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Mandarin killed Cleaner Shrimps?


Alexraptor

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So I have this extremely ill tempered male Red Mandarin Dragonet.

He once almost killed my female dragonet, beat the living crap out of her and totally wrecked her fins and bit her. She later died from being egg-bound, and I can't help but wonder if the stress and harm he caused her actually contributed to her demise.

 

Now for the better part of the year he has been living in my 15G tank with my clowns, and cleaner shrimp. All's been well and he's stuck mostly to the rockwork.

A few days ago I moved my hammer coral and clownfish to larger tank, as the coral was outgrowing my 15g and I couldn't bring myself from separating the clowns from their home.

I immediately noticed a change of my Mandarins behavior, he became more confident and assertive and being out in open water much more than he has ever done before.

Today while doing some work on the tank I noticed that both my cleaner shrimps are suddenly...dead.

The one is nowhere to be found and the second one seems to be a fresh kill.

I thought first it may have been a water chemistry issue, since I'm struggling with a serious PO4 problem, but none of my corals have shown any decline and health, and my mussel, hermits and snails are all in good health.

So then I started thinking about his temperament and considered the possibility that he may have... killed them?

 

Has anyone ever heard of Mandarins attacking and killing inverts? I just can't believe the timing of their deaths is a coincidence, and I know dragonets have extremely powerful jaws.

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Never heard of it, but not out of question. Removing the clowns put him at the top of the pecking order suddenly and it could see the shrimp eating the pods it wanted for itself.

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I never discount anything when it comes to aquatic creatures. Its possible that being the chief resident now, he has become more territorial.

 

 

As for the phos issue you are having. Phosguard is a good option to help reduce it. Use small amounts and test every 4 days. It really helped not only reduce my phos but i got rid of my gha using it.

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