The Unofficial Sexy Shrimp Thread

[smarsh]

Well from what I have learned (mostly form this thread) is that they do tend to disappear in larger tanks. Good luck! I hope you at least have a few sightings!

 

Thanks. I love them so much I am thinking of buying 15 more of them....maybe then I will see a couple at least, lol.

[Lalani]

Hi smarsh, I could be that they are hiding or that you just can't see them... but it would help if you could tell us what fish and inverts you have in the tank with them, so we can rule out predation.

[smarsh]

Hi smarsh, I could be that they are hiding or that you just can't see them... but it would help if you could tell us what fish and inverts you have in the tank with them, so we can rule out predation.

 

All fish are small and well fed

 

1 small flame angel

1 percula clown

1 4 line wrasse

 

Inverts

 

1 emerald crab

35 blue leg/ red leg hermits

1 sand anemone

 

Corals

Various mushrooms

various ricordia

zoos

GSP

 

thanks for any help.

[Lalani]

Thats a lot of hermit crabs!

And I'm not sure if the 4-line wrasse would cause any trouble or not. When you first put the shrimp in the tank, did you see aggression from any of the other inhabitants?

Is there another name for the sand anemone?

Edited April 3, 2008 by Lalani

[jennifro]

My sexies are eating very nicely now. They really like the pellet food. The problem is my Nassarius snails like it too. So when I feed them first I have to drop a couple pellets on the side of the tank where the sexies aren't and wait a minute for the snails to get to them. Then I drop some pellets for my sexies on their side of the tank. Well today one of the snails decided that the sexies pellets taste better theirs did so he left his and raced to get to a pellet before one of my sexies. It was a pretty close race but the snail won. Well, the sexy didn't like that very much. He decided to defend what he thought was his. He went after the snail! The snail kept using his shell to knock the sexy away from the pellet. Then the sexy got on top of the snail, and dug under him until he got the pellet! I was so proud of him! It was quite the battle! The best I have seen in my tank so far. I couldn't believe the fight they both put up! These sexy shrimp might be small but they can sure take care of themselves!!!!

[Lalani]

Lol, thats a great story, Jennifro! Those sexies sure can kick some butt when they need to.

[el fabuloso]

I agree! Great story. Sexy shrimps are feisty for sure, mine fight with the hermits over food all the time and they always win.

 

I was sneaking around my tank earlier and caught this pic of my sexies sleeping in the xenias.

Edited April 4, 2008 by el fabuloso

[jennifro]

Thanks guys! I was just so proud of them

 

Great picture Fab! I can't wait to get my new camera so I can get some good ones too!

[ejaeger]

I have question. Will I ever see my sexy shrimp again? I put 3 in my RSM 34, now I know that they should be kept in a much smaller tank. But for 2 days they hung together in a little circle and ate like crazy. on the 3rd morning it turned on the lights to see only one in the center of a rocordia and he crawled in a hole im my rock shortly after. I have seen only 1 at a time during moonlight hours since and rarely. Is this normal? I love to watch them but they are hiding all the time now. Any help would be great!

 

I have the same problem! I have two sexies in my BC14. No fish, just a cleaner shrimp, 2 hermit crabs, 3 nass snail, 3 other type snails, a serpent star, pom pom crab and a bunch of corals including a frogspawn, hammer head, GSP, zoas, couple of small kenya tree frags, feather duster, candy canes, and a small cabbage leather. I wouldn't think any of those would eat or be able to catch the sexies. Any thoughts? Are they just hiding? Do they like a certain type of food that might draw them out?

[jennifro]

Well my little pos camera actually worked for me this morning! When I went in to say good morning to my tank all 5 of my sexies we on my pipe organ coral! I was so excited to see them all so close together! It was my first chance to get them all together and my camera actually worked too! Here is my gang!

[el fabuloso]

Awesome pic jenn! They totally look like they're posing for you.

[Lalani]

Great pics Aaron and Jenni!

[smarsh]

Day 10. Still no signs of my 3 sexy shrimp. I dont think my wrasse could have eaten them. He is too small. All 3 shrimp stayed in a circle on the sand for the first two days. The fish saw them but were not interested. I get up in the middle of the night to try to see them. Any suggestions on getting them to come out?

[Smurf]

Try leaing a trap. Lol, I've heard of people doing this when they would get concerned about losing inverts in big tanks

[Lalani]

I really don't know what to tell you smarsh.

