coral banded shrimp

Coral Banded Shrimp: Stenopus hispidus

Introduction to the Coral Banded Shrimp

The Stenopus hispidus, commonly known as Boxer Shrimp, Banded Cleaner Shrimp, or Coral Banded Shrimp, is a popular and inexpensive invertebrate to add to your tank. Like some of the other common saltwater aquarium shrimp, you may find that this little fella will be shy and stay hidden among the rocks. If you do have a shy one, you may be able to coax it out at feeding time.  

Coral Banded Shrimp have an attractive and unique coloration consisting of alternating red/brown and white bands around its legs and body and have very long front claws. While some of the other popular aquarium cleaner shrimp, like the Scarlet Skunk cleaner shrimp and Blood red Fire shrimp, have a smooth shell, part of what makes the coral banded shrimp unique is the spiny look of its shell.

coral banded shrimp on sandy substrate

Their sometimes commonly used name, boxer shrimp, is because of the large pinchers it holds out as protection seemingly in a boxer’s defensive posture.

These creatures usually grow up to about 2-3 inches and have an expected typical lifespan of several years (about 2-3 years in a home aquarium), although there are some (like Saltwater Aquarium Blog reader K D) who shared their personal experience of caring for one in a 30-gallon aquarium for more than 9 years! 

Stenopus Hispidus

Ideal habitat for the coral banded shrimp

In the wild, boxers dwell in rocky areas in the reefs located in the Western Atlantic and Indo – Pacific areas.

Boxer Shrimps are scavengers and will search for food on the tank bottom and rock crevices. They also like to hide especially during daytime and would come out mostly at mealtime, so provide them with plenty of rocks and hiding places to make them feel more secure.

They are a reef safe shrimp and are therefore fine to keep in your community reef tank with corals, clams, and other reef animals.

Feeding

The Coral Banded Shrimp is easy to feed because it is a scavenger that will accept a wide range of foods. They are a natural predator of bristle worms, so many aquarium owners will purchase them to help keep that population in check, naturally.

If you find that extra food doesn’t make its way to the bottom of the tank frequently, or that the coral banded shrimp in your saltwater aquarium is particularly aggressive at feeding time, you may want to target feed them using a tool like Julian’s thing to get some food down to a rock crevice where the shrimp can eat in peace without all the chaos and commotion of your more bold aquarium inhabitants.

Barberpole (177467769)

Behavior and tank mates

Boxer Shrimps are usually peaceful creatures when it comes to cohabitating with fish and coral species, but it is best to avoid keeping these shrimps (unless purchased as a mated pair) singly, since you may see intra-species aggression. You also want to avoid keeping the coral banded shrimp with notorious shrimp eaters like Lionfish, Triggers, or Hawkfish. Absolute advice, like this, is always imprecise because individual fish and invertebrates sometimes act in unique ways or unpredictable ways, but you are likely tempting fate when mixing predator and prey in the same tank.

Breeding Stenopus hispidus

Breeding aquarium shrimp and successfully raising the offspring through metamorphosis is a challenging affair and beyond the scope of this introductory article.

coral banded shrimp pair

If you are serious about breeding these awesome creatures, I recommend you check out these two sites:

Marine Breeder Initiative

MOFIB

You would likely also find How to Raise & Train Your Peppermint Shrimp, an interesting book–while the rearing techniques would not be identical, you would likely find many similarities.

If you are interested in reading a more scholarly journal article about the reproductive cycle, check out this article.

coral banded or boxing shrimp on reef floor

Conclusions

The Coral Banded Shrimp is a good scavenger and an interesting invertebrate to add to your tank. As long as you keep to the one per tank rule, you should end up with a happy shrimp.

For more information

Want to learn more about the boxer shrimp? Check out this short video:

Coral Banded Shrimp Care Guide

If you want to learn more about other members of the reef clean up crew, you might be interested in these other articles:

Emerald Crab

Nassarius Snails

Peppermint shrimp care guide

Do you have a Coral Banded Shrimp? Let us know what you think. 


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2 responses to “Coral Banded Shrimp: Stenopus hispidus”

  1. Bev Berman

    I love these shrimp! Very active and sometimes climb to the top of the tank. They move fast, considering all they have to move with their claws and antennae! What I am curious about is, what is the blue color their bodies? Just a color like the red stripes, or actually the area where their minimal organs are?
    Thank you for answering.

    1. Thanks for the comment, Bev, these are great shrimp. The blue is just an amazing, natural color.

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