Coral Banded Shrimp - Boxing Shrimp

Jeann1

Jeann1

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Hi.

I have a question... I have searched for the answer already, and found mixed results, so perhaps someone on MASA can help.

Can a Coral Banded Shrimp chatch small fish like fire gobies, or bi-colour blennies?
I added 2 x fire gobies.... the smaller one dissapeared.. Then over the weekend, i added 2 x bi-colour blennies...again, the smaller one dissapeared.

Initially i thought it was a black hitch-hicker crab, but moved him to the sump before adding the blennies.. any thoughts ?
 
Yes. CBS are master scavengers and will hunt at night, looking for anything organic that they can catch.
 
student said:
I have a few firefish that live in a cave right near my coral banded shrimps layer and they've stayed alive...
he would def clean up if they died for other reasons..
dont think its unusual for firefish to hide for a few days or peg quickly for whatever reason after being introduced
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Ok. Get what you are saying, but dont really agree. I have not lost a single fish in over a year, not even a snail has died. The Fire goby was there, not hiding at all, pronking around tank, and then gone - not even a corpse, samething with the new Blennie... something in the tank is catching and eating them. My coral banded shrimp is big, a small blennie/goby is not even the lenght of this guys 2 claws.

And this is what I am asking, @richardmatlock is saying yes, you are saying no, and the whole internet is the same thing. Yes/No..
 
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well im with richard, boxing shrimps are well knows to hunt smaller fish, especially at night. And as you say, yours is a big unn, just look at the size of those pincers and you'll realise they are designed more for working than they are for looking pretty.
 
lol, I had a pair of CBS that were model citizens in my tank. However, like you say, the internet is full of different stories, which is quite normal in this hobby as very many species of fish and inverts are known to have varying behavioural patterns and wild mood swings from tank to tank. CBS certainly are one of the more aggressive types of shrimp though, so I suppose it is possible that they may catch smaller sleeping fish, although I wouldn't discount the fact that you may have another predator in the tank, perhaps a mantis shrimp hiding in the rocks that has slowly been growing up and is now big enough to prey on small fish?
 
viper357 said:
lol, I had a pair of CBS that were model citizens in my tank. However, like you say, the internet is full of different stories, which is quite normal in this hobby as very many species of fish and inverts are known to have varying behavioural patterns and wild mood swings from tank to tank. CBS certainly are one of the more aggressive types of shrimp though, so I suppose it is possible that they may catch smaller sleeping fish, although I wouldn't discount the fact that you may have another predator in the tank, perhaps a mantis shrimp hiding in the rocks that has slowly been growing up and is now big enough to prey on small fish?
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Oh , i hope not. I have been taking the torch and having a look now the last 2 night to see if i cant see another crab, or some monster eating my fishies.. and the only thing both night around was the CBS patroling.. im not 100% sure, but i guess 1 way is to sump they guy and try again

Thanx to everyone so far
 
Use the "submerged glass with some food in it at night to catch any roaming crabs" trick. That may at least get you closer to the culprit. I've kept CBS's almost constantly for the last 30 years and know all too well what they are capable of....
 
I have a smallish boxing shrimp and a coral beauty much bigger than him. Sometime the coral beauty passes too close and the shrimp tries to catch him with stretched out claws - looks funny, and the coral beauty could not be bothered much. But might be completely different story with small fish :blush:
 
Tobes said:
I have a smallish boxing shrimp and a coral beauty much bigger than him. Sometime the coral beauty passes too close and the shrimp tries to catch him with stretched out claws - looks funny, and the coral beauty could not be bothered much. But might be completely different story with small fish :blush:
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Its that ones brother I'm talking about here @Tobes .. Misbehaving , rude , cheecky thing.. In the catching process last night be recond I'm his size and he will take me on..

But no more dissapearing fish.. for now..
 
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