Cleaner Shrimp : Strange Behaviour
 

Hi All
I have a cleaner shrimp that molte on Friday. Saturday, he stayed in his cave all day/ night long, and wouldn' t come out at all which I understood was normal. Yesterday, when I got up and looked into the tank, he was sitting way up high in the water colum, just sittin ghere doing nothing. When the lights came on, he promptly moved to a rock, totally out in the open and pretty much stayed tere all day, only moving a small amount side to side on the same rock. He did spring into actin when I dropped in some mysis shrimp, he ate it , then went back to the same spot.
I wokr up this am , and sure enough, he is stitting in the exact same spot but appears to be way more active today. He is moovibng around alo t more and will " floolw me" to the other end of the tank but wont stay. He just goes back to the same spot.
He looks fie, no signs of trauma or anything, no visiable damage, his colr is normal, everything looks fine, he just is very inactive compared to " normal".
Water parmaiters are norm : sg. 1.024, ammonia =0 , nitrites=0, nitrates = 5.ppm PH 8.2, temp 79

Is this behaviour likely related to his recent molting, how long does it usually take before a shrimp is back to " normal" after molting ?
I'd apprecaate any thoughts or comments regarding this, I"m kinda worred about thim

Thanks
Captainhemo

Perhaps it decided to set up a cleaning station at that spot, and it was purely by coincidence that this happened right after molting.

I do not have nay fihs in this tank, is it possible he'd still set up shop w/o fish ? I have never had a cleaner before so this behaviour is new to me but now that you have mentioned that, its almost like that is what he is doing, he seems to be waiting there for something !!
I did recently add a tuxedo urchin and a stawberry snail, but he wouldnt be waiting to clean them would he ? I guess maybe I should get a fish or wo so he has something to do ?

Thanks

I don't think it (they're hermaphrodites) has any clue there are no fish in the tank. I wouldn't worry too much about it getting bored. :wink: Take your time in buying fish, the shrimp won't be any worse for the wear. You might buy it a friend though, as watching their interactions can be quite interesting.

He may be drying his new "suit". It takes a bit for their new exoskeleton to harden and maybe he feels safer there. Just a guess. :lol:

My cleaners always molt on the top of the rock using it to snag off the old skeleton.

One of my cleaners always chose a certain spot on the LR similar to what you described to start a cleaning station & it was really neat to watch it do its symbiotic thing. Until something killed it :evil: :evil: :evil: In general, once my cleaners have been in the tank long enough to be comfortable, they'll sometimes choose to stay up high, perhaps to spot the food faster.

I do hav a peppermint shrimp to, but he is relaly shy. I havent seen them inteeract at all yet ( I've only picked up the peppermint receintly to help deal with some small aptaisia.
After the cleaner first molted, he wouldnt even come out for over 24hrs. Once he did come back out, he has basically been on that rock ever since.
I have actually been thinking for some time about what fish I wanted to have so it will not be a " spur of the moment" decision. I have been thinking of getting a scooter bleenie , I think they are kinda neat and possibly a type of clownfish Still not 100% sure so I'll hold off until i read some more about the different fish options. I really want something that is gonna be community oriented, not too large as I only have a 33 gal tank.
Thanks for all the input, I feel better about the shrimp now, not so worred

captainhemo.

Word of caution. Scooter blennies are very similar to Mandarins and often need a very healthy pod population to do well long term. Same family I believe. Lawn Mower blenny look similar, but grow bigger. Still they have all kinds of personality & I really like mine. Research different spp. if you like blennies & gobies. There's lots available, most are easy to keep. Mandarins & scooters seem to be the exception.

Hmm, that is interesting. I actually hadnt seen these scooter bleeny's beofe, nor any other s for that matter. I was at my lfs and was talking to them about fish choices and that is when she pinted them out to me saying they were very friendly, lots of personality, easy to keep etc.. I watched them for a while and thought they were really interesting it was really pretty neat the way they moved around the tank , very unique. Are the lawnmower bleenys very similar to these behaviour wise ?
I'll talk to my dealer again and maybe mention the lawnmower blenny , see if that wouldnt be a betrr choice. She has never mentioned those before so it wil be interesting to see what she says

cpatinhemo

Lawnmowers, like their name implies, are algae eaters and they'll scrape algae off you glass & LR. On the glass, they'll leave little lip markings that look like something from a Rolling Stones album cover (oops, dating myself with this reference). :lol: Firefish are also nice and peaceful community fish. Don't know if you're really looking for a mid-water or bottom dweller.