Blue Linka

I bought a blue linka star a couple weeks ago. I was so worried he would die because I probably put him in the tank too quickly. But he seemed to be doing fine. Was crawling around the tank and went under some live rock, Where theres a big tunnel, thanks to my spotted gobie. He seemed to like it under there. Finally he came out and I could see two of his "legs" had been chewed on at the ends. I'm sure the culprit was a peppermint shrimp that stays under there most of the time. Then the star went back under and I saw the ps chowing down on him. I moved the star out of there and then found the skunk cleaner shrimp working on him. Needless to say, I lost my star. I'm not so happy about it. He was pretty cool. I guess the moral would be no star with the shrimp. Is this normal. Anybody else have this happen?

 

that really sucks, ive never heard of a skunk cleaner shrimp doing that, have heard of peppermint shrimp doing things like that. That really is too bad

 

Ya I have never seen that also but there is always a first time

 

I am almost 100% sure it wasn't a peppermint shrimp. Chances are you have a Camel Shrimp that has been misidentified as a peppermint. They are nearly identical, and it is very common to get camel's sold as peppermint shrimp. Camels can be very aggressive and predatorial

 

are you sure it was the shrimp that was eating it and not the star dying from being put in to fast? I had a blue linka that I placed in my tank too fast and it lost its legs and was dying...basically disintigrated. However it occured in a matter of a couple days...but stars are very sensitive to salinity changes. Sorry for your loss no matter what the cause...they are cool!

 

Very interesting about the camel shrimp. I'll need to research that. Schack, maybe mine was dying and the shrimp just took advantage. It did happen very quickly like you said yours did. He didn't look sick. From what I'm reading, they seem to be quite a mystery. Thanks for your input.

 

I think this is probably more a case of the star dying and the rest of the tank doing what they would normally do in the wild.

Sorry for your loss though, karma+

 

Both shrimp are red and white. The white on a camel is pretty white, the white on a peppermint is more clear. Camels colors are more distinctive.

I think the star was dying and the shrimp were just eating the dead parts... cleaning, so to speak.

Sorry for your loss dude.

 

On a side note: In the event a linkia becomes damaged, segregating it in your refugium may help it come back. My orange was falling apart out of nowhere(I only own one CB shrimp, and no others) so I quickly moved it to the fuge and it recovered 100%. Now it's back in the big tank(with the blue linkia). I've had the orange about 1 year and the blue going on 3.

 

LinCkia with a C
Invertebrate Non-Column - Rob Toonen