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Cleaner Shrimp

Cleaner Shrimp

The Cleaner Shrimp attained its name in the industry by its unique behaviour to act as a 'cleaner' and will actively attempt to eat and remove parasites and dead tissue from your fish. Some fish value this service so strongly that it will even allow the shrimp into its mouth and gills for cleaning. 

Requirements
In its wild environment this shrimp will almost always be found hiding or on top of live rock and corals in groups of around 10 or more. Therefore, this sort of environment should try and be replicated in your aquarium before adding this shrimp. It is important to not house this shrimp with very aggressive fish such as moray eels and lionfish as they are likely to see this shrimp as food and consume it. 

Suggestions
It is important to note that this shrimp will not tolerate any copper medications and it will mostly kill it. Furthermore, another thing people forget is that in order to keep these shrimps healthy they will require the correct levels of iodine within the water in order to promote molting. 

Feeding
This shrimp will usually be scavenging the sand bed and live rock for meaty bits of food. However, it should also be offered a diet of live, frozen and flaked foods. 

STATISTICS
Care Level: Easy
Temperament: Peaceful
Reef Compatible: Yes
Water Conditions: 72-78° F, dKH 8-12, pH 8.1-8.4, sg 1.023-1.025
Max. Size: 2"
Colour Form: Red, White
Diet: Carnivore
Supplements: Calcium, Magnesium, Iodine, Trace Elements
Family: Hippolytidae
Origin: Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka
 

 

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Easy to Care For
3
Easy to Feed
3
Peaceful with Others
3
Reef Safe
3
Average
 yasr-loader

  1. My cleaners control ich in my tank. Haven’t had an outbreak in a year or so but prior to that, it would come up on occasion. The cleaner will physically pick the parasite off the fish and eat them. If I noticed it one day, it was gone by the next.There is a wide range of sizes that will work. The smaller ones seem to do more cleaning than the larger ones. Also, smaller ones can get in the mouth and gills without any trouble.Infected fish will know to go to the cleaner for treatment.

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