Coral banded shrimp in a reef?

[Zante]

I have been rather confused by the info I found on the internet, so I would like the advice of people who have actually had them.

I read that they aren't reef safe and may eventually attack small fish, and they will actively attack other shrimps.

I was looking to have a mated pair in my 5 foot long reef, where there will be also 4 or 5 fire shrimps, but if they are so dangerous I will reconsider.

[yort265]

it's only been a few months, but I've had no problems out of mine. I have 1 CBS and 1 scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp. he doesn't bother the cleaner, fish, or coral. hth

[nystang]

I've had CBS for over a year now together with 1 cleaner and 1 blood shrimps. CBS is definitely the ruler of the shrimps. Other shrimps and fish as well have lots of respect for him. I've seen CBS attacking my Midas Blenny but it never did any harm. The other shrimps just run away from him (actually from her, it is a female). I have 29g tank so fish are small too. If you have a bigger tank, I wouldn't worry. It's a great creature to watch, adds a lot of life to the tank. Mine molted every 2-3 weeks, now maybe every 3-4 weeks and it grows!

[accordsirh22]

posted this in another thread asking about shrimp, here it is for you too:

i have never heard a single good thing about banded corals. every single person that has one that comes into the lfs i work at has had it kill at least 1 fish. period. you couldnt pay me to put one in my tank. never had a problem with clears/fire/peppermints/sexy though, all model citizens. and the coral bandeds we had at the store would kill any fish that was put into their tanks (only 1 shrimp per tank)

[Zante]

Still confused.

I get two answers saying it will be fine and one saying it will kill...

[nystang]

Just remember this. This shrimp when molts, can grow pretty big. If you don't feed it with sinking pellets, etc, it becomes hungry, and we all know what happens when an animal is hungry, it will attack.

[Paul B]

I have had coral banded shrimp in my reef since about 1973 or so as this mated pair is from. I never had a problem with them but they don't get along with other shrimp and them and arrow crabs really hate each other. Also don't even think about putting two males in together but a pair will mate continousely and stay together for life.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh270/urchsearch/spawningshrimp.jpg (http://s258.photobucket.com/user/urchsearch/media/spawningshrimp.jpg.html)

I get two answers saying it will be fine and one saying it will kill...

Consider yourself lucky, usually you will get 10 different opinions on anything. Use your own judgement on who to believe, it ain't easy

[Zante]

I have had coral banded shrimp in my reef since about 1973 or so as this mated pair is from. I never had a problem with them but they don't get along with other shrimp and them and arrow crabs really hate each other. Also don't even think about putting two males in together but a pair will mate continousely and stay together for life.


I am planning just four or five fire shrimp in a 5x2x2 feet tank as well as the CBS, and no other shrimps or crabs (plenty of snails though), so they should have plenty of room to stau out of each other's way.

As for the rest, yes, I'm looking to find a mated pair. I am in no hurry to stock the tank, so I will have all the time to find one (same goes for several of my future fish)

[Paul B]

The copperband will probably kill the fireshrimp when they molt.

[Zante]

I've dropped the copperband from my stock list. Too much hassle.

[njasmin]

I have had a CBS in my tank for about 6 months mixed reef and it is fine. It will walk over the coral but does not harm them, the guy definitely comes out to scrounge the pellets during feeding time. This guy is fearless and extremely territorial though...It tries to attack the fish every once in a while(they attack back most of the time lol) it had tried to attack my hand when mounting frags. At first i was skeptical bc i have a tiger pistol shrimp which i know will destroy the CBS, I have seen them in the same are and the pistol shrimp retreats. I feel they are a good addition to the tank, but they will become territorial.

[ReeferKimberly]

I had one that killed about 10 peppermints in his time and once caught a damsel in front of me (damsel got away though).

[TheAquatect]

I started out with a cute little CBS for my 10 gallon and 2 years later he is nearly 5 inches long and his antenna spread is a good 8/9 inches.. He is awesome. A few months ago I was certain he was the cause of a missing neon goby. The Internet was full of "proof" and then I found him in my sump.. My CBS also enjoys living with 2 feisty cleaner shrimp and 1 peppermint shrimp, guess he is bucking the odds. :)
Lets face it, IMO, I'll bet most of those reported killings were fish that were already dying or dead and the CBS was just enjoying an opportunistic meal. I wish you luck in sifting through the well intended misinformation on the Internet.

[Colts2Broncos]

We have a CBS and 2 Peppermints in our reef with 1 firefish, 5 chromis, 1 mandarin and 1 cardinal and have zero issues. He has never shown the slightest aggression. We feed him regularly and he just wanders around the rocks peeking out from time to time and keeps to himself. Not sure why others have had issues or if it is typical but in my experience there have been no issues at all.

[scubakid3]

1 LARGE coral banded shrimp with a skunk cleaner in a 46 bowfront and no problems.

[Reef dog 29]

I've had one for almost a year and a half now they will eat small fish such as blennies . Mine also liked hermit crabs . They are a great cleaner of larger fish such as the raccoon butterfly . Mine cleaned my racoon butterfly often and never really harmed it . They may try to attack any new fish but this only goes on for a short time or until they get used to each other. They are also good cleaners of diritious. Over all they are a good invert IMO.

[scolley]

I bought one because Dr F&S listed it as "reef safe". Wow! Should I have checked on RC before believing that? You bet!

In no short time it killed fish (not eat - just spear, nibble, and go look for new fresh meat). And it harrassed other harmless shrimp. While I had it BOTH my long lived peppermint shrimp dissappeared. IMO that was no coincidence.

I've made multiple mistakes in putting things in my reef that I should not have. But this was the only one that was so very, clearly, immediately, destructive that I would have left no stone unturned to get it out. As it was I tore up a lot of nice stuff to get it... piece by piece as it turned out. Even in capture it was not going to go out without an epic fight.

So please put me down for one heavy check in the "stay away at all costs" column.

[sjwitt]

I always have at least one in my tank. I've kept them for years, they will eat dead/dying fish but have never had one go after a healthy fish. I have CBS, Peppermint, and Red Skunk shrimp; sally lightfoot crab and a purple reef lobster. Everyone is well fed and everyone gets along.

[Duna_]

I may have been very lucky, because mine (I had a pair which I lost in a tank disaster when the light went off; and I have bought another pair two months ago) have never killed anything.

I had the first pair with three small Azure damselfish (C. hemicyanea), and many other fishes, red-legged and blue-legged hermit crabs, red fire and peppermint shrimps.
The new pair I have now is kept with the same kind of fishes (I bought new ones), a blue-legg hermit crab, but no shrimps (I have then in a nano).

I now many have had bad experiences with this shrimp, but that's not my case. They are wonderfully huge, and well fed, they eat everything.
The blue tang is soo stupid that he thinks they are cleaner shrimps, and in the evening, he waves in front of their cave, and gets a warning in his skin, but every other day he will repeat the same thing.


yes, I'm looking to find a mated pair. I am in no hurry to stock the tank, so I will have all the time to find one (same goes for several of my future fish)
It's very easy to sex them, I didn`t buy my pairs sexed, I just chose a male and a female, even in different fish shops.

You have to look at their "back". If it has something green, that finishes in the first red band, it's a female (thats the pre-ova). If it has nothing green, only brown near the head, it's a male.

Female:
http://www.buzzle.com/img/articleImages/409599-5425-44.jpg
www.buzzle.com

Male:
http://www.taenos.com/en/fish-and-coral/wallpapers/Stenopus_hispidus-232-512x320.jpg
www.taenos.com


I have always guessed it right by this method. If the female has the eggs under the belly, the green (pre-ova) is not visible, it will develop for the next clutch or if the shrimp has not mated.

Good luck!