Cleaner Shrimp
Lysmata amboinensis
Cleaner Shrimp are among the most recognisable and engaging invertebrates in the marine aquarium hobby. Their vivid red body, bold white stripe running along the back, delicate yellowish legs and exceptionally long white antennae make them unmistakable as they perch on reef rockwork.
Known as the Skunk Cleaner Shrimp or Pacific Cleaner Shrimp, Lysmata amboinensis is famous for its remarkable partnership with reef fish. It establishes a cleaning station in a sheltered spot and signals to passing fish with movements of its antennae and body. Willing visitors may pause while the shrimp picks away loose tissue, mucus and some external parasites.
This fascinating behaviour is a natural part of life on tropical Indo-Pacific reefs. Cleaner Shrimp are often remarkably confident around peaceful fish and may even investigate an aquarist's hand during aquarium maintenance.
Beyond their cleaning interactions, these shrimp are opportunistic omnivores and scavengers. They search rocky surfaces for small food particles and readily accept a variety of suitable marine foods, making them lively and useful inhabitants of an established aquarium.
Generally peaceful and reef safe, Cleaner Shrimp are suitable for many mixed coral aquariums. They can be kept individually or, with sufficient space and shelter, as a compatible pair. Their attractive appearance and unusual behaviour make them a fascinating addition to a well-planned reef community.
Although they may remove some parasites from fish, Cleaner Shrimp are not a replacement for quarantine, veterinary advice or appropriate fish disease treatment. Their cleaning activity should be appreciated as natural behaviour rather than a guaranteed medical service.
With stable water conditions, regular feeding and carefully selected tankmates, these striking shrimp bring movement, character and an extraordinary glimpse of reef symbiosis to the home aquarium.
Feeding Notes
Cleaner Shrimp are opportunistic omnivores that naturally take small invertebrates, organic food particles and material collected during cleaning interactions with reef fish.
Offer a varied diet of finely chopped marine seafood, frozen mysis, enriched brine shrimp and appropriately sized sinking marine pellets or specialised invertebrate foods. A balanced marine diet is preferable to relying on any one food source.
Provide small supplemental feedings several times a week, or more frequently when little food reaches the shrimp during normal fish feeding. Place food near a favoured rock ledge if faster fish take everything first.
In healthy reef aquariums these shrimp may scavenge leftover food, but they still require adequate nutrition. Cleaning fish is a natural interaction, not a reliable substitute for regular feeding.
Cleaner Shrimp may investigate fish that pause at their cleaning station and remove external parasites, loose tissue or mucus. This behaviour cannot be relied upon to prevent or cure marine ich, velvet or other fish diseases.
Some individuals will try to take food offered directly to corals, particularly fleshy LPS corals. When target-feeding corals, protect the food until the coral has swallowed it and monitor any persistent interference.
Observe body condition and appetite after introduction. A shrimp that remains hidden continuously, stops feeding or struggles to moult may be affected by water quality, stress or unsuitable tankmates.
Aquarium Setup Notes
Provide a mature, stable marine aquarium of at least 75 litres for one Cleaner Shrimp, preferably larger for a pair or an active fish community. Stability, water quality and shelter are more important than volume alone.
Create an aquascape with well-established live rock, shaded caves, overhangs and secure ledges. Cleaner Shrimp often select a prominent sheltered spot as a cleaning station, where fish can approach and the shrimp can retreat quickly.
Maintain typical stable reef conditions with a temperature of approximately 24–27 °C, pH around 8.1–8.4 and specific gravity around 1.024–1.026. Ensure adequate oxygenation and undetectable ammonia and nitrite.
Moderate, varied flow is appropriate, with lower-flow resting areas behind the rockwork. Standard marine or reef lighting is suitable, provided shaded hiding places and a consistent day-night cycle are available.
Acclimate carefully. Marine shrimp are sensitive to sudden changes in salinity, temperature and water chemistry. Follow the Aqua House livestock acclimation guidance and avoid adding shipping water to the display aquarium.
Never expose Cleaner Shrimp to copper-based fish medications. Confirm that all medications and chemical treatments are safe for marine crustaceans before using them.
Cleaner Shrimp shed their exoskeleton as they grow. Freshly moulted individuals are temporarily soft and vulnerable and need safe shelter until the new shell hardens. A discarded exoskeleton can resemble a dead shrimp.
Maintain normal, stable reef calcium, alkalinity and major-ion levels to support shell formation. Do not add iodine or other trace supplements solely for moulting without testing and a clear need.
Unlike sand-burying animals, Cleaner Shrimp do not require a deep sandbed; secure rockwork and accessible shelter are more important.
Compatibility Notes
Cleaner Shrimp are generally peaceful, social reef invertebrates that are suitable for many established community marine aquariums.
Reef safe: They are not normally coral predators and can live with soft corals, LPS corals and SPS corals. Nevertheless, hungry individuals may steal food from corals or briefly irritate a polyp while investigating it.
They are usually compatible with suitably peaceful clownfish, gobies, blennies, cardinalfish, tangs and other fish that do not hunt shrimp. Their natural cleaning displays can attract cooperative fish to the station.
Avoid known shrimp predators including many hawkfish, triggerfish, puffers, lionfish, large predatory wrasses, scorpionfish and groupers. A fish may still eat a shrimp even if it occasionally accepts cleaning in the wild.
Cleaner Shrimp can often be kept singly or as a compatible pair. Like many Lysmata shrimp, they are protandric simultaneous hermaphrodites, meaning mature shrimp can function in both reproductive roles when paired with another individual.
A pair may carry eggs repeatedly in suitable conditions, but successfully raising the planktonic larvae in an ordinary display aquarium is very unlikely.
If keeping more than one, provide adequate space, several shelters and food sources. Monitor for persistent aggression, especially after moulting or in smaller tanks.
These shrimp may climb on fish or approach an aquarist's hand to investigate. Not all fish welcome being cleaned, and not all shrimp display the same level of cleaning activity.
Cleaning is not a disease treatment. Do not depend on Cleaner Shrimp to control a significant parasite infestation; appropriate quarantine, diagnosis and species-safe treatment remain essential.
With sufficient shelter, stable water conditions and non-predatory tankmates, Cleaner Shrimp are a colourful, entertaining addition to an established reef.