or kill a single fish, but I can't buy any small fish. They seam to just disappear within a couple weeks of gettign them. This goes for fish like gobies, blennies & fairy wrasses. I can only assume they he finds them while they're sleeping one night.

Just be cautious with the fish additions. They may just wind up being dinner.

hmm.. maybe that's where my hectors goby went...

other than possibly that ^ and it stealing food from my anemone, I havent see any issues with mine.

[iwishtofish]

Have you guys had any fish/inverts long-term with the CBS?

[LaniBaby]

When we bought our CBS, he had only 1 arm. It grew back within 1 molt and he was suddenly rather territorial. We found out we also had a eunicid worm in the tank, so when 2 of our firefish disappeared within days of each other, we weren't sure if it was the worm or the CBS. The jawfish also suffered some fin damage and was pretty angry for awhile. We got the worm out, but we kept losing crabs and eventually, as the CBS got larger, he started lunging at our clowns and other fish as they swam by. We relocated him to a larger home and have since stopped losing crabs and other clean up crew at such an alarming rate. Did he kill the firefish? Unsure, but it's a possibility.

[iwishtofish]

Ugh, I am hearing the same types of stories. I used to have a pair of CBS in 29g tank, and they never seemed to cause a problem. However, they were only half the size of this shrimp.

[KeysKid]

I caught a wild pair of CBS here in the Keys and have had them in my 55 for about a year now. I have a diamond goby and two other very small gobies (not sure the name of, I caught them myself), plus plenty of snails, hermit crabs, porcelain crab and peppermint shrimps and they have all been living with them for months with none disappearing. Maybe the "missing" fish those people were talking about just died from diseases and other problems. I think for a 75g you'll be fine.

[KeysKid]

And I forgot to mention my CBS are very large in size. I've yet to see any bigger.

[SecretiveFish]

We have had a very large coral banded shrimp in our 150 for ~6 months, and he is in there with a longnose hawkfish and a marine betta. I am pretty sure the marine betta has tried to take a chomp out of the shrimp as every once in awhile the marine betta has a slightly torn tail. We have also have a lawnmower blenny and a mandarin goby in that tank without problems.

[falconut]

Have you guys had any fish/inverts long-term with the CBS?

Plenty. I had 2 skunk cleaner shrimp with him for over 2 years, pair of ocellarous clowns for over 5 years with him, royal gramma for almost 5 years and others that have been in there for 2+ years with him.

I've got a Bluespotted Watchman Goby, but I purchased him at about 4" in size. Didn't trust getting a smaller one.

[agreeive?fish]

knock on wood, my CBS has been a model citizen, would even clean the regal angel and yellow tang after he got tired of them pestering it, that is until i got the fire shrimp which has assumed the fish cleaning duties and the CBS just minds his own business and has not bothered my purple fire fish or royal gramma, hermits or anything @ 11 months in this setup and he was purchased at "full grown" size

[lilalove]

A friend of mine went fishing in the Fl Keys one weekend. He caught 5 CBS, and without my permission, came by my house while I wasn't there and dumped them all in my tank. You can imagine my horror when I came home and saw all these buggers hanging out. They eventually killed themselves off until there was just 1. One morning I turned on the lights to find my 6 year old serpent star in a corner, not moving and missing all it's arms. I took it out, it was already dead. I looked around the tank, and there was Mr. CBS, sitting atop a pile of serpent star arms. I pulled him out and gave him to an LFS.

[iwishtofish]

Thanks for the testimonials, everyone! Seems like a mix of experiences, but some with great success. I'd still like to hear more!

Karina, that's some friend! ;)

[anbosu]

I think it partially depends on if you target feed them or not. A lot of people don't so they end up being predatory.

[iwishtofish]

I think it partially depends on if you target feed them or not. A lot of people don't so they end up being predatory.

That makes good sense.

[T Smith]

I had one in a FOWLR for years with no incident and he had gotten huge, they've always been a favorite of mine. I want one for my present tank but I'm just kinda scared as it seems to be a roll of the dice as to how they're gonna act.

[iwishtofish]

I had one in a FOWLR for years with no incident and he had gotten huge, they've always been a favorite of mine. I want one for my present tank but I'm just kinda scared as it seems to be a roll of the dice as to how they're gonna act.

Yeah, I think they are among the most beautiful of shrimps, although I wish I could add sexy shrimp. Once I get him eating the meaty pellets I drop in specific areas, I'll try to figure out what fish to add.

I've been having big temp swings lately, as the heat and a/c alternates with the change of seasons. Do you know if this is as hard on CBS as are changes in other parameters?

[LaniBaby]

We fed ours on a daily basis trying to get him to stop attacking crabs. It didn't help. When he started lunging at our baby clowns, we relocated him to a coral farm. We now have a skunk cleaner. He's nice and cleans my cuticles.

[horwitzs]

Had one in my 95 gallon that was a little territorial, but otherwise no issues at all!