Lysmata Amboinensis (Cleaner Shrimp)

Source: aquaduo.nl

QUICK STATS

• Care Level: Easy
  
• Temperament: Peaceful
  
• Reef Compatible: Yes
  
• Max. Size: 6 cm
  
• Diet: Omnivore
  
• Origin: Rode Zee, Oost-Pacific, West Pacific en Hawaii.
  
• Insert Date: 14 November 2009

Links:
http://www.reeflex.net/tiere/1180_Lysmata_amboinensis.htm
http://www.fishlore.com/profile-skunkcleanershrimp.htm

First time showing his face outside the cave

Added new Corals.

Also made two movies of the shrimp. He is just so much fun to look at :p

He is growing big already, still trying to clean the fish, but no one wants to be cleaned. While I was removing some algae he did clean my hand, really weird feeling, I can tell you that :p

Tuesday we added a Hermit Crab, not that the shrimp really cares for anything else but fishes :p

Just a random picture, nothing really happened to him

The cleaner shrimp is one of the inverts that is still alive and visible, at least…not when I’m taking pictures, but still often visible :p

The cleaner shrimp shed his skin again this morning, he is doing it just a little to often in my opinion. Hopefully in the new situation it won’t happen as often, because I don’t want him to die also. Couldn’t get a picture of him again, but I think he will have a nice place in the new environment, with more and bigger caves.

Found an article on Fishlore

Gave me a hard time to catch...didn't expect that. But I got him and moved him to the small aquarium.

Well he moved back easier then his first move. He already found the caves and is hiding between the rocks. Hope that he doesn't hide too much...last time we could still see him even though he was in a cave...now they have better hiding spaces.

The cleaner shrimp thought the Foxface needed some cleaning. The foxface was still not fully awake so it seemed :p

The cleaner shrimp shows itself a lot lately. Even with the lights on he is very visible, mostly climbing the back wall but also often moving over the rocks and corals.

While browsing around I found a site explaining the difference between male and female cleaner shrimps. Seems the difference is in the tail, according to the site John's Aquarium the tail of the male has a white stripe that looks like a reverted T, while the female's "T" wraps all around the tail. Also the female carries eggs at the rear. The following picture shows it, and helps me conclude that we have a male cleaner shrimp in the aquarium.

The cleaner shrimp still shows itself often to clean

A while ago I recorded some movies, I just took the parts out from each animal separate.

First movie shows the Cleaner Shrimp trying to clean the Salarias.


Second movie was shortly after feeding time, the Cleaner Shrimp was trying to get his portion.


Third movie is a night time movie of his nighttime activity.

Unfortunately due to the rebuild the cleaner shrimp has found a new spot, where we hardly see him.

The Cleaner shrimp is our first shrimp and our oldest living Invertebrate. In the first setting he wasn’t visible a lot but after the rebuild he took refuge in a cave that was open to see. Unfortunately the catching of the angel fish destroyed that cave and he now moved to the bottom caves where you can hardly see him. Sometimes he shows himself but most of those times are during the night. That is also the reason I didn’t get a picture of him. But he already made it for 10 months in our aquarium

Past Sunday the Cleaner shrimp celebrated his first year anniversary in the Red Sea Max. He is currently the oldest Invertebrate in the aquarium and therefore the first to celebrate his first year anniversary.


December 2009

In the early days he could be found a lot near the big toadstool we had back then, the cave behind it was his hideout, but also the toadstool was used as a hideout often. After the rebuild he found a new cave where we could see him all day, but unfortunately we had to rebuild again after that and the cave was gone. Now he hides somewhere underneath all the rocks far out of sight. Last few days he shows more often during feeding time but mostly we see him during the night.


February 2010

His biggest hobby, harassing fish (cleaning actually), wasn’t very successful in the beginning. None of the fish wanted him to clean them. After some months couple of fish sometimes just let it happen (didn’t seem too fond of it though). Some time ago when we appeared to have white spot the Blue Tang offered herself voluntarily to the cleaner shrimp for a cleaning job.


June 2010

He is a good cleaner, dead organism are his main priority. When I unfortunately damaged the Blue Sea Star he was the first to get hold of the lost leg/arm.


August 2010

We hope to see him more often in the future and enjoy his fun behaviour, he is much fun to watch (as are most shrimps).