Reef nutrition

how to remove a HUGE coral banned shrimp

Roc

Guest
I put a coral bnanned in my tank about a year ago, stupid I know but it was my sons and was already to large for his 2.5 gallon pico. After 2 crashes on my tank I hadn't seen this thing in months and assumed he had died, however a couple of nights before the swap I was looking in my tank at some late random hour and I saw this HUGE (i'm talking 14" from claw to claw) banned shrimp climbing up the back wall.

Well I have wanted this out of the tank for awhile, but the thing NEVER comes out during the day, and I simply am not willing to tear apart the rockwork to get him, am I SOL or does someone have a good idea to catch him.

the DIY fish trap with a bottle is out of the question just because of this things size.
 
maybe make a pseudo crab trap out of gutter guard mesh and bait it with a dead shrimp or something?
 
14"? Wowzers...I want to see a picture of this monster once you get it out.

BTW, if you want to give coral banded shrimps another go, try one of the smaller species instead.
 
A bit of both. :D

Purple body with some gold on the claws. I've had a pair in the tank for awhile now (over a year) and they've grown very little (female is ~2"; male ~1.5"). They haven't touched any of the smaller fish (green banded gobies) so far, although they did pull a zanzibar gold boxer apart (found it one day with just 1 leg; didn't make it through the night in a breeder).
 
That makes it a purple. You go by the body color, not the claws ;) Both purples and goldens are a smaller species (or a dwarf morph)
 
I'm not sure I can bait it out, it NEVER comes out when I feed, and honsetly I'm not sure what it is eating since it camps out in the far back of my tank in and area with the poorist flow in the tank.

Crab trap is an interesting idea, how would I build that
 
I would just make a simple 5 sided box using the gutter guard plastic mesh, or any rigid mesh, and attach fishing line to all 4 corners. You of course would have to check it late at night.

Another option it to do a more traditional crab trap which kinda looks like a fish trap but uses mesh all around. It would have one entrance that has an inverted bell for the opening. You'd be surprised at how small they can make themselves to get at food. Any kind of meaty bait should work.
 
Wow didn't know they get that large! I mean sure mine sticks its arms out but I doubt its more than 6inches when its arms are completely spread wide. I too would like to remove mine, so I can toss in some peppermint shrimp to deal with aiptasia.
 
a_Crab-Trap.jpg


You really don;t even need the inverted bell opening. It can be as simple as the above picture. The bell just helps if it's going in for an extended soak.
 
mesh-for-civil-engineering5-250x250.jpg


Gutter Guard mesh... you can get it in various size rolls and mesh sizes at HD & OSH. Haven't tried Lowes or ACE for it yet but they should have it.


Just zip tie it together.
 
tuberider said:
I have some gutter guard if you need it.

Can't you just reach in and grab 'em? Perhaps use a chopstick to poke 'em out and grab 'em?

thats funny thats what my son said, and I have to admit I was a little spooked.....LOL
 
Roc. I don't get it. How the heck could the thing get that big without you noticing? those things shed as they grow don't they? Do you have like a 1000 gallon tank or something?
Crazy man!
 
GreshamH said:
Molts get eaten very fast :)

Bingo


Back when I used to see this guy all the time the tangs would destory the molts within 2 mins, in fact one time they wouldn't even let him finish and the were ripping the molt off of him while he was trying to run away.

I only have a 120 however the right back side of my rock is not visable from anywhere which is were is hides, when I didn't see em for months I assumed he was dead, so I didn't go looking for him. remember that I had a crash so I had lots of death, I just figured he was one of the losses
 
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