Will these fish eat Crustaceans and SHrimp!?!?

[El Langostino]

Goooood morning/afternoon,

I have a list of fish that some publications and web sites seem to think are safe with ornamental Crustaceans and various shrimp species, whilst others tend to differ. So needless to say I'm a bit befuddled and would like to hear from ppl who have kept or know about these fish...


Arabian Pseudochromis
Diadema / Purple Stripe Pseudochromis
Fridmani Pseudochromis
Six Line Wrasse
Golden or Canary Wrasse
Royal Gramma

Green bird Wrasse
(Wondering if this guy will use that beak to pull crabs out of rocks, etc...I hope not)

Zebra Lionfish
(on this one I more or less know what to expect, but I had heard due to their relatively small size 5-7 inches...they also have mouths too small to consume most 2-3 inch fish, shrimp, and crustaceans

Canthigaster or toby sharpnose puffers
(These guys are only 4-5 inches in length so perhaps a similar issue with small mouths? I've heard of some ppl getting by with
them only losing the occasional small hermit crab or snails)


That's all I can think of at the moment, I'll reply with more if they come to mind later, thanks all.

[pisces77]

Puffer will eat most inverts (stars, shrimp, crabs) but hermits and snails will be ok (you'll lose one every once in a while). The lion will eat anything it can fit in it's mouth, including shrimp and some of the fish you listed. They toby may also nip at the lions fins (happens very frequently, but not always.) What is the tank size?

[El Langostino]

90 gallon tank

[jwreffner]

My Fridmani, and Royal Gramma were/are fine w/ shrimp and crusts. But yeah, the biggest problems will be the puffer and Lion. My puffer sometimes harasses hermit crabs. He ate all my scarlet's but ignored my blue legged hermits...I guess he doesn't like blue meat ;)

[El Langostino]

I'm not planning on keeping all these fish in my tank, just to clarify. I just want a bit more info about them to help me in my selection process.

[El Langostino]

jwreffner, cool news about the Fridmani and gramma, do they eat blood and brsitle worms? I have heard that and was hoping it was true.

About the puffer, do you have any crabs and shrimps in your tank? Maybe If I get shrimp and crabs that are similar in size to a blue legged might help a bit...or not I guess, heh.

[El Langostino]

jwreffner, Did the Royal Gramma and fridmani Pseudochromis get along well?

I thought I heard somewhere that basslets and Pseudochromis would fight? Maybe I'm totally askew with that, or perhaps these two can be considered an exception to the rule being that they are both peaceful in disposition?

[jwreffner]

I don't know actually. My gramma was a fish of "tanks past" whereas my Fridmani is in my current 55 tank. Consequently they haven't had a chance to meet. All I can testify to is that they don't eat crusts and shrimp.

To answer your other questions...I don't know if they eat bristleworms. I have never seen them do so, but then again, I have never had a bristleworm problem in my tanks while housing those guys.

Well like I said, my puff did eat most of my scarlet hermit crabs...I actually witnessed that on several occasions. Man it's cool to watch him make the kill! It was almost worth the price of the crab...but not quite ;) I did have a Saron Shrimp (which was extremely shy and hid all the time). He was a stowaway on some live rock I bought. He disappeared about 3 months into the tank's life cycle. I suppose the Puffer got him but I cannot verify that. He is the only fish though that would have eaten a shrimp in my tank so I'm fairly confident that he ate him.

Regards,
Jay

[El Langostino]

It's really a shame that fish such as lions (even drawfs), puffers, and one my favorite looking fish, the Green Bird Wrasse, all happen to bully and or eat fish in the 3 inch range and also crustaceans and shrimps =P

[jwreffner]

Survival of the fittest my friend...survival of the fittest.

[zemuron114]

theres a giant green bird wrasse (9" or so) at a fish store here in hawaii that doens't eat small fish. He eats shrimp like candy though.. :)