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View Full Version : Banded coral shrimp horror story


2noob4u
03/30/2013, 09:19 PM
I've read many forum posts that claim most banded coral shrimp are generally harmless and get along with anemone's and coral but I recently got a BCS from hell. I've had a green bubble tip anemone in my tank for months that has moved around quite a bit but was generally healthy and active. I picked up a coral banded shrimp from PetCo that was 1.5" (body length) and acclimated him into the tank this week. He seemed to be getting along with everything; emerald crabs, clown, watchmen goby, and my inverts and corals the first day or so--but I noticed him snapping the outer skin of my anemone one night. The anemone closed up and was kind of hiding under an overhang the next morning. When I got home from work--I could not find the anemone but didn't think much of it since they hide sometimes; (so I've read). The next day I noticed some chunks floating around the tank and a rather fishy odor. The chunks appeared to be the same color and texture of the anemone's outer skin but I imagine the rest was quickly disposed of by my emerald crabs and other inverts. I left the coral banded shrimp in the tank for another day because I really don't have proof that its the culprit but the next day I noticed that half the tentacles of my 2" torch coral were missing and appeared to be snipped off. I quickly moved the shrimp over to my month old 125g tank that currently has no inhabitants--short of plankton from the LR.
The horror happened in my 30g JL rimless tank and I can rule out pumps and the filtration system--water and light levels are also ideal.
Has anyone witnessed a destructive shrimp before or have any other ideas of what might have caused it? I feed the tank daily and my livestock are all healthy so I cant imagine it was starving--but I don't have much experience with shrimp. I'm tempted to throw a fu-manchu lionfish in with the shrimp to let them duke it out...