Greedy cleaner

Live Rock

Reefer
Hi everyone, my scarlet cleaner shrimp is so greedy! every time I try to feed my corals, it sniffs the food out and steals it form the coral. The shrimp is always "hungry", and after it eats a big feast, it always steals the food form corals! I'm afraid that the corals aren't getting enough to eat. What should I do?
 
The corals will be fine, you don't HAVE to feed them. They get most of their nutrition from the light. That's kind of a trade off when you get cleaner shrimps they'll steal food from wherever they can.

In the future you can try feeding your corals and using a strawberry basket to cover the coral and keep the shrimp away from it.
 
I feed my cleaner with the pippet till he takes his fill, then when i feed the corals he just sits on my hand hahah, for some reason, he loves climbing all over my hand and eating my skin, haha.
You could also try cutting a water bottle in half, and putting it over the corals that you fed, so that nothing can steal from em.
 
Yep,got rid of mine! critters that you do not want in your coral" tank-add a falco hawkfish to that list,mithrax crabs, large hermits-all very adept at stealing your corals food! All corals need feeding!! photosyn only supplys 60/80% of nutritional needs, varys depending on species-feed them and they will thrive, grow, reproduce!! The bottle -strawberry box works when the corals are small, but still a pain
 
All corals need feeding!! photosyn only supplys 60/80% of nutritional needs, varys depending on species-feed them and they will thrive, grow, reproduce!!

But, they can get everything they need from the water column, they do not need to be spot fed. I haven't fed any of my corals in over a year, I don't add any type of coral foods to the tank and all of my corals have at least doubled in size over the past year.
 
Brian,it is a fact not a opinion- your animals are doing well now but how about a few years from now?-our small contained systems will not produce all the bacterial aggreates zoo/phyto plankton that the animals need for long term survival-hard to replicate the billions of gallons of water and the food it contains
that flows past the animals on hourly basis in the ocean- I feed my animals weekly and have favia/favites/eupyllia species three decades old.We also feed at the aquaculture facility with proven results=$$$
 
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What verifiable sources do you have? With out research done, nothing is fact. Clearly it works for you but, that does not mean it HAS to be done. Unless you have kept corals under the same conditions without feeding you can't say that it cannot be done.

Like anything in this hobby what works for you may not work for someone else, and what works for me may not work for you :Cheers:
 
Ive gone through this twice now with pep shrimp now with a fire shrimp....the diff between the two. The fire shrimp will take a big piece of krill from me and go back into the reef while i feed the corals. Problem solved.
 
Research has been done many years ago- many papers by many marine biologist -easily looked up and verified -not trying to argue just trying to help with proper info-
No majic to this hobby just good science! Research is everything in this hobby.
 
What?? I thought this was common knowledge maybe you should research before you offer other people advice-a simple online search would prove you wrong.I do not want to fight about it- it is a marine biology fact documented years ago-why is there so much mis-information here? That is sad statement that will lead to many animal deaths-
 
I try to help people avoid the mistakes I made years ago, thats all but I seem to offend when I correct someone-l probably come off as a know it all but I have been caring for corals for over three decades, I have learned a bit-oh yeah I forgot I have owned a state certified marine aquaculture facility for 9 years also so I would say my statements very knowledgable
 
My research on google scholar leads me to believe it actually depends on the specific coral, and this cannot be used as a blanket all statement.

Personally, i think that all the corals we keep do not need to be fed for survival. I dont target feed any of my LPS and yet they are growing fine and strong and i dont believe that very many tanks actually have cultures of zooplankton going to feed anything.
 
I love my shrimp louie!

When I get ready to feed my corals i always give him a sinking pellet to munch on so he stays busy while they corals eat their mysis. works like a charm.

Its like giving a sucker to a kid so he doesnt cry in the movies LOL
 
What?? I thought this was common knowledge maybe you should research before you offer other people advice-a simple online search would prove you wrong.I do not want to fight about it- it is a marine biology fact documented years ago-why is there so much mis-information here? That is sad statement that will lead to many animal deaths-


I think its common for things that were once thought of as the way to do something is later found out to be not so much the best way. Hobbyist did a lot of things many years ago that we today wouldnt dream of doing now, yet there are some old schoolers out there who continue to do it that way just fine.

If someone comes on here and asks for the advice of the people on this forum we all give our opinion, it is often all very different and thats ok there is no need to get upset or call our your credentials or tell other people they are wrong or need to google information that is their opinion and you arent here to change it.

The person asking for the advice should take in all the information and form their own opinion of how they want to do it.
 
Ok little fish, I am done- no coral sustains 100% of its nutritional requirements from its symbotic relationship right or wrong?? yes it varys on species but all need supplemental feeding- I,m sorry we are at odds about this-why don,t you do a little growth comparsion study between your LPS and Ambers? or anybody else that feeds- maybe prove something out science wise? It is a blanket statement only the food type differs-
 
Sorry about the spewing boys and girls bad day!! I,m far from old school Amber, I try not to offer opinons just facts-I definetly need to tone it down-
John-sorry lil fish & bl1 I could of been a bit nicer in my defense of the issue
 
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