My neighbor's tank

[rajfish]

Hey guys,

I went to visit a neighbor today that has two maroon clowns with a coral banded shrimp in a 55g. I noticed that despite what the internet says, the coral banded shrimp seemed to intimidate the maroon clowns. They would stay the heck away from them. I tried to convey this to the neighbor, but he said this is normal. The thing is, I want a coral banded shrimp too in the near future. Everything I have read about them says fish safe. What are your experiences?

 

[rajfish]

Also, the neighbor had all kinds of hermits and snails in his tank with the CBS. Will the CBS eat those too? The neighbor seemed knowledgeable, but the 'net says differently

 

[xyzpdq0121]

A CBS could eat another shrimp and has been known too. They also will eat a small fish such as a goby or blenny. As for a clown, A maroon SHOULD be able to hold his own in a 55 gal with a CBS but IMHO I would not be too surprised if I saw the CBS eating him one day. I have had really good luck with CBS over the years but they are agressive so be warned.

 

[rajfish]

What about in my tank? I have 2-3 inch Clarkii, a big lawnmower blenny (3-4 inches) and a caudern.

 

[spike]

My coral banded has not killed anything in my tank. A lot of bark, but no bite. I saw him walk over a peppermint shrimp shedding one night and keep going. The peppermint was spazzing, easy prey. But I knew someone that had problems with theirs, gave it back to pet shop. I guess it is up to the temperament of the CBS, or size of tank , hers was a tall 20, all the tank was his territory.

 

[rsg4]

years ago i had a cbs and i could watch it atack and catch fish in my tank. after a couple of deaths cbs was going back to the pet store

 

[george]

I've had several Coral Bandeds over a decade. They are very territorial and will attempt to intimidate where they can. They require a crevice or cave to retreat to and call their castle.

The problems come when the crevices become high traffic areas or there are insufficient hiding places for all the creatures of the tank that like to duck and cover. Since I joined the club, I've come to see that with a few exceptions, I run a fairly high density of rock compared to most people. That provides for plenty of hiding spots which I think is why I've never had problems with bandeds killing anything else in the tank, even other more passive shrimp like peppermints or cleaner species.

As for what they will intimidate, there's no limit. My golden pair will face off (albeit backing away -- usually) with fish in my tank that are 3x-4x their size. However they share the same cave area with 2 other fish: a Sankey's Dottyback which is a hider and, to an extent, will chase other fish and a Sleeper Goby who seems to just be able to ignore everything.