They could just be hiding out in the rocks. Next time you feed the tank, try dropping in some sinking pellets. Other than that, just keep an eye for them. Look in and under any LPS you may have in the tank, maybe under some mushrooms, on xenias or other tall corals. Thats all I can think of...

[yankeereefer]

It's pretty neat to see how many of us are keeping sexies - I never knew.

 

Something y'all might want to look into if you're up to the challenge are a couple of websites:

Project DIBS and MOFIB

Both are groups focused on aquaculturing corals and animals. Turns out that the two groups have paired up with each other this year and one of the primary species they are trying to breed and capture info on are Sexy Shrimp.

 

I am going to be picking up another bunch of these little guys in order to try and breed and grow them out.

 

If nothing else there are some great pics and links

[Lalani]

Thanks for the links! I had noticed the challenge on Project DIBS a few weeks ago, but I don't think I'm up for the challenge of raising the babies.

[Necros]

I just got 3 sexy shrimp for my Biocube 14 and they are totally awesome. I was a little worried about my Pearly Jawfish going after them, so I started out with just one, and then got 2 more later. It is kind of funny, but the jawfish totally ignores them. So far they are in good shape and seem to be eating when I feed the other fish in the tank.

[Lalani]

Welcome to the Sexy Club, Necros!

We love pictures, btw!

[el fabuloso]

 

Lalani's right, we love pictures. The more the better.

[yankeereefer]

so I came home today and had to rescue one of my shrimp from the overflow - I'm surprised the little guy didn't go up the utube- On a good note, it molted while it was trapped.

 

I have had at least 2 of the 3 shrimp molt now - I saw the molt from one of 'em flying around the tank last week.

 

Has anyone had their shrimp long enough now to determine molt frequency?

 

Also, can y'all post your feeding frequencies? I am giving mine a pellet or flake every other day. I'm trying to figure out what to do next weekend as I'm going away for a few days (Fri-Mon). I think they'll be ok by scavenging off the rocks.

 

Been assembling ATO's for their tank and my others for the better part of the evening. Got 3 of 'em done and will be testing them tomorrow/ next week.

[Reef Chicks]

Hey guys... I've been away on skiing vacation and came home today to count all of my sexies right away. They were all there and I was so happy! It seems since I have been away they have taken a liking to hanging out at the very top of the tank. My xenia is not so happy, but the sexies seem to be. Anyways, I got a new camera that can shoot up to 10 feet underwater so I will try and get some pics up of these guys soon.

[Lalani]

yankeereefer: My sexies molt every 3 or 4 weeks and I feed them flake food once a day.

 

Hey guys... I've been away on skiing vacation and came home today to count all of my sexies right away. They were all there and I was so happy! It seems since I have been away they have taken a liking to hanging out at the very top of the tank. My xenia is not so happy, but the sexies seem to be. Anyways, I got a new camera that can shoot up to 10 feet underwater so I will try and get some pics up of these guys soon.

Cool! Can't wait to see those pics.

[whofeelsitknowsit]

Is there anyone that sells sexy shrimp online? I have been trying to find them for some time now.

[jennifro]

so I came home today and had to rescue one of my shrimp from the overflow - I'm surprised the little guy didn't go up the utube- On a good note, it molted while it was trapped.

 

I have had at least 2 of the 3 shrimp molt now - I saw the molt from one of 'em flying around the tank last week.

 

Has anyone had their shrimp long enough now to determine molt frequency?

 

Also, can y'all post your feeding frequencies? I am giving mine a pellet or flake every other day. I'm trying to figure out what to do next weekend as I'm going away for a few days (Fri-Mon). I think they'll be ok by scavenging off the rocks.

 

Been assembling ATO's for their tank and my others for the better part of the evening. Got 3 of 'em done and will be testing them tomorrow/ next week.

 

 

I have had my sexies for about 2-4 weeks (got 2 then went back and got 3 more). So far I haven't seen any of them molt. However my hermits seem to clean things up pretty quick so I might just have missed some.

 

I feed my sexies every other day. I started out with every day but they just didn't go after the pellet so now it is usually every other day. I am going camping for 3 days next week but I figured if I feed them right before I leave they should be just fine.

 

Yesterday I noticed one of my females acting a bit strange. Instead of arching her tail up over her back like they usually do she was arching her tail under. Then she would use her back legs to sort of dig around in her tail. I saw here do it twice. My thought was maybe she was getting ready to lay eggs or molt? Has anyone else seen this? Any one know what it is about? I am not worried. Just wondering!