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!

Lets do a quick little update on how the ‘continual coral food theory’ is coming along. If you are in puzzlement, look here to get you up to speed.

Initially, I started with two cleaner shrimps inside the refugium, and four in the display. The display was and is on a moonlight cycle, and the refuge on a regular light cycle (opposite of display). My first observations were primitive, but yet interesting. I noted in the last post on this topic that all of the shrimp molted at the same time. This was probably due to the moon cycle triggering a group molt. Coincidentally, the shrimp in the refuge never molted (or never had seen their molts).

Fast track to today! Some of you all don`t know about cleaner shrimp`s deadly behavior. I must inform you that no matter how many shrimp (cleaner in this case) you have in your display (or any tank), they will dwindle to only a pair. Why? They are very territorial and will kill all in existence once paired. I currently only have two shrimp in the display, a far cry from four a few months ago. On the other hand, the two paired shrimp in the fuge are fine, thank you for asking.

So what about their reproduction?  Both sets of shrimp now have eggs along their undersides. That’s four with eggs. Now, what is very interesting, is that the shrimp in the fuge carried eggs way before the shrimp in the display. You would say, ‘oh, its because they were probably more mature!’. And you would be right if they were bought in two separate batches. But they were not. They all came together in a single batch, so I could safely assume they were the same age.

As it stands right now, they have not released their eggs. The display shrimp have started carrying eggs short after my last post on this topic. This is also when they killed the last shrimp. Sad story, probably has a Stephen King novel written all over it.. really! But the remaining shrimp, by calendar, have been holding for close to a month. The babies are be due any moment now. Should be checking the fuge tonight. Who knows, I may see a tiny cleaner alive!

In the meantime, I will try to acquire more shrimp.. specifically a couple of blood shrimp.

As always, come back to hear more on this, and other cool little topics that we bring. C-ya reefnecks!!

So lets continue from our last post on this topic. If you are not caught up, read on here, then come back with a large brewed coffee.

Here is what I have been doing.

Currently I have 3 cleaner shrimps (one died or went missing the first night, survival of the fittest my friends) in the display, and two in the refuge. The refuge doesn’t have any moon lights, but the display does. I have been feeding the shrimps two times a week omega one flake food (which is rich in protein, aminos, etc). While doing all of this, I did not see any eggs yet, which means they are not in their adulthood. But as a surprise, albeit logical when researched, all three shrimps in the display molted on the same night. In the morning, I found three shrimp shells on the sand. Clearly it had to be an attributed to the real moon phases that the RKE is capable of simulating. Therefore, I can only assume that these moon cycles will be subjecting my shrimps to release eggs in a very consistent manner, which is exactly what I am trying to accomplish.

Lesson learned my newbie friends, so far, is buy a controller that is capable of true moon cycle simulation if you want your fish and inverts to spawn. Stay tuned, as I will be doing another update very soon.

So lets kickoff the next century of posts with a unique topic, food for corals.

Food for corals is essential, just like the lights in your tank. What you would feed is the symbiotic algae known as polyps. These polyps would in turn provide nutrition and energy to secrete calcium carbonate.

For the most part, polyps feed on zooplankton, the tiny critters that roam your tank. But they also get their nutrition from prepared foods that are found on store shelves. Things like Cyclop-Eeze, oyster eggs, Reef-Roids, Reef Chili, Coral Frenzy, Rod’s Food, and different forms of bottled zooplankton.

But, I have a better self-sustaining ‘product’ that I will experiment with to feed my polyps. Is it Phytoplankton? Nope. Enhanced Zooplankton? Nah. How about live shrimp eggs.  Bingo!

You see, shrimp in captivity produce eggs all the time. They are hermaphrodites, which means any pair of shrimp can reproduce eggs. Includes are most known shrimp that we house; cleaner, blood, coral banded, peppermint, with possibilities in other types of shrimp. The frequency of their production depends on the size of the shrimp. So the bigger the shrimp, the bigger the clutch of eggs. These eggs could be easily seen on the underside of the shrimp, near his little legs.

So theory on all of this is to use shrimp as a great coral food source. By having 6-20 different types of shrimp in my system, I can attain consitent source of nutritious food for my corals. For example, if one shrimp can release eggs on one day of the week, the rest of your shrimp could ‘work’ the remaining days. So in theory you can have eggs release on every day of the week. Your corals would love you! You should look at your shrimp if you have a pair. There is a good chance that they are holding eggs.

So while my shrimp are young, I am getting them plump and ready for their adulthood. Because its hard labour for them the rest of the way! I hope PETA didn’t read this last comment!

Anyway, happy reefing reefnecks!