Tank Update

[AJ_77]

Brad:

Thanks for the input! Your plight has me rethinking the situation.

At the same time though, others posted to your thread to say that they had no such problem, and that they fed theirs to keep them in check.

Have you found your problem to be unique or extreme, by the feedback you received? I haven't honestly read a lot of information on the eating habits of these shrimp, but yours got my attention.

Alan

[Aquattro]

Alan, some people suggest feeding them a lot to keep them away from the worms. I honestly don't want to put that much food in my tank!! These things are pigs!!! I have found as many people have the problem as thosse that claim they don't, however, I suspect that they may just not know they have the problem.
According to Ron Shimek, shrimp are not a welcome addition to a DSB. I may set up a separate refugium for them though so they provide some food (larvae) for my corals.

[AJ_77]

Darn. They are so purty. ;)

Are any invertebrates a good bet?

Alan

[Delphinus]

I find that scarlet cleaners are moderately better behaved than peppermints. I have a pair of each in my 50 and if they are eating bristleworms then they certainly are not getting them all. I do find them to be pests if there is a animal that is having trouble eating quickly (i.e. bubble coral or open brain) because they steal the food before it's swallowed. Same thing with the yellow tang -- it's not enough that he gets the most food out of everyone in the tank, he must ensure that others do NOT get their fill, even if he doesn't eat the food himself (it's enough to pull it out of a corals mouth). Sigh ... scallions, the lot of them.

Every animal has some kind of impact. I guess at some point you have to decide with what you can live with and what you cannot live with .... fortunately you can have a refugium where you can let all the little creatures normally predated upon mercilessly live out their lives in there..

[AJ_77]

Good point, Tony, as usual. (Thanks.)

I suppose I need to focus some research on "low-impact" versus "high-impact" creatures. And, of course, they should be purty.

And of course you're right - I have a refugium! HA!

Alan ;)

[Tau2301]

Alan, IMHO I would get the Cleaner Shrimp, Blue Legged Hermits, and any other critter that you find interesting. What is the point of having a tank in you living room if there is nothing to look at and point out to your friends and neighbours.

You have a refugium, this is the place to nurture your pods, worms, etc. Everything in your main tank is supposed to represent nature at its finest – predators and prey.

The main thing about the artificial environment that you are trying create, are the food webs. This is where you are trying to combine various creatures to create your own mini circle of life.

[Aquattro]

Hmmm, the cleaner shrimps will eat all your DSB fauna, the blue legs will kill all your snails, you'll end up with algae problems and a bunch of brown sand. Maybe a green brittle star to top off the combo...it could eat your fish. Ahh...nature at it's finest.
Alan, by all means try the cleaner shrimps in your main tank. If you find you have the same problems as I, you can transfer them to your refugium. The worms will repopulate eventually. As far as I'm concerned, blue legged hermits are mantis food. They'll kill your snails(the ones you paid money for), they'll kill your scarlet hermits, and I've even heard of them eating corraline.
The best way to figure out what to do is try it yourself; all I am doing is relaying my experience with these critters.
Good luck!

[Bob I]

I agree with those who say "keep the shrimp" I for one have just set up my tank again, and have no desire to take it apart again to catch the shrimp. If the tank has to be wormless so be it, after all I have snails to stir up the sandbed. I once had a Flame Hawk I really liked, but sold him because he had a penchant for killing shrimps. Maybe I will get another one. :(

[Delphinus]

Wow, and I thought I've had bad luck.

I don't know how else to respond to that, Reef_Raf. I have all of the above and nowhere near those kind of problems. Now with that said, I do have a mistrust of anything that has claws, shrimp or crab, generally speaking. When you get down to it, none of them are "nice" and restrict themselves to only algae. But every animal has an impact: for some I choose to take the good with the bad. Hermits are still awesome janitors cleaning up leftover food and whatnot. ... In my 50g I have three fish, several dozen hermits, several dozen snails, two cleaner shrimp, one peppermint shrimp, and several thousand brittle stars, several thousand worms, and countless pods of various shapes forms and sizes. The only real downside to the crustaceans, I have found, is that I can't beat the shrimp away from my open brain when I am trying to feed it. I have to sit there and wait while it eats and shoo them away until the food is gone, which takes usually a good half-hour. And I admit that this process gets old real quick ... but ... I don't think I'd ever get rid of the shrimp. There are reasons they're in the tank, and they fulfil those reasons. If for nothing else, they spawn like nuts and I have a good steady supply of planktonic food for everyone else. But the whatever the effects ... If I didn't want them I wouldn't have them. They are a purdy thing to look at and people come over and say "oooh neat."
I think it depends on what your goals are. If a person's intent is to have a minimally bioloaded SPS tank, then yeah, stay away from the fish and the crustaceans. But in a mixed tank, different bag of tricks.

As you say, maybe the thing to do is try it, and then see how it goes. If it works out then great, if not, then regroup.

cheers :D

[Aquattro]

Tony, I haven't got all those problems (yet), but that is a typical scenario. I also have hermits, but choose to keep only scarlets. They seem to be reasonably peaceful. I agree that shrimp provide food and therefore I may just move them to the sump for now. I believe that the DSB is a very important part to filtration, and therefore feel that anything eating my critters is bad. Again, other's mileage may vary. Like I said, no harm in trying. I may have really bad individuals in my tank.
Where did you get the brittle stars? Hitchikers? I'd love to get some of those. I have one (I think), but it could be a while before it becomes two!