hi everyone, im literally about to go to the LFS and thinking of getting a cleaner shrimp, but what do they actually do? it would be a good addition to my CUC as i know you need a variety but will it eat algae or just clean everything from parasites? thanks everyone. also want something to help with the sand bed, my LFS doesnt have any type of snails for this but do sell gobbys, which would be best for this? as i can go have a browse today and come back another time..? cheers!
thinking of adding a cleaner shrimp to my tank
- Thread starter baggsy01
- Start date
add a shrimp for something to look at, don't believe it will actually benefit your tank, all of them can decide to eat your corals, steal food and generally be a pain, they will not rid your tank of parasites (they shouldn't be there to start with thats what the QT is for) if you can't get any sand stirring/sifting creatures try doing it with a stick, just the top 1/2''
BLADEYAMAHA
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the info. SAS.
that you for the info SAS 
on my trip to the LFS i seen the most amazing fish ever! aparantly they are just put on the endangered species list and i will never see one again aparantly! they were called flashlight fish and in darkness their eyes flash a beam of light which was utterly amazing! but i did not purchase one as much as i wanted to!! they were £79 each and i did not know anything about them!!
so instead i bought a goby, now this goby i have seen in the LFS every time and today i just felt sorry for him and had to buy him, he was only £12 and a sand sifter as i wanted! i will post a pic, if anybody knows more about this particular type of goby i'd love to know more! and also my anemone, which i will post a pic of to any info on them both would be amazing! cheers guys.
View attachment 20915View attachment 20916
on my trip to the LFS i seen the most amazing fish ever! aparantly they are just put on the endangered species list and i will never see one again aparantly! they were called flashlight fish and in darkness their eyes flash a beam of light which was utterly amazing! but i did not purchase one as much as i wanted to!! they were £79 each and i did not know anything about them!!
so instead i bought a goby, now this goby i have seen in the LFS every time and today i just felt sorry for him and had to buy him, he was only £12 and a sand sifter as i wanted! i will post a pic, if anybody knows more about this particular type of goby i'd love to know more! and also my anemone, which i will post a pic of to
any info on them both would be amazing! cheers guys.View attachment 20915View attachment 20916
your very welcome! and thanks for the kindness lol.
I would guess your anem to be tube anemone and the goby I believe is not a goby its a red spotted blenny, and its going to be very hard to keep alive without a variety of algae to eat, Ive killed my full quota of blen's and won't buy them again
I would guess your anem to be tube anemone and the goby I believe is not a goby its a red spotted blenny, and its going to be very hard to keep alive without a variety of algae to eat, Ive killed my full quota of blen's and won't buy them again
I love my cleaner shrimp 
my favorite shrimp by far !
my favorite shrimp by far !
bit early to torture the children isn't it?
thats guys! my LFS sold that blenny to me as an orange spotted goby which sifts through sand through the night (which it hasnt done yet :S) and it is a red spotted blenny as you said, thanks for telling me! all he does all day is sits inbetween the LR hidden away and what i can see of him (if anything) is his head, i dont know what to feed him though im guessing he just eats algae off the LR through the night? the guy at my LFS told me that my clowns should be sleeping towards the bottom of the tank, but mine seem to be sleeping at the top? any ideas? cheers!
the rock skipper (red spot) will take a while to get relaxed, they eat algae off the glass and rock, biggest problem is we don't really grow what they need so do not expect a long relationship with it.
clowns sleep/rest at the top of the tank from fear, fear of becoming a crab snack mainly, once they believe they are safe they will probably move lower.
oops forgot, gobies are not sand sifters, they are diggers and burrowers and quite good at making your rocks fall
I add a piece of nori with a clip to the tank wall and my blenny nips at it all day in addition to the rockwork. It took him a couple of days to realize it was there but once he did, he's waiting for me each morning. He also takes flake food readily.
i guess the clowns will just take a while to adjust to everything then! the red spotted blenny came out last night and was swimming everywhere, only in total darkness though :/ just got back from college and fed the clowns and i seen the blenny staring at me through the tunnel of LR i made for him and he started putting bits of coral sand in his mouth and spitting it out, so i sunk some of the clowns pettes down to the entrance of his cave and he keeps coming out and taking them then going back to his cave! i guess when he's ran out of algae i can keep feeding him other things to keep him going? he seems to be alot more adjusted to life in my tank as i have had him for about 3 days now and this is the first time i've seen him out the tunnel i made in daytime! things are going really well so far! im so happy
thinking of getting some more LR for xmas, proberly another 2 kilos just to make him feel abit more safe!
thinking of getting some more LR for xmas, proberly another 2 kilos just to make him feel abit more safe!
I really like Blennies, they are very cool fish with great personalities, if he's taking pellets your ahead of the game and your chances are much improved, beware of the new LR it could cycle again and create issues, Id be tempted to cure it in a separate tank then add it to your display
thanks, he seems to be really livening up when i feed the clowns now, just gave them there breakfast (some cheap half price flake food for small marine fish) and my blenny poked his head out the cave, grabs the closest bit he can and goes back into his cave, he does this like 10 times. he officially owns the bottom of the tank, wich is good makes me feel happy now he's regularly feeding!
in regards to the live rock, my LFS keeps it all piled up into a huge tank (not display tank) with the right water temp and perameters, would this already be cured? as i only have 1 tank. i want some more LR just so it would add to the filteration, along with my new skimmer i will be getting for xmas, a TMC V2 NANO SKIMMER. and also the LR would add to making new caves and places for my blenny
makes me feel happy now he's regularly feeding! in regards to the live rock, my LFS keeps it all piled up into a huge tank (not display tank) with the right water temp and perameters, would this already be cured? as i only have 1 tank. i want some more LR just so it would add to the filteration, along with my new skimmer i will be getting for xmas, a TMC V2 NANO SKIMMER. and also the LR would add to making new caves and places for my blenny
thanks Tok i do have a book on fish but it is very basic in the sense of what fish it has in there, i can also assure you that i will not be relying on what that LFS says ever again!! my next purchase will be a cleaner shrimp, after i get my skimmer for xmas and about 2 kilo's of LR to help add to the fileration to the tank, then once the cleaner shrimp has settled in and everythings ran smoothly with the skimmer for a while i will be adding my first ever coral in about a month or two, got alot of research on what coral i want and how much it will cost and how to best maintain it first though! after my cleaner shrimp i will proberly only be adding one more fish to the tank as i dont want to overstock it! and then if all goes well with the corals and fish i will be saving up for an upgrade!