Are Peppermint shrimp okay in a reef?

das75 · 11/21/2006, 12:29 AM

Fighting a battle with aiptasia. Got most of the big ones but still seeing lots of little guys.

Considering adding two peppermint shrimp and have seen some negative comments in the references.

Looking for real life experiences/opinions, once the aiptasia are gone can I expect problems with the shrimp to-wards my corals?

melev · 11/21/2006, 01:43 AM

Yes, they are good in a reef tank. The more you add, the better they'll do. I just put 12 in my tank Saturday.

pledosophy · 11/21/2006, 01:52 AM

I put 6 in my 65. All good.

LFSmarineguy · 11/21/2006, 02:37 AM

there are 2 kinds of peppermint shrimp. One will never touch aiptasia and the other might go after it. In both cases I have heard horror stories about the shrimp either never touching the anemones and just tearing up zoas and other softies or eating the anemones (rarely) and then going after their corals. Expecting wild animals (or even tank raised) to follow some sort of guideline is a bad way to go about it. Also, each tank is different and the same organism may do 2 different things in 2 different tanks. Or they may do the same thing. You never know for sure. The best way is to just inject them with warm kalk paste and then siphon them out or if you feel like spending the money, get some Bherghia nudibranchs. They are the only animal I have ever seen go to town on aiptasia every time they come in contact with it. They do need to be in large groups however in order to take down the really big ones.

SuperNerd · 11/21/2006, 02:45 AM

I have learned my lesson three times now to never, ever, EVER buy the ones labeled "aiptasia eaters"...for some reason mine never made a dent in the pest populations.

Mine also never went after any other invertebrates.

Krazy · 11/21/2006, 06:04 AM

I have 1 in my nano, I've been wanting to add some to my 90, BUT I have a mated pair of coral banded shrimps so I dont think they'd like to see any other shrimps...

anomie · 11/21/2006, 07:32 AM

I added two to my tank after cycling to take care of the aptasias that cropped up during the cycle. I was told not to feed the shrimp until they ate the aptasia and sure enough within 3 days all visible traces were gone. Now they chow down on sinking pellets so I'm not sure if they would take care of them if they popped up now. As for corals, I only have 2 zoo colonies right now and haven't seen them bother the colonies. I rarely see these shrimp during the day. Mostly right after lights out for the night.

Bret61081 · 11/21/2006, 11:41 PM

Ive always had them in my tank and have never had a problem with Aptasia. Ive had the same 3 for over a year now and if an aptasia pops up...its gone within a week....work great for me!

montanabay · 11/22/2006, 01:13 AM

How about pepermints with good anenomes, like BTAs or sebea? I've heard they will munch down on them, anyone have that experience? Would a hosted clown chase of the pepermint if it did try?

SuperNerd · 11/22/2006, 01:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by montanabay
How about pepermints with good anenomes, like BTAs or sebea? I've heard they will munch down on them...

Where'd you hear that from?
They won't eat them. If they're starving they may go after food the anemone has taken in. Clowns may shoo them away but may also pull food out of the anemone's mouth (before it is actually inside) or tentacles as well.

AquaReeferMan · 11/22/2006, 01:58 AM

I have always had peppermint shrimp in all my tanks. They have never bothered anything. In one tank they would house aiptasia in the other they wouldnt touch it. I have them with nems, a gbta and a s haddoni. A lot of the times when you hear stories of peps gone bad they are not even peps but camel shrimp. Everyone I know who has peps havent had any problems.

newb · 11/22/2006, 04:03 PM

in limited reaserch ive found two basic types of pepp shrimp. one is for cooler water other warmer. warmer is the usual type we buy (and the ones that stay alive) in our reef tanks. visually you can tell the diff between them by the stripes. vert = warm
and horz = cold. for me i have 3 pepp and 2 cleaner and we are all one big happy family.

melev · 11/22/2006, 06:38 PM

The only thing I know they eat that upset some hobbyists are Yellow Polyps. They kind of resemble aiptasia, so that makes sense to me. I've never had Yellow Polyps, so it didn't matter.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...lr%3D%26sa%3DG

GregEMT · 11/22/2006, 07:04 PM

I've read that they can eat feather dusters too. I dont know if they kill the whole worm or just try to eat the crown.

TomDe · 11/22/2006, 07:40 PM

I have had yellow polyps and I have feathers, zoos....I have 3 and they never are an issue at all.

doesheya · 11/25/2006, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
Yes, they are good in a reef tank. The more you add, the better they'll do. I just put 12 in my tank Saturday.

Marc,

We have noticed a new "shoot" of aptasia growing. Is the peppermint shrimp the best way to handle this? Our tank is a 60 gallon DAS. Is there a down side to the peppermint shrimp as far as other shrimp like the cleaners(have two of them), fish or corals?

THANKS!!!

vessxpress1 · 11/25/2006, 09:21 AM

If you get some, take spend a loooong time acclimating them. When I originally got a few, I don't think I acclimated them well enough and I ended up losing them a few weeks down the road.

montanabay: I wouldn't worry about them attacking and eating a BTA. I have 2 BTAs and 4 peppermint shrimp now. I caught my one BTA dragging one of my original peppermint shrimps in for lunch one time. I pulled it out but it was in bad shape and a hermit crab grabbed it and started eating it.

As far as the shrimp go, here's the deal. They are very hit or miss as far as if they will touch aiptasia. Just because people say they will, doesn't gurantee you will get one that eats it. I have 4 in my tank and I had a few aiptasia popping up that they didn't touch for a long time. They appear to be gone now and I don't have any new ones, so I assume they took care of the problem. Finally. They prefer fish food much more than aiptasia and they'll come flying out when you feed. Some stay hidden all day an you never see them. The ones I have now have lost their shyness and I usually see a couple of them hanging out somewhere during the daylight hours. They roam the tank at night and can go anywhere.

The only downside to them to me is, if you like target feeding your corals and you like to take your time and enjoy it. Forget about it once you get peppermint shrimp. As soon as they sense the food in the water, they all rush over to your feeder, climbing over the coral you're trying to feed which closes all the polyps up. I usually have about 5 seconds with the target feeder before I have to contend with the shrimp and then I have to hit them with it to get them out of the way and they still hover around and try to come back for more.

They can lay eggs for you though and the hatch makes great food for the corals at night. I believe I had a hatch a few nights ago. Well, HTH.

melev · 11/25/2006, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by doesheya
Marc,

We have noticed a new "shoot" of aptasia growing. Is the peppermint shrimp the best way to handle this? Our tank is a 60 gallon DAS. Is there a down side to the peppermint shrimp as far as other shrimp like the cleaners(have two of them), fish or corals?

THANKS!!!

If you see a few tiny ones and you can reach them, I would use Joe's Juice or kalkwasser paste to inject those little guys daily until they are gone. The peppermints may help, but they may ignore them unless they are hungry enough.

They are scavengers, not predators. They won't hurt your livestock.

bllfish · 11/25/2006, 08:56 PM

Make sure you get peppermint shrimp and not camelback shrimp. The camelbacks look like peppermint with a hump on the tail. THEY WILL EAT YOUR CORALS. I have had peppermints for years and my tank is loaded with feather dusters and no aiptasia.

DrHank · 11/25/2006, 09:01 PM

I had a moderate problem until I added 5 peppermint shrimp. Say goodbye to the aiptasia. Took 4 days and all are gone. Haven't bothered anything else.

evilsike · 11/25/2006, 09:07 PM

I have 6 peppermints and the first 2-3 weeks, they never touched my aiptasia (and I had alot). I thought I wasted my money but my girlfriend noticed there were less and less aiptasia. one day, we saw one shrimp ate the aiptasia like spaghetti barehanded. they haven't touched my yellow polylps neither

Dr.FuManchu · 11/26/2006, 09:03 AM

My 2 peppermints picked all the little round tentacles off of my ricordia and ate them. I witnessed them doing it. Now I cant find the ricordia. I think they