# Missing shrimp...



## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

My blood shrimp has gone MIA. I'm wondering if he's just moulting. How long does this process take? The tank seems healthy otherwise and Mr & Mrs Nemo seem content... Even the anenome was happy before I put him into a different tank.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Give him 2-3 days. They tend to hide a bit after the molt


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

altcharacter said:


> Give him 2-3 days. They tend to hide a bit after the molt


Hmmm... It's been about a week.

Is it possible that my maroon clowns would kill him? It was a big shrimp. I see no body. However when a few months back I had an emerald crab in with him I found his skeletal remains within a month. They also have attempted to love several BTA's to death....


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## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

Look for anyone with a satisfied grin and breath that smells of garlic butter...


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

50seven said:


> Look for anyone with a satisfied grin and breath that smells of garlic butter...


LMFAO!

There goes my dream clown & anenome tank. Clowns love anenomes to death and dine on any other inhabitants...


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## kookie_guy (Oct 15, 2014)

Did your clowns recently start laying eggs? If so, then that may be the reason. I remember way back when my clowns started laying eggs, my shrimp also just happened to go missing. I read somewhere that clowns see shrimp as a threat or something, and will take them out before they lay their eggs. Not sure how much truth there is to that, but it helped me sleep at night, lol.


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

kookie_guy said:


> Did your clowns recently start laying eggs? If so, then that may be the reason. I remember way back when my clowns started laying eggs, my shrimp also just happened to go missing. I read somewhere that clowns see shrimp as a threat or something, and will take them out before they lay their eggs. Not sure how much truth there is to that, but it helped me sleep at night, lol.


Nope, no eggs. They are Maroon clowns and the female is quite large, but I see no eggs. Did you ever find the corpse? My tank isn't huge...its a 38G. Where did they bury the body??

Funny enough I also had a sand sifting sea star in there. One day it turned up with missing legs. I rehomed it in my smaller tank in the living room and saw it the other day. It has tiny leg stumps growing. I'm thinking I have killer clowns.

I'm guessing her sand sifting behaviour won't allow me to keep any corals in there either. Actually that's the reason their last owner sold them. Going to be a boring tank...


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## kookie_guy (Oct 15, 2014)

Norman said:


> Nope, no eggs. They are Maroon clowns and the female is quite large, but I see no eggs. Did you ever find the corpse? My tank isn't huge...its a 38G. Where did they bury the body??
> 
> Funny enough I also had a sand sifting sea star in there. One day it turned up with missing legs. I rehomed it in my smaller tank in the living room and saw it the other day. It has tiny leg stumps growing. I'm thinking I have killer clowns.
> 
> I'm guessing her sand sifting behaviour won't allow me to keep any corals in there either. Actually that's the reason their last owner sold them. Going to be a boring tank...


Well maroons are the a-holes of the clown family, lol.

No corpse. By the time I realized it was really missing, I'm sure my brittle star cleaned up any of the remains. I'd love to pull him out and see how big it is now. It's the original from when I first got into reefing, so I've owned it for about 8 years now. When I got it it was maybe 6" diameter. When I put food in his cave for him, the one tentacle that comes out to grab it is at least 8" long by itself, lol. When I bought him he also had a stump, but it grew back.


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

kookie_guy said:


> Well maroons are the a-holes of the clown family, lol.
> 
> No corpse. By the time I realized it was really missing, I'm sure my brittle star cleaned up any of the remains. I'd love to pull him out and see how big it is now. It's the original from when I first got into reefing, so I've owned it for about 8 years now. When I got it it was maybe 6" diameter. When I put food in his cave for him, the one tentacle that comes out to grab it is at least 8" long by itself, lol. When I bought him he also had a stump, but it grew back.


They're lucky that they're pretty. All I have is one lone blue legged crab...and no corpse. I want to add new rock into this tank but I'm afraid of disturbing the shrimp. Was hoping he was just moulting still. Gues maybe he's not.


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## Crayon (Apr 13, 2014)

Norman said:


> I'm guessing her sand sifting behaviour won't allow me to keep any corals in there either. Actually that's the reason their last owner sold them. Going to be a boring tank...


Are you worried your sand sifting starfish is going to disrupt corals that you put on the bottom of the tank? Plates, maybe yes, but anything large like a brain or a scoly will be fine. I sometimes just drop my frag plugs to the bottom and leave them for few days, and they are fine, too. Most of the disruption to the corals at the bottom come from my conchs and hermit crabs, not the 5 sand sifting starfish I have.


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## Norman (Feb 13, 2011)

No... The starfish turned up with all legs chomped off. The only other inhabitants in the tank is this pair of maroon clowns, one blood shrimp (MIA at the moment) and a blue legged hermit crab. So I'm thinking the clowns don't know how to play nice. The starfish is now in my other tank re growing it's legs. I'm happy about that I had assumed he was a goner...


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