Cleaner Shrimp turns Killer

[Danno]

Last night I noticed that one of my larger Turbo Snails was stuck between the glass and some LR. I removed him, he closed, I sat him down by the bottom and glass to let him get hold and travel. Im my horror I watched my 2yr old cleaner attack him. I chased him away once and the snail contracted into its shell. I came back just in time to see the shrimp rip the brains and head off the snail. In no time he was consumed. I feed once a day and the shrimp is a hog. I had fears that he attacked and killed a Lawnmower Blemmy I had 2 months ago. I aclimated the blemmy, let him be and he was swimming fine. later I saw the cleaner messing with him, thought they were making friends, then to my horror he tore his gills out. I have a Coral Bueaty and 2 Yellow tails in hte tank now. I am almost afraid to add anything else. I took pictures of the inital attack. Anybody heard of this before? I like the shrimp but what the deal?

 

[shr00m]

just have to ask it.... are you sure its a cleaner? sound a lot like a coral banded.... just asking sounds crazy a cleaner could kill fish with there tiny claws.

 

[npaden]

Shrimp are omnivores. They will eat anything they can. I call them the jackals of the reeftank.

I doubt you can blame the death of a healthy Lawnmower blenny on it but I have no doubts it could kill a weakened snail.

FWIW, Nathan

 

[cdeakle]

Does sound like a CB shrimp, hmmm

 

[Mihai]

Can you please post some pictures? Will solve the mistery.
M.

 

[Anonymous]

As stated above Lysmata amboinensis are omnivores. The feed off parasites on hosts bodies and necrotic tissue. If an animal is dead or dying this shrimp will definitely eat the tissue. I would suspect that is the case with your snail and previous fish.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[redawg]

i think our critters have their own personalities.. so to speak.. i've had not quite balanced cleaner shrimp before that killed and ate anything they could catch and hold onto

 

[tazdevil]

Are you sure that they were cleaner shrimp, and not coral banded shrimp? Coral banded have two long pincher arms, and I've had them attack even my hand (and yes, they can pinch pretty damn hard sometimes). Quite the contrary with a cleaner, I've never heard or seen this type of behavior from them. I've had them climb onto my hand/arms and pick at them, never enough to cause any pain.

I have seen some LFS's missmark coral banded shrimp as cleaner shrimp, or even call them that.

 

[Danno]

Here's the killer, he was only 1" when I got him almost 4" now.

 

[Anonymous]

thats a cleaner..WITHOUT A DOUBT...maybe its senility eh? with its old age and all...my CB who is Leonidas, for good reasons too, will chase off other things..

 

[Danno]

I think he misses having a Tang to hang on. When I had my tang they were always together. The fish I have now want nothing to do with him. Then again maby they know something I don't. He is my oldest tank kritter so he wins by proxy. He survived my "learning stage" so I have to give him his dues, and unfoutunatly expensive snacks. I'm going to try another big turbo and see how he does. He is the most personable creature in hte tank. Always crawls on me when I clean but never bites me. Must know who feed him.

 

[Anonymous]

i have an emerald crab that greets me too..just not in a nice way...and trust me it hurts when gets a hold of me...

 

[Juck]

You mentioned the blenny had just been introduced to the tank,,,Is it possible he was dead/dying because of illness/stress/acclimation/LFS mishandling or something? Sounds more likely than a skunk cleaner taking out a healthy blennie.

Mind you, mine has taken out a couple of Astrea snails and ripped BTA clones apart to get at food.

 

[Anonymous]

You need to feed more. If there are not enough parasites to eat they need regular fish food. A starved shrimp will then eat anything available. I agree that they are usually harmless. It is also possible that these attacks are a cleaner just eating the necrotic tissue from a dying snail and a sick gilled fish.

 

[J.Howard]

4 inches!!!?? Wow. He probably wants some fillet mignon next . Until this thread, I never heard of such violence. I've always had them and they've been the best pets ever. Then again there's those who like mantis shrimp as pets in community tanks so....

 

[Danno]

Thanks for all the feed back. I feed once a day and everyone seems happy. May have been the weakend state of the snail. I was just confused when the cleaner started ripping the brains and inners out of the snail. he is not quick enough to catch the rest of the critters in the tank. Guess I'll just keep an eye on him. Yea 4" is huge, I got him in april 2002, seems like a monster when I look at the young ones at the LFS.I'll keep you posted on any more strange habits, like swimming upside down to get food off the surface of the water to beat his tank mates to it.(old trick now)

 

[Danno]

oops posted twice sorry

 

[Anonymous]

ive heard of people keeping glass anemones as pets(aiptasia)...go figure...?? :?

 

[shr00m]

probally the fish was dead... but thats a cleaner alright.

 

[McMatt]

Hmm.. Ripped his gills out? Ate the brains off your snail? Seems like a good horror movie.

Mr Shrimp: Hey, come let me clean you mr snail!

Mr Snail: OK

Mr Shrimp: MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!

Anyways.. Guess I should quit posting while i'm drunk.