Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

Looks how to spot one

Thin, translucent exoskeleton (moulted as it grows)

A slender reef shrimp with a striking racing-stripe pattern: a crisp white line runs along the middle of the back, framed on each side by a broad scarlet band, while the sides and legs are pale yellowish to translucent. The tail fan carries small white spots, and long, bright white antennae wave out in front, making it easy for fish to spot.12

Personality what they are like

A calm, confident little worker that sets up a cleaning station on rock or coral and invites fish over with a side-to-side swaying dance. It is peaceful toward fish and corals, and it is gentle enough that public aquariums use it in touch pools. Toward its own kind it is choosy: in the wild it lives in pairs, and in groups larger than two the shrimp tend to quarrel, so a single shrimp or one pair is the usual setup.1245

Daily activity how busy a day looks

Active and visible during the day, but does much of its parasite picking at night. Needs live rock, ledges or caves where it can perch and run its cleaning station.165

Grooming and care the hands-on bits

Rated easy to keep by LiveAquaria. Introduce it slowly with drip acclimation, as shrimp adjust gradually to new water. It grows by moulting, and the retailer recommends iodine supplementation to support moulting; the empty shell it leaves behind is normal. Keep nitrate low and avoid copper-based treatments in any tank housing the shrimp.5

Home where they are happiest

A mature marine reef or fish-only aquarium with live rock. LiveAquaria gives 72-78 °F (about 22-26 °C), pH 8.1-8.4, specific gravity 1.023-1.025 and dKH 8-12. Researchers kept the species at 24-25 °C and 34-35 ppt salinity, with a 12-hour light cycle, coral sand and perches, using 15 L for a single shrimp and 30 L for a pair. No minimum home tank size was given by the sources.54

Food basics what goes in the bowl

An omnivore that gets much of its food by picking parasites and dead tissue off fish. In an aquarium it also needs its own food, such as daily portions of commercial shrimp food or meaty frozen foods, rather than living on cleaning alone.1245

Company who they like around

Naturally lives in pairs and is socially monogamous. Keep one shrimp or a single pair; larger groups tend to be whittled down by fighting. Choose peaceful tankmates and avoid predators that eat shrimp, such as hawkfish, lionfish and predatory crabs.145

The story where it all began

Dutch zoologist Johannes Govertus de Man described the species in 1888. On Indo-Pacific and Red Sea reefs it has long been known as one of the classic cleaners: pairs hold cleaning stations in caves and ledges, often alongside moray eels, and fish queue up to be groomed. Its bold colours and helpful habits made it one of the most popular invertebrates in the marine aquarium hobby, and public aquariums use it in touch pools where visitors can interact with it. Most animals in the trade are still wild-caught because the larvae take months to raise, although it spawns readily in tanks. In recent years researchers have also studied cleaner shrimp as a natural way to remove parasites from farmed fish.126

Recognised by the official bits

Taxonomy (via Wikipedia)

Described by Johannes Govertus de Man in 1888. Order Decapoda, infraorder Caridea, family Lysmatidae (older sources place it in Hippolytidae), genus Lysmata.1

SeaLifeBase

Listed as Not Evaluated by the IUCN and not listed under CITES or CMS.3