Magenta Dottyback ATE Cleaner Shrimp?
 

Hi, guys. So I bought a couple of very small cleaners over the weekend. The bigger one is still in there but the smaller one seems to have disappeared during the first 24 hours.

My magenta dottyback appears to be suspiciously fat now. Has anyone ever had a magenta eat a cleaner?

Dottybacks have been known to eat small shrimp so it's not surprising if he's the culprit.

It's possible. Allthough in my experience I find that shrimp are very sensitive creatures to acclimate. When I do a long slow drip they seem to have a better chance of survival as opposed to when I did a quick acclimation and into the tank.

Well both shrimp had the same acclimation and one is still alive and well so it could not be that. Not to mention the suspicious weight gain the dotty put on overnight. She darn near doubled in size! So I think we have a culprit - my shrimp-eating magenta dottyback. I think the other one is too big but I guess I will have to wait and see. Not much else I can do. That was an expensive little meal she had!

IME, shrimp often get eaten when first added to the tank...frequently not completing the drop from surface to sand! However, if they survive that experience, they are often fine after that.

Your 2nd one may not get eaten now that it has settled in a bit.

+1 on the slow acclimation. A 2 point difference in salinity (ie. 1.023 and 1.025) is enough to kill them instantly if not drip acclimated over at least a half hour. Shrimps with their thin exoskeletons are incredibly sensitive to osmotic pressures.

There is the possibility that the shrimp is hiding. I think they know they taste good. It's not unusual at all for them hide incredibly well at first. Of course, it's possible he was someone's lunch too. Hard to say. You never know he might show up in the coming weeks. Or ... not.

I am pretty positive the dottyback ate it at this point. That would explain her weight gain. No way it was acclimation otherwise both would have died and not just one of them. They came out of the same tank at Golds and were acclimatized in the same bucket, then scooped up into the same net and released into the tank.

I have three Sexy shrimps with my Orchid Dotty. One shrimp is really small too, a shrimpy shrimp. No issues. The shrimp were in the tank before the Dotty arrived for what it is worth.

I cannot think of anything else that would have caused the dotty to gain that much weight overnight and she looks guilty, too! In my case the dotty was there first and then I tossed in a couple of baby cleaners. She must have thought they were not-so-frozen food.

on a related note.... one of my emerald crabs was eating my former dottyback early one morning last week. Is it possible for a crab to catch a fish during the night or did it die and then get eaten?