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Cymonous
03/29/2013, 11:05 AM
I just added a new peppermint shrimp to my tank Wed night. The first night the Royal Gramma showed a bit of dominance, plus the RG didn't like that the shrimp went into its normal sleeping hole. I didn't see any issues thurs. This morning, I saw the shrimp picking at some rock, I turn around for a sec and found the shrimp had darted to the otherside of the tank and in-between my thermometer and the tank wall. I helped it get out.

Later while I am work, my wife sends me this HELP! email. The RG and two clowns were picking at the shrimp and the fish picked off some of the shrimps legs. I had my wife put the shrimp in a baggy with tank water and sitting in the tank.

Does anyone have any suggestions? (Edit) My wife says shrimp is alive, but laying on its back. She thinks it just can't stand up.

steve888
03/29/2013, 11:45 AM
I am definitely not an expert but I'm wondering if you might be overstocked and there's some competition going on in your tank for food and living space? I had a 14G BioCube for a year before I bought my setup below. In my BioCube, I had 10 lbs of live rock and 10 lbs of live sand which displaced about 2.5 gallons of water. So, I really only had about 11 gallons of water in that thing. It's not a lot of space for three fish and a shrimp.

I'm not saying it can't be done or that you're doing anything wrong...just trying to think of what the problem might be.

Cymonous
03/29/2013, 12:00 PM
I had a fireshrimp previously in the tank. I had it for quite some time. The RG would mess with the fireshrimp occasionally, but the fireshrimp would fight back. The fireshrimp was quite a bit bigger than my new peppermint though.

Also, I feed all of my livestock daily. They are all pretty plump.

Fish Biscuit
03/29/2013, 12:14 PM
When I first started my 12 & put in my CUC I went w/ 2 peppermints & 2 blue leg hermits. Everything was ok for a few weeks & then one of the shrimp started beating up the smaller one eventually killing it. The same thing happened with the hermits down the road.

Wierd things happen in smaller tanks, maybe due to the lack of everyone getting to set up their own territory far enough away from each other. I would expect to see some issues once the clowns are mature & breeding, they may not want the RG around.

Cymonous
03/29/2013, 01:06 PM
I have an upgrade in the works to a 40g Long. I have the tank, just working on getting the rest of the equipment. I'm planning to have everything up, running, and moved over within the next 2-3 months.

gone fishin
03/29/2013, 03:01 PM
I have had a few royal gammas over the years. Most did not bother anything but a couple of them were total psycopaths. With a small tank the gramma may be getting agressive as he matures. Just my 2 cents.

devimik
03/29/2013, 06:51 PM
My RG will do the open mouth silent shout at any fish or shrimp that comes into his cave or too near it, but he's in a 90g, so there is plenty of space. I do suspect that this is a crowding issue, so perhaps you could get a mesh hang on side breeder box or something to keep the shrimp in the tank, but safe from the fish until you get your 40g up? Good luck.

Cymonous
03/30/2013, 07:16 AM
I put the shrimp in a QT. I had thought about the breeder net, but I was worried the RG would still mess with the shrimp. The shrimp never moved its legs, just kept flapping its under-belly. One of its antenna was also bent. Unfortunately, the shrimp was found dead this morning. I am going to hold off on anymore livestock till after my upgrade.

gone fishin
03/30/2013, 08:59 AM
sorry to hear about the shrimp. I personnally think holding off on livestock is a good plan.