Loading ...The heading might confuse you initially. How are we limiting the utility of a cleaner shrimp, when all they do is clean fish from parasites? A fish swims by, flares its fins, and they jump on for a ride. Simple, right? Rented that video, seen it too many times! Well not this version.
This idea for this post came from a recent discovery of a second use for my (and possibly other) cleaner shrimps. I was battling a new reef pest, specific to the Porites genus, that consumed the algae within the coral. It was this unknown nudibranch, which was spreading quite quickly on the coral , that prompted me to look for ways for its removal. Let me illustrate what this nudibranch looked like (I didn’t have the chance to take pictures of my own, as I was too busy extracting it from my coral. So a big thanks to Kurt448 on Reef Central for these wonderful photos):
The problem with these little guys is that A: are super hard to see, and B: multiply very fast. The only good point about them is that it looks like they are specific to only Porites.
So after battling these guys for months, preforming dips and manual extractions, I had decided to move the coral into my refugium. Currently, the refuge contains only macro algae, some docile inverts (cuke, snails), and a pair of cleaners. Unfortunately for the coral, it was left unattended for about 4 days in the refuge. It was lit only by a single 60w CFL. Poor thing wasn’t even getting enough light, and was covered with these nudibranchs and their eggs.
It took four days for my cleaner shrimp to finish the buffet table. Day 5 came. I removed the coral with the intent to try to dip it again in some ReVive. To my amazement, the nudis and their masses of eggs were all gone. Not a single egg or nudi in sight. By deduction, and only by that method, I came to the conclusion that the cleaner shrimps disposed of the predatory nudibranchs.
Maybe we haven’t given our cute little shrimp a chance to showcase their other abilities. Could they also eat Red Bugs? AEFWs? Monti nudibrachs? Maybe we need more experimentation with these creatures that we call cleaner shrimps!
Until next time reefnecks!
Trained by the thirteenth ring master of the Sian Xiuang Coral Temple. Currently is apprenticing the art of Acropora shaping in the ancient tradition of Ninja Fragging. Known as the SPS hero!
how did you notice the porites parasites then?
I agree, cleaner organisms are grossly overlooked in home aquaria. A group of scientists did an experiment on a small isolated reef in the Atlantic ocean to establish the significance of cleaner organisms role in fish health. They removed as many cleaner fish & invertebrates as they could find, and after two weeks the reef was devoid of fish. The fish either died, or more likely transferred to another reef with a full team of doctors to treat them. The biodiversity of parasite eating fish and invertebrates would suggest that there are niche organisms that eat some parasites that others don’t. Smaller cleaner shrimp such as anemone shrimp (Leandrites & Periclemenes Sps) are more useful for smaller parasites, juvenile Angel fish of the Holacanthus variety focus on larger copepods, and neon gobies (Elacatinus sps) specialize in getting inside the gills of fish to remove flukes. The caveat is to strike a balance between parasite pickers and parasite hosts so the doctors don’t starve. There are no golf courses, younger second wives or German sports cars to keep reef doctors happy.
BTW, I would have gone with the title “Cleaner Shrimps are Over-underestimated”.
Probably too confusing for those needing simpler terms
Using my eyes a month before this
Nice finding Vlad. Haven’t Camel shrimp (Rhynchocinetes durbanensis) also been implicated in red bug removal? Definitely though, the role for cleaners and commensals I think is overlooked too much in the hobby. They’re part of the reef too
Yes they have, but then they go after your corals
Meh, small detail :p