Zanzibar Shrimp, Stenopus Zanzibaricus

[garycooper34]

Would a zanzibar shrimp, stenopus zanzibaricus, also have the same problem as the boxer shrimp for cornering fish in a nano reef tank?

 

[Donya]

I've split this question to its own topic from http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/192507-marine-topic-of-the-week-0427-050407/ since it was an old thread and mainly meant to be informational.
 

Would a zanzibar shrimp, stenopus zanzibaricus, also have the same problem as the boxer shrimp for cornering fish in a nano reef tank?

 
In general, no. They remain much smaller, which makes them both less able to inflict damage than S. hispidus and also easier to care for in general. Despite the mention in that other thread of CBS being fish-eaters, I have kept a lot of CBS over the years and, from what I have seen of them, a lot of bad CBS behavior is due to not caring for the shrimp properly, either by putting them in too cramped an environment (nanos can be too small if full of lots of rock) or an environment where they get harassed regularly or not fed well. Every CBS I have had in with fish has exhibited cleaning of commensal behavior towards fish (vs. actively trying to hunt/eat them), but you really have to meet the shrimp's needs well to make it happy - which requires daily feeding, suitable hiding spots and, for S. hispidus, they like to be upside-down with a huge space around their feelers - almost a foot in diameter sometimes. They get angered easily when that space is invaded more than periodically, particularly with fish that nip at the feelers. Smaller CBS species like S. zanzibaricus are easier to make happy, since they find easier hiding places and are less likely to be harassed by tankmates as a result. They also seem to have less of a need for the whole upside-down thing and will go into burrows and other holds in the rock. Sometimes they will also share a hiding spot with burrowing fish (I have one currently that I'm pretty sure is S. zanzibaricus, and it shares a burrow system with an engineer goby). 

 

[garycooper34]

Hi,
 
Perfect. Just the answer I was looking for.
 
I'm stocking my tank next month, but as the latin name for the zanzibar indicated it was a very close relative to the boxer shrimp, I thought I would check.
 
I'm looking at getting a zanzibar as they have lovely colours and are more ideal for my 120L tank. I was also looking at getting a dancing/camel shrimp but apparently they are likely to hide most of the time?

 

[Donya]

I was also looking at getting a dancing/camel shrimp

 
I've never kept camel shrimp (Rhynchocinetes) myself, but they are on the aggressive side for small shrimp and are frequently accused of munching on or picking at corals. Most of the camel shrimp I've seen in other tanks have seemed rather bold and happily came up to look at me after a while. Are you perhaps thinking of peppermint shrimp instead (in the Lysmata genus)?