Pre-meditated murder? - adult Anemone feeding on live shrimp?

[Henrik]

Hey guys,

sometime in the summer my small peppermint shrimp inexplicably vanished from my tank without any trace (no body or skeleton fragments were found anywhere). Just recently I bought an adult medium-sized cleaner shrimp and introduced him to the tank. He also disappeared without a trace 3 days later.

Now the only way that I could imagine him disappearing is that he got eaten by my large adult sea anemone (since I regularly feed it prawn bits). The anemone is paired with a clownfish couple, the female of which is quite large and aggressive.

Is this a possible explanation? Anybody have any experience with this?

Thanks,


- Henrik

 

[masterswimmer]

Very possible. I've seen anemones eat the molt from a shrimp. Given the opportunity to eat the meaty shrimp too, I'd say it's toast.

FYI, you would never see the skeleton from a shrimp, unless you're talking about the molt. Shrimps are exoskeletal. (skeleton on the outside )

Russ

 

[Henrik]

Hey Russ! Good to hear from you. Yeah, I meant the molt, although the word escaped me. ESL over here

would make sense. Maybe I'm underfeeding and thus the tankmates are cannibalizing each other. How often should I feed? I do a large feeding twice a week and a little pellet snack every once in a while... to little?

2 clownfish, 1 goby, 1 tang, bunch of crabs, snails, 1 anemone and a few softies

 

[Henrik]

Also, do you have any experience with the Aquaripure brand of nitrate filters?

 

[masterswimmer]

Hey Russ! Good to hear from you. Yeah, I meant the molt, although the word escaped me. ESL over here

would make sense. Maybe I'm underfeeding and thus the tankmates are cannibalizing each other. How often should I feed? I do a large feeding twice a week and a little pellet snack every once in a while... to little?

2 clownfish, 1 goby, 1 tang, bunch of crabs, snails, 1 anemone and a few softies

I wouldn't necessarily say you're underfeeding, I can't know that for sure. However, I would guess an anemone is an opportunistic feeder. So if a shrimp wanders in its path, the anemone is probably going to snack on it, regardless if you fed it or not. JMO I'm sure someone else will chime in with their experiences.

Sorry, no experience with the Aquaripure brand of nitrate filters.

Russ

 

[bigdog1428]

I would strt to spot feed the anenome more ,,, if that shrimp touches the anenome , he could turn into a appetizer

 

[Imbarrie]

Clownfish pairs have been known to eat freshly molted shrimp as they see them as threats to their egg laying. It is possible that one of the maroon clownfish did not want the shrimp in the tank.
Did you acclimate the shrimp completely? Inverts take a while to acclimate and if you rush the process it could harm the shrimp weakening it making it susceptible to the other tank mates.

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

My cleaner shrimp hang out with my nems all day without any issue...
My coral bandit goes on top of my rose tip nem when he walks bye

 

[Henrik]

Hey Imbarrie,

I acclimated the shrimp via slow drip for about 2.5-3 hours with very similar water parameters to the shop.

Your explanation makes a lot of sense. I wish the clown would start laying eggs already, but they've been without spawn for the entire year since I've inherited the tank. Don't have much hope. Is there anything that I could do that would encourage them to actually mate?

- H

 

[Imbarrie]

Nothing, some do, some dont.
Do you know the signs to look for when they are selecting?

I had false perc mating clowns hosting a GBTA laying every two weeks. I had a couple cleaner shrimp with no problems. But you have maroons and they are a lot more territorial.