TankBud

Fire shrimp

Lysmata debelius

Also known as Blood Red Fire Shrimp, Blood Shrimp, Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp, Red Fire Shrimp

SaltwaterShrimp

Fire shrimp (Lysmata debelius)
User:Haplochromis · CC BY-SA 3.0

Care at a glance

Temperature
72–79°F
22–26°C
pH
8.1–8.4
Adult size
2.4 in
6 cm
Minimum tank
20 gal
75 L
Temperament
Peaceful
Social behavior
Solitary
Swim level
Bottom
Difficulty
Easy
Breeding
Hard
Rarity
Common
Reef safe
Reef safe
Family
Lysmatidae
Origin
Indo-Pacific

Overview

A striking, generally peaceful cleaner shrimp best kept singly in smaller tanks, since two fire shrimp can squabble and it can also scrap with other cleaner shrimp species. It is reef safe with corals and other inverts. If kept underfed it has occasionally been reported to pick at LPS or SPS polyps, so feed it well. Keep away from shrimp-eating predators.

In the wild

An Indo-Pacific reef species that is naturally shy and stays tucked into caves, ledges, and shaded rockwork, extending its long white antennae into open water. In the aquarium it needs plenty of live rock with dark caves and overhangs so it feels secure enough to come out. It is more retiring than the skunk cleaner and often seen only at feeding time until it settles in.

Good to know

Lysmata debelius is a simultaneous hermaphrodite like its relatives. Despite its deep blood-red body and bright white legs and antennae acting as a visual cleaning signal, it cleans fish less reliably than L. amboinensis. Captive breeding is difficult because of a long, demanding planktonic larval phase.

Did you know

Its intense blood-red coloring with crisp white spots and antennae makes it one of the most sought-after ornamental shrimp, and it tends to hide, so spotting it out on the rock feels like a small reward.

Symbiotic relationships

Cleaner shrimp, cleaner gobies and their clients

A cleaner holds a station on the reef and advertises it: cleaner shrimp wave their long white antennae and rock from side to side, cleaner wrasses swim a bobbing dance. Fish arrive and pose, head up or head down with fins spread, and hold still while the cleaner picks off parasitic isopods, dead skin and loose scales, working into the mouth and under the gill covers of fish that could swallow it in one bite. The client leaves with fewer parasites and the cleaner eats a meal it never had to hunt. Reef fish queue for it, and a busy station is visited hundreds of times a day.

The skunk cleaner shrimp is the one that does this reliably in an aquarium: it sets up on a rock ledge, and tank fish, tangs and wrasses especially, learn to stop by within days. The fire shrimp cleans too but hides more and works at dusk. Pederson's cleaner shrimp does the same job from the tentacles of its anemone. The neon goby and its relatives are small, hardy cleaners for tanks that cannot take a shrimp. The cleaner wrasses are the difficult ones: many never take prepared food, and both are marked difficult here. None of them will cure an outbreak of ich; they pick off some parasites and keep a healthy fish tidier, and that is the honest claim. Keep every cleaner away from predators such as large hawkfish, triggers, lionfish and big wrasses.

Every symbiotic relationship in the catalog

Weekly picks

Tank mates

Fire shrimp is a peaceful, solitary species that keeps to the bottom. These picks share a community profile with it, are safe together in both directions, and overlap on water type, temperature and pH.

Check the full mix in the stocking calculator

Common questions

What size tank does a Fire shrimp need?

A Fire shrimp needs at least 20 gal (75 L). It spends most of its time in the bottom.

What temperature and pH does a Fire shrimp need?

A Fire shrimp is comfortable at 72–79°F (22–26°C) with a pH of 8.1–8.4.

How big does a Fire shrimp get?

An adult Fire shrimp reaches about 2.4 in (6 cm).

Related species