lifespan of shrimp?

[roseselene]

Hi! I don't post very often. I set up my marine tank a little over a year ago after doing a lot of reading on this board and have had suprisingly few problems. I haven't experienced any deaths yet.....Perhaps I am just lucky with that. But anyway, I got up this morning and my scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp is dead. We've had him a little over a year and he has been apparently healthy ever since. Recently he wasn't quite as active. I'm just curious if this is to be expected? Anybody know what their lifespan is? Everyone else in the tank seems totally fine including my peppermint shrimp.
Thanks!
Amy

 

[jandree22]

not super long... I've had more than a few die outa-the-blue over the years. Sucks to find a dead critter in your tank, but this usually isn't a sign of any problems.

 

[Anonymous]

I had one cleaner for almost three years. The other three I owned all died at about a year. I do not think they have a long life span.

 

[Anonymous]

The life span is only a few years, iirc. A 3 year old cleaner is getting up there in years.

 

[roseselene]

Thanks for the replies. I guess maybe he was just old
Now the hard part is going to be explaining to my 2 1/2 y.o. daughter where her favorite shrimp is.
Amy

 

[Anonymous]

Death after having a cleaner for one year isn't uncommon.


This is one animal that you can actually replace with an identical one. Tell your daughter he's lost and pick another one up at the shop. Toss him in and say he found his way home. :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[jandree22]

that's true... all cleaners have the exact same personality and looks. just match the size and you're set

 

[Anonymous]

It is an easy way to teach about death IMO. Explain the lifespan. It seems to have been understood by my now 3 year old. Either that or he just got over it.

 

[roseselene]

She hasn't noticed yet, but I think I'm going to have to teach her something about death....because we don't really care for our LFS's livestock, it always looks sick. So we had mailordered him and I'm not ready to do that again right away...so it will be a few weeks before we have another one.

 

[Anonymous]

She hasn't noticed yet, but I think I'm going to have to teach her something about death....because we don't really care for our LFS's livestock, it always looks sick. So we had mailordered him and I'm not ready to do that again right away...so it will be a few weeks before we have another one.

"He went on vacation to the ocean to visit his family...he'll be back in a few weeks." :lol:


Better yet: "Santa is bringing him back when he does his rounds this year." :lol:



My mom would have just said :"everything dies...deal with it!" :?

 

[dizzy]

She hasn't noticed yet, but I think I'm going to have to teach her something about death....because we don't really care for our LFS's livestock, it always looks sick. So we had mailordered him and I'm not ready to do that again right away...so it will be a few weeks before we have another one.

How can you be certain the stock at the mailorder house didn't look sick too? :? If it was me I would pick out a small one as compared to a large one that might be nearing the end of its lifespan. Given the choice between the two, you would be surprised how many people want the larger one.

 

[Anonymous]

She hasn't noticed yet, but I think I'm going to have to teach her something about death....because we don't really care for our LFS's livestock, it always looks sick. So we had mailordered him and I'm not ready to do that again right away...so it will be a few weeks before we have another one.

How can you be certain the stock at the mailorder house didn't look sick too? :? If it was me I would pick out a small one as compared to a large one that might be nearing the end of its lifespan. Given the choice between the two, you would be surprised how many people want the larger one.

yeah. I think the same way. The smaller they are, the longer they will live.

I've done some research on this subject and it appears that the lifespan of the shrimp is not determined as much by age as it is by size and stage of growth. A very well fed shrimp that is able to grow very quickly and molt many many times, will actually die much faster than a shrimp that gets less food, grows slower, and molts less often. It's like they have a certain number of molts in their life rather than a certain number of months to live.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Interesting Manny. My cleaner is now about 18 months old and really big. He outlasted two others that were introduced at the same time, and has outlived three or four peps.

 

[roseselene]

How can you be certain the stock at the mailorder house didn't look sick too? :? If it was me I would pick out a small one as compared to a large one that might be nearing the end of its lifespan. Given the choice between the two, you would be surprised how many people want the larger one.

Well, I just don't really care for our LFS. Its the only one in the area that carries marine fish...the other one is too far for us to drive. It isn't all that clean and the fish don't look healthy. The coral doesn't look very good either. I also don't like their philosophy. The owner tried to get me to buy some damsels to "cycle" my tank with instead of waiting for it to cycle with liverock. I know some people do this, but I'm just not into that. I don't think that life is disposable and I didn't care for that. In addition....the store employees got into a little arguement while we were in there in regards to how to take care of tanks. The whole situation turned us off and we weren't really excited to come right back. So...we tried the mail order and we were pleasantly surprised. So, that's my reasoning for going with mail order.
Amy

 

[Mihai]

Thanks for the replies. I guess maybe he was just old
Now the hard part is going to be explaining to my 2 1/2 y.o. daughter where her favorite shrimp is.
Amy

Go buy another one if she/you enjoyed it - there will be no explanation to do. In the mean time tell her he's hiding.

M.

 

[Anonymous]

How can you be certain the stock at the mailorder house didn't look sick too? :? If it was me I would pick out a small one as compared to a large one that might be nearing the end of its lifespan. Given the choice between the two, you would be surprised how many people want the larger one.

Well, I just don't really care for our LFS. Its the only one in the area that carries marine fish...the other one is too far for us to drive. It isn't all that clean and the fish don't look healthy. The coral doesn't look very good either. I also don't like their philosophy. The owner tried to get me to buy some damsels to "cycle" my tank with instead of waiting for it to cycle with liverock. I know some people do this, but I'm just not into that. I don't think that life is disposable and I didn't care for that. In addition....the store employees got into a little arguement while we were in there in regards to how to take care of tanks. The whole situation turned us off and we weren't really excited to come right back. So...we tried the mail order and we were pleasantly surprised. So, that's my reasoning for going with mail order.
Amy

I know what you mean.

My LFS has an area where the sick fish go...sort of a hospital tank with partitions plumbed seperate from the main tanks so they can medicate. There was a yellow tang that didn't even look that bad...I probably could have saved him in a clean QT. The employee nonchelantly speared him with a wooden stick and fed him to an eel while he was talking to me...I almost puked! :? I complained to the owner and told him they shouldn't do that kind of stuff in front of customers.

 

[jandree22]

My LFS has an area where the sick fish go...sort of a hospital tank with partitions plumbed seperate from the main tanks so they can medicate. There was a yellow tang that didn't even look that bad...I probably could have saved him in a clean QT. The employee nonchelantly speared him with a wooden stick and fed him to an eel while he was talking to me...I almost puked! :? I complained to the owner and told him they shouldn't do that kind of stuff in front of customers.

manny, that's unbelievable in so many levels 8O

 

[Mihai]

You know, some LFSs really deserve to go out of bussines...

M.