MARINE FISH PROFILE
Cleaner Shrimps Cleaner shrimps are attractive marine shrimps from the Families Hippolytidae, Palaemonidae, and the shrimp-like Stenopodidae. They are found in tropical and warm temperate waters worldwide and get their common name because they clean fish (and sometimes other animals such as lobsters) by removing parasites, debris, fungi, injured or dead tissue - which promotes healing, and food scraps from the mouth (Wicksten 2009). The relationship is thought to be mutually beneficial as the shrimps receive food and sometimes protection (for those species that share a crevice with a moray), and cleaning improves the fish’s health and reduces its stress levels (Vaughan et al. 2018). However not all cleaning shrimps are created equal. The strikingly patterned and boldly 30 ∙ Aquarium World
Above: Skunk cleaner shrimp - L. amboinensis Photo: Lonnie Huffman Top right: Banded coral shrimp - Stenopus hispidus Photo: Alexander Vasenin Bottom right: Fire shrimp - L. debelius Photo: Haplochromis
coloured cleaner shrimps that are popular in tropical marine aquaria (e.g., skunk cleaner shrimp, Lysmata amboinensis, fire shrimp, L. debelius, redbacked cleaner shrimp, L. grabhami, banded coral ‘shrimp’, Stenopus hispidus) are specialised cleaners. They are territorial, found in pairs or solitary, display to attract clients, often have a cleaning station, are most active during the day, and cleaning makes up a large part of their diet (Rhyne and Lin 2006, Wicksten 2009).
