So, about 3 months ago I brought home a clown anenome shrimp and added it to the 12g, along with our group of sexy shrimp and our bumblebee shrimp.
We then brought home a sick blasto (no, we did not buy it, we were asked to try to save it). The clown anemone shrimp dove right in and ate the blasto, promptly followed by the sexy shrimp who learned from its example.
Unfortunately, that was sufficient to teach them coral was food, they went for, and did significant damage to, our trumpet and several favias that were healthy up until that point. I have had the shrimp in time out in a 2.5g tank without any coral for the last 2 months but I am tired of taking care of the additional tank. The corals in the 12g are not suited for the strong light of the 57g (LEDs) and the 45g (T5s) is too crowded, not to mention the fact that I like the coral in the 12g where it is.
So, my options are to (1) add the critters back into the 12, and hope that they leave my corals alone, and be prepared to rip it apart if they do not, or (2) keep them in time out forever, or (3) re-home them to someone without coral.
I think that once an animal decides coral is food, it will always think of coral as food, unfortunately.
What do you guys think?
We then brought home a sick blasto (no, we did not buy it, we were asked to try to save it). The clown anemone shrimp dove right in and ate the blasto, promptly followed by the sexy shrimp who learned from its example.
Unfortunately, that was sufficient to teach them coral was food, they went for, and did significant damage to, our trumpet and several favias that were healthy up until that point. I have had the shrimp in time out in a 2.5g tank without any coral for the last 2 months but I am tired of taking care of the additional tank. The corals in the 12g are not suited for the strong light of the 57g (LEDs) and the 45g (T5s) is too crowded, not to mention the fact that I like the coral in the 12g where it is.
So, my options are to (1) add the critters back into the 12, and hope that they leave my corals alone, and be prepared to rip it apart if they do not, or (2) keep them in time out forever, or (3) re-home them to someone without coral.
I think that once an animal decides coral is food, it will always think of coral as food, unfortunately.
What do you guys think?