Coral Banded Shrimp

Scientific Name : Steponus Hispidus

Origin : Indo-Pacific, Hawaii, Caribbean

Difficulty : Easy

Minimum Size Tank : 10 Gallons

Temperament : Territorial Against Other Shrimp

Temperature : 72 - 82°F

Reef Safe : Yes

Maximum Size : 3 inches

Diet : Carnivore

Coral Banded Shrimp can be considered one of the more popular marine ornamental shrimp in the marine aquarium hobby. They are also called boxing shrimp due to the long and large pincers that all coral banded shrimp possess.

Heavily collected throughout the world for the sale and distribution across fish shops worldwide. There are 4 basic types of coral banded shrimp available today. The regular coral banded shrimp (Steponus Hispidus), Yellow coral banded shrimp (steponus cyanoscelis), Gold coral banded shrimp (Steponus zanzibaricus) and finally the blue/purple coral banded shrimp (Steponus tenuirostris).

These shrimp are sometimes called cleaner shrimps like the fire shrimp, peppermint shrimp and the common scarlet cleaner shrimp.

However, like the peppermint shrimp, most people have never witnessed coral banded shrimp cleaning any fish.

These shrimp are territorial and can kill other ornamental shrimp. Not only that, they'll eat the shrimp after killing it. Due to its superior weaponry, the rest don't stand a chance.

As such, mixing these shrimp with others is only recommended in larger aquarium.

They should also be kept singly as they are aggressive towards one another. If two are needed then a mated pair must be purchased.

The coral banded shrimp enjoys the widest distributions in our ocean making them abundant in many waters of the world.

Primarily carnivores, these guys will eat just about anything thrown at them

Frozen foods, dry foods, dead fish, dead shrimp are all acceptable meals as far as the coral banded shrimp is concerned.

Having said that, sinking pellets are probably the most convenient forms of food that can be offered.

New Life Spectrum comes out tops in the sinking pellet category but a varied diet should be given.

Breeding of the coral banded shrimp is difficult. Not with getting a pair to spawn in captivity but in growing out the larvae.

These shrimp are not hermaphrodites, females are usually bigger than the males. Unfortunately this is the only means of determining the sexes. If you're lucky, you may come across a female with eggs, thereby simplifying the process.

I have not come across any success stories from small scale breeders and hobbyists.