Has Anyone Seen This Before?

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Amanita.m

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I have a 5 gallon planted with one male Betta, 2 albino Cory cats and 2 ghost or glass shrimp. They all get along well, no one shows any aggressive tendencies (my Betta is very mellow). Tonight while my Betta was chilling, one of the shrimp came up to the Betta and started gently stroking and touching him, very much like footage I have seen of cleaner shrimp in the coral reefs... :unsure: the Betta didn't seem to mind much and the shrimp didn't seem to be rough or intent on any damage, it was like he was checking him for parasites. After about 30 seconds or so, the Betta flicked his tail slightly and swam away as tho to say, ok, I'm clean, and you're done. The shrimp seemed as tho he wanted to continue,lol. I hope that doesn't mean he found anything! Just wondered if anyone has ever seen anything like this with these shrimp?
It was very interesting to watch. :blink:
 
To say the truth, I have never seen or even heard of ghost shrimp "cleaning betta fish",but you must be really proud to "possibly" be the first one to see this. :good:
 
I've seen candycane shrimp clean a clownfish before.. then i read there could be some parasite on the fish that the shrimps like, so they clean it off.
 
Well, he shows no symptoms of parasite infection..no scratching or rubbing or swimming weird, his body is a dark blue black and there are no spots or anything. His appetite is GREAT,lol, and his personality/habits haven't changed at all. Never saw the shrimp interact with the Betta before. Altho the Betta HAS tried to steal food from just about everyone in the tank! Both the Cory cats, and the Betta were quarantined and treated before being placed in the tank (the Betta was from Walmart and the Cory cats from Petsmart so I thought it prudent, esp since the Betta was half dead when I got him over a month ago, he seems amazingly healthy now) Also when the shrimp was giving him the once over, he didn't remove or "eat" anything off the Betta, just delicately "felt" along the length of his side and part of his tail. And the Betta just sat there and let him,lol. Maybe the sensation was pleasant to him? I have been searching online and just can't find anything about ghost shrimp exhibiting cleaner behavior. I make sure everyone in the tank is well fed, so I can't imagine the shrimp being desperate enough to try and "eat" the Betta,lol, if he was it was the most delicate and ineffectual "attack" I have ever seen,lol. :lol:
 

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