Shrimps compatibility

[marcoz]

Hi James, as you know I've ordered a mating pair of yellow banded shrimp :-D , 2 peppermints and a skunk cleaner. A friend of mine is getting rid of his boxer and I am keen to add him to the family but I am worried he may pose a threat - will it be safe to add him to the others :?

[tonyponty]

what is a skunk cleaner lol :P

[Gillybaby]

I've never had a boxer shrimp before but iirc from posts on other boards, they can be pretty nasty characters, especially towards other shrimp. James'll know for sure so it might be better to hold off getting the boxer until he's had a chance to reply. Would be a shame if there were problems and you found out after you added it.

[Paul P.]

I had one in my tank with 2 peppermints and 2 cleaners, shy at first but within a week it had settled in and had the other 4 shrimps and a cleaner wrasse for its lunch and used to try and catch my little male clown !!! great looking shrimp but I wouldn`t risk one again, but having said that the guy who had mine off me hasn`t had any probs with it in his tank at all :roll:

[Macca]

The golden boxers are small and harmless (they dont grow big so can be kept with other shrimps of similar size). Common boxers can be trouble and the key to keeping them with other shrimps is to make sure they are not bigger than them. If well fed and are smaller than you other shrimps then I would introduce as long as your tank is big enough and has many hide outs.

James

[Macca]

Got some lovely pederson cleaners in stock which I will post a pic off when I can get my camera to take macro photos properly. :party:

James

Ps added more emoticons

[Reefer]

Had a boxer for a couple of years now and have kept other shrimps with it ok, cleaner shrimps are quicker than he is so hes not eaten them . . . yet!! I think it would kill other shrimps but he doesnt go out of his way to catch them.

[Wilfy]

Ditto with reefer, have had a boxer shrimp for about 4 years now, with two cleaners and two blood shrimps, no problems. The boxer is quite large with 5" antennae but is very slow, just waves its claws at passing fish.

[Pinkfish]

so at the end of the day what shrimp can you safely keep togeather ?? and has anyone managed to breed a pair of cleaner shrimp??

[Dal]

I have a breeding pair of boxers,blood shrimp and cleaners all getting along fine. The boxers produce eggs regular. also had a pair of cleaners that produced eggs. I have never seen the eggs released but I know its great natural food for my coral and fish and a sign they are happy so that makes me happy:D

[Macca]

Have had many a shrimp full of eggs and have seen they wee babies ones released. (These have all been imported this way). Never seen any grow up in our tanks :mad:

Most if not all Shrimps have a tendency to be carnivores so there is no set rule about which ones you can keep together. If you have a large boxing shrimp I would not put a small pederson shrimp in etc.

We have in stock right now lovely small golden boxers and the beuty about them is they stay small unlike the blue legged and caribbean boxers.

James

[liquidlogic]

yh im affraid its either one or the other. coral banded shrimps / boxers will attacck and destroy other shrimps

[marcoz]

Update: well, I decided to leave adding the larger common boxer.. the gold banded ones are doing fine(they are quite shy) just waiting for some eggs! one peppermint died and the other got gobbled up by a rather large aiptaisa!! ..and the cleaner is Mr.Bold, complete opposite to the gold banded variety but they all get along fine;)