Adopting a technique used in wind tunnels, water tunnels, etc., that
he learned in high school science, Mike figured out a way to see where
high and low current areas are in your newly setup tank. Fill your tank with clean,
freshwater, turn on all your pumps and powerheads and put in a few drops of food
color. The color should swirl around the tank showing where and how the water will
flow. This can be repeated as many times as you need until you get the flow just the
way you want it. Then, just empty the tank, rinse out any residual color spots, add
your saltwater, rock, etc. and begin your cycling of the tank.
Mike doesn't think the food color would affect live rock, but I wouldn't want to
take the chance personally. And, it would mean running the test with saltwater and
then doing a complete water change. It's your call. If you wanted to try it,
I'd definitely recommend adding carbon to your filter system to completely remove the food
color and any discoloration it caused. But this would definitely work well with
ornamentation only or base rock. One plus to running this test with rock or
ornamentation in the tank is that the addition of rock or
ornamentation definitely affect water flow.
General Information:
The Banded Coral Shrimp is possibly the most popular and readily available shrimp
in the saltwater hobby.
In nature, it is found worldwide in all tropical seas in waters ranging
from low tide to about 30 meters/100 feet.
It is a very hardy and aggressive shrimp. It is best suited for
fish-only aquaria with large inhabitants.
All the shrimp in this genus have large claws in the position of their
first pair of legs. These claws are quite impressive and give a very ferocious
appearance, but they are usually only for display or threat.
This shrimp is also commonly called the Coral Banded Shrimp and a lot of times just CBS
in the online world.
Scientific Name & Information:
They are of the Stenopodidae Family.
Shrimp in general should be considered very delicate when it comes to
adding them to your tank. They cannot handle sudden changes in salinity, pH, or temperature. So, when introducing your shrimp
into the tank, slowly drip your tank water into a bucket (or other container) with
the bag from the fish store carefully dumped into it, until you have tripled the
original volume of water that came in with the shrimp.
Remember, if shrimp cannot handle sudden changes in salinity, pH, or temperature when
first added to your tank and you take all the time and effort mentioned above to get the
shrimp in the tank, the same would be true once they are in the tank -
you've got to maintain a stable environment.
Banded Coral Shrimp may be shy when first added to the tank, but will become
less secretive in a short time. These shrimps will more easily adapt to their new
home and come out of hiding even sooner if they are added as a pair.
Although sometimes sold as cleaner shrimp, the Banded Coral Shrimp tend to only clean
larger fish, and only in the wild and usually while the fish is asleep. In the home
aquaria, they will be more inclined to catch and eat smaller fish than they
will be to perform cleaner duties. Sick fish are especially easy game and
a lot of fish disappearances are eventually credited to the Banded Coral Shrimp. Not
even hermits are safe as hobbyists have reported their Banded Coral Shrimps catching
and pulling hermits out of their shells.
Although a lot of hobbyists keep these shrimps in reef tanks, I would recommend against
it. These shrimps can destroy corals and anemones by ripping them open in
order to get at ingested food.
Banded Coral Shrimps will not generally tolerate another of their own kind, unless they
are a mated pair. You may get lucky if you put an unmated male and female together
as they may form a pair, but it is a chance. Usually, when two unpaired Banded Coral
Shrimps met, one is left legless and dies shortly after.
Banded Coral Shrimp do not usually get along with other shrimp either. Many
hobbyists have reported that the Banded Coral Shrimp have killed other shrimp, especially
true cleaner shrimps, the Scarlet/Redline Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis or L. grabhami)
and Blood/Fire Shrimp (L. debelius).
Banded Coral Shrimps should not be kept in the same tank with an Arrow Crab
(Stenorhynchus seticornis) as they will fight.
Foods & Feeding:
Shrimps in general are great scavengers and will be useful in helping keep
the tank free of stray food, the Banded Coral Shrimp is no exception to this.
Since it is a scavenger, these shrimps may not need to be fed
directly. They will usually eat food dropped by fish, but, if
your fish consume most of the food before it makes it to the bottom of the tank,
some extra food should be given to the shrimp after the fishes have been fed. Or,
since most shrimps are nocturnal, shrimp specific feeding could be done at night.
Shrimps will readily accept most frozen and dried foods. But, remember, if
you are feeding the shrimp specifically, foods that float may not be the best to
offer. Finding a food that will sink may be best for actually getting food down
to the shrimp without overfeeding the tank.
For aquarists with gravel beds (sand, live or otherwise, etc.), a small and
harmless bristleworm can be a useful creature to assist in keeping the gravel
bed clean, but they tend to multiply quite rapidly. If you find this
population explosion unsightly, it can be held in check with the addition
of a pair of Banded Coral Shrimp.
The Banded Coral Shrimp will molt on a regular basis. As with all molting creatures, the shrimp will
be very vulnerable before, during, and immediately after they molt. Prior to
molting, a shrimp will usually not eat for a couple of days, may not clean it's exoskeleton, and may spend most of
it's time in hiding. Diatoms growing on the exoskeleton of your shrimp may indicate that it is not cleaning
itself and a molt is imminent. After molting, their new exoskeleton will be very
soft. The molting process is a very dangerous time for the shrimp and death is
a possibility.
Although it raises some disagreements among hobbyists, an iodide supplement should be
added to your tank if you wish to keep these shrimps or any molting animal for that
matter. Recognized hobby leaders such as Albert Thiel and Craig Bingman
recommend this.
Most shrimp are hermaphroditic, being both male and female for at least some stage
of their lives. They cannot self-fertilize and because of
their exoskeleton, it is only possible for the female to become
pregnant right after a molt. The drive to find a mate and bear young
adds yet another danger to the molting process.
Regardless of the added danger, they will breed easily. If nitrates are
higher than five to ten part per million, breeding may be discouraged, however.
A purple underside is an indication of a female Banded Coral Shrimp, but this may not
be definite. During my research for this article, I came across another article
by Nathan Cope who stated he had a mated pair of these shrimps who both had
purple undersides. It is much easier to sex these shrimps if you can find them when
the female is fertile, as she will have green gonads clearly visible through her exoskeleton.
Banded Coral Shrimps are thought to mate for life and may live for five or
six years with one partner.
Cost:
Store:
From $12 to $15. Three stores were checked in Queens, New
York for prices.
US Dollars:
Approximately $6 based on two online sites' prices.
Canadian Dollars:
From $12 to $22 based on two online sites'
prices.
This shrimp is usually readily available through local fish stores and via online
services.
The first (filename cbsrk2.jpg) picture was obtained from the Simplified Reef
Keeping website (http://www.connix.com/~reefkeep/).
Simplified Reef Keeping is a book by Robert M. Metelsky. Thanks go to Robert M.
Metelsky for granting permission to use the image in this article. Robert was also
kind enough to remove the Shoreline Resources Copyright which appears on the website's
copy of the image. Removing that copyright made the picture just that much more
impressive. Thanks, Robert!
The second (filename cbshm.jpg) was obtained from the Harspen Marine Fish
website (http://www.soonet.ca/harspen
(address updated 4/19/00)).
Thanks go to Kris Hartman for granting permission to use this equally beautiful photo in
this article.
What the... ?
By Elizabeth M. Lukan 3/22/99
DIATOM - A diatom is any of a class of microscopic one-celled algae having walls of
silica consisting of two interlocking valves. In the home aquarium, a diatom usually
appears as a golden brown algae forming sheets or films on the rocks and
glass often with oxygen bubbles tangled in them. You can control the
growth of diatom algae by limiting nutrients through purification of make-up
water, combined with herbivores eating the diatoms, and mechanical filters trapping their
fecal pellets.
EXOSKELETON - An exoskeleton is a hard outer structure, such as the shell of an insect
or crustacean, that provides protection or support for the organism.
GONADS - Gonads are an organ in animals that produce gametes (a reproductive cell
like sperm or an egg) such as a testis or ovary.
MOLT - Molting is the periodic shedding of an outer covering, such as
feathers or skin, for replacement by new growth.
NOCTURNAL - A nocturnal animal is one most active at night.
PH - pH is the measure of the concentration of hydrogen and hydroxide ions.
If the hydroxide ion is in greater abundance in a solution, the solution is alkaline or
basic. If the hydrogen ion is more abundant, the solution is acidic. Values of
pH range from 0 to 14.
SALINITY - Salinity is the measure of the quantity of dissolved solids in water
and is used to measure the strength of a seawater solution. Full strength
seawater has a salinity of about 35 parts per thousand.
Prove It!
By Elizabeth M. Lukan 3/22/99
Ace Pet Shop, 135-17 Northern Blvd., Flushing, New York, USA (718) 359-3336
The American Heritage Dictionary, Third Edition, Copyright 1994 by Houghton Mifflin
Company
Paradise Aquarium, 66-16 Fresh Pond Road, Ridgewood, New York, USA (718) 366-6921
The Reef Aquarium Volume One by J. Charles Delbeek and Julian Sprung, First Printing
July 1994, Published by Ricordea Publishing
Any and all comments, suggestions, etc., should be directed to
fishnchips@mail.com
(address updated 4/15/00)
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General Information:
Comments:
Ian would like to extend his thanks to Chris Paris
(aka Cap) and Steve Wolfe (aka NerveGas) for all their assistance in getting the survey
going.