disappearing shrimp

[Kennetht]

I have the following in my tank....a bangaii cardinal, a pearly jawfish, a sixline wrasse, a full moon reef goby, an emerald crab, and some snails and hermits. I had a peppermint shrimp and a scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp. The shrimp have disappeared. We moved my nano into another tank and they are nowhere to be found. What could have ate them? I saw parts, but figured they had just molted. Thanks in advance.

[awcurl]

It sounds like you may have an unwanted hitch hiker in your tank. I was having similar problems with disappearances and eventually found two Gorilla crabs hiding in the rocks.

Art

[Kennetht]

well....shortly after the shrimp disappeared, my emerald crab was found dead also. How can I figure out if I have hitchhikers or not? My hermits are 2 red, 1 blue, and a zebra. I've heard abd things about the zebra crabs, but he is still small. Thanks in advance.

[imsqueak]

I suspect that one of my hermits was munching other hermits and snails. He's in solitary confinment now. Guilty until proven innocent is my rule. I still have a suspicion it was that dastardly looking coral banded shrimp but feed back says no. I hear the blues can be nasty and get big also.

To stray just a bit, isnt a six-line supposed to get fairly big for that 20? I dont know much of anything with wrasses but could it be the culprit? Probably not since you mention the E.crab, was it just dead, or was it chomped?

Without knowledge of your fish type, and assuming they are peaceful, I'd say Art is right, a hitch-hiker. Possibly even a mantis shrimp, but I think they would go for your fish also.

Sorry not much help. But here's a good suggestion, grab a beer and a flashlight on the next full moon (threw that in for kicks) and watch the tank at night.

[awcurl]

The way I found my killer was by not feeding the tank for a few days and then dropping just a little food at a time into the tank, all the while watching the rock carefully. Sure enough, I saw this huge claw waving out of a hole in one of the rocks. I was able to remove the rock and remove the crab by slowly pouring seltzer water in the hole. As soon as the water hit him he bailed out. He now resides in the dungeon (sump).

Art

[Kennetht]

the emreald was just lying dead on the bottom, fully intact. The blue hermit was found dead a few minutes ago. He was hiding in a shell during the move. One red hermit has gotten quite large and has just recently pulled a turbo snail out of the shell and took the shell for himself. So first I should watch the rock after no feedings for a while? Could the sixline be the problem, if he could, I could take him back to the LFS. The local LFS said emerald or sixline could be to blame. Thanks for the help.

[imsqueak]

Personally, I say to the dungen with the big hermit. I only bought small red-legged but one of them turned into a monster and took to a turbo snail shell also. I'm not sure if it was occupied at the time. I've not had any deaths contributed to him but I did have 1 turbo croak in the fuge for no reason. But when he was in there, I found several empy snail shells and 2 half eaten hermits. I hope my emeralds are all still there...

[Kennetht]

One of the LFS in my area has suggested that the Pearly Jawfish could be to blame, or possibly a gorilla crab as suggested above. I guess I'll just be shrimp-less for now.

[easttn]

Shrimp need iodine to molt and for survival, do you dose? I have never had much luck with shrimp over long periods of time, so I never really figured out if it was me or an aquatic grimlin.

[imsqueak]

So much for my theory on the hermit, found legs on the bottom of the tank today. Maybe I got a gorilla crab insted of an emerald when I bought 6 from saltwaterfish.com. Or maybe it IS that Coral Banded shrimp. I have 3 shrimp, CB, ? cleaner, and camel, none of them have been harmed ~ thankfully.

I guess my salt has enough iodine because I dont dose and 1 of the 3 molts every week. The CB lost a claw during a molt a month ago but it was back within no time.

[awcurl]

I also have a coral banded and he was responsible for utterly destroying an arrow crab. So far that's the only thing he’s messed with.

Art Curl

[fishdoc11]

Kennetht,
A mantis shrimp that came in on your rock is a posibility. Were there any marks on the snail shells? Scott Micheal lists the pearly jawfish as a possible threat to small shrimps. Those red hermits can get huge. As far as coral bandeds I had one that killed three skunk cleaners before I figured out it was him. Saw him carrying off the cleaner still twitching.Got rid of the coral banded and I've had my current cleaner for over 1.5 yrs.
Chris