Peppermint Shrimp Attacking Trochus Snail

nickbinsb · 11/27/2015, 09:45 PM

I got a peppermint shrimp to help with the clean up of my nano tank, and today I noticed that he was attacking/eating a Trochus snail. Early in the day I had uprighted the same snail thinking it had fallen off the side of the tank, but when I saw him upside down with the Peppermint Shrimp working him over, I knew what really happened. The shrimp was always so greedy for food at feeding time... I thought they were supposed to be docile!!

Frostyfishman · 11/27/2015, 10:51 PM

Perhaps it's already sick

nickbinsb · 11/27/2015, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frostyfishman

Perhaps it's already sick

Possibly... but it was happy/healthy last time I saw it... I only have two so I pay pretty close attention.

Sapelo · 11/28/2015, 05:24 AM

Peppermint shrimp do not attack live, healthy snails.
What frosty said -- something was already wrong with the snail.

jawaiianmon · 06/14/2016, 05:28 PM

Last month I bought ten trochus snails and they were devoured by the peppermint shrimp and blue leg hermits. Bought five today and same thing happened. Bought a bunch of astreas each time and they were ignored.

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Tripod1404 · 06/14/2016, 05:38 PM

I have a cleaner shrimp that used to attack turbo snails. One day the shrimp tried to reach into the snails shell and the snail jammed one of the pincers of the shrimp between the edge of its shell and the glass and broke the arm of the shrimp. After that the shrimp calmed down, now after several molts its pincer is back to normal.

Shinte305 · 06/14/2016, 07:23 PM

man...... 2 years ago when i started my first reef tank i had some aptasia and i bought 3 peppermint shrimps from advise i got in here.. sure they took out my aptasia and 2 years in counting no aptasia ever again. great right! well one of my peppermint shrimp after a month of being in my tank went completely crazy possessed by a demon attacking everything randomly and at night pulling and yanking on some zoas attacking snails at random and one day i caught it pecking at fish that swam by and it made the mistake of injuring my clown fish on its fin while i was watching because my nemo was protecting his carpet anemone.... i created a trap caught it killed it chopped it up and fed it to the tank.... true story. My first crazy reef experience. ill never buy another one of those shrimps

CStrickland · 06/14/2016, 08:02 PM

Another possibility is that you got a camel shrimp. They are hard to tell apart from peppermints and much more aggressive.

Ztous · 06/14/2016, 10:49 PM

I found hermits would kill the snail then the shrimp would get in on it after. They don't seem interested in killing but they will not turn down free food.

jorge18 · 06/15/2016, 08:04 AM

I had the same with my peppermint. Attacked snails and even coral. I'd get rid of it, but don't have anywhere to take it and wouldn't just flush it.

I'm upgrading to a bigger tank and this one definitely won't make the trip over.

Tripod1404 · 06/15/2016, 09:59 AM

Another option you might consider can be getting a cleaner shrimp or blood shrimp pair. Ideally, these shrimps should be larger than the peppermint you have. In my tank all peppermint shrimps are terrified of the larger cleaner shrimps. Although I have never seen the cleaners hurt them, they chase the peppermints away if they find one. These larger shrimps might keep the peppermints in check and discourage them to go after snails .

11/27/2015, 09:45 PM	#1
nickbinsb Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2015 Posts: 19	Peppermint Shrimp Attacking Trochus Snail I got a peppermint shrimp to help with the clean up of my nano tank, and today I noticed that he was attacking/eating a Trochus snail. Early in the day I had uprighted the same snail thinking it had fallen off the side of the tank, but when I saw him upside down with the Peppermint Shrimp working him over, I knew what really happened. The shrimp was always so greedy for food at feeding time... I thought they were supposed to be docile!!

06/14/2016, 08:02 PM	#8
CStrickland Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: New England, U.S. Posts: 4,595	Another possibility is that you got a camel shrimp. They are hard to tell apart from peppermints and much more aggressive. __________________ If you're havin tank problems I feel bad for you, son. I got 99 problems but a fish ain't one Current Tank Info: 3/2016 upgrade to 120g. Chalk bass, melanurus, firefish, starry blenny, canary blenny, lyretail anthias, engineer gobys, kole tang. Softies / LPS / NPS. <3 noob4life <3

11/27/2015, 10:51 PM	#2
Frostyfishman Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 216	Perhaps it's already sick

11/28/2015, 05:24 AM	#4
Sapelo Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: North Georgia Posts: 869	Peppermint shrimp do not attack live, healthy snails. What frosty said -- something was already wrong with the snail.

06/14/2016, 05:28 PM	#5
jawaiianmon Premium Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Satellite Beach, FL Posts: 200	Last month I bought ten trochus snails and they were devoured by the peppermint shrimp and blue leg hermits. Bought five today and same thing happened. Bought a bunch of astreas each time and they were ignored. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

06/14/2016, 05:38 PM	#6
Tripod1404 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2016 Posts: 1,821	I have a cleaner shrimp that used to attack turbo snails. One day the shrimp tried to reach into the snails shell and the snail jammed one of the pincers of the shrimp between the edge of its shell and the glass and broke the arm of the shrimp. After that the shrimp calmed down, now after several molts its pincer is back to normal.

06/14/2016, 07:23 PM	#7
Shinte305 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Posts: 201	man...... 2 years ago when i started my first reef tank i had some aptasia and i bought 3 peppermint shrimps from advise i got in here.. sure they took out my aptasia and 2 years in counting no aptasia ever again. great right! well one of my peppermint shrimp after a month of being in my tank went completely crazy possessed by a demon attacking everything randomly and at night pulling and yanking on some zoas attacking snails at random and one day i caught it pecking at fish that swam by and it made the mistake of injuring my clown fish on its fin while i was watching because my nemo was protecting his carpet anemone.... i created a trap caught it killed it chopped it up and fed it to the tank.... true story. My first crazy reef experience. ill never buy another one of those shrimps

06/14/2016, 10:49 PM	#9
Ztous Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 220	I found hermits would kill the snail then the shrimp would get in on it after. They don't seem interested in killing but they will not turn down free food.

06/15/2016, 08:04 AM	#10
jorge18 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2015 Posts: 25	I had the same with my peppermint. Attacked snails and even coral. I'd get rid of it, but don't have anywhere to take it and wouldn't just flush it. I'm upgrading to a bigger tank and this one definitely won't make the trip over.

06/15/2016, 09:59 AM	#11
Tripod1404 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2016 Posts: 1,821	Another option you might consider can be getting a cleaner shrimp or blood shrimp pair. Ideally, these shrimps should be larger than the peppermint you have. In my tank all peppermint shrimps are terrified of the larger cleaner shrimps. Although I have never seen the cleaners hurt them, they chase the peppermints away if they find one. These larger shrimps might keep the peppermints in check and discourage them to go after snails .