[Delphinus]

Guess this is about week 5 for the blue. I've formally hit the panic button tonight and by that I mean I've removed it from my 110g cube and placed it into my 40g shallow tank, which is probably what I should have done in the first place, just didn't want to rearrange things in there to make it fit.

The problem is it doesn't eat. Week after week of .. just .. just doesn't eat, just doesn't eat, just doesn't eat, doesn't eat, doesn't eat. It's losing stickiness and even placing small chunks of prawn in the mouth it fails to swallow.

The main concern I had about it being in the larger cube is that the theivous pests of a peppermint shrimp and a cleaner shrimp do anything in their power to defeat any attempt to feed it. I've had it with them, I hate them, really anything with claws are not to be trusted. The cleaner shrimp was supposed to be something I was going to babysit for only 6 weeks, that was two years ago. I don't think the guy is ever coming back to get his shrimp. And the peppermint I only had because I hoped they would eat aiptasia, I started off with 5 and this is the big meanie who seemed to outlast the other 4. Of course they never touched aiptasia, just like the other 20 times I've tried peppermints for this purpose, they've just been a big disappointment. These shrimp are done in my book. I've laid a trap for them and once caught they are going out. If I catch them I will be putting them on the livestock for sale forum ... freebies. Frankly I don't care if someone uses them to feed their eels ... stupid things have crossed the line for the last time.

Anyhow, I'm still concerned that the lack of a feeding response of *any* kind will eventually spell out that this carpet is doomed, but at least in my 40g there is nothing to steal the food. Only things capable of it are the clownfish and they are the stupidest fish in the universe, so they shouldn't pose a serious threat on that front.

The purple tries to eat just fine, except of course that it can't because the food gets stolen every time. Yep .. I can't wait to get those stupid shrimp out of there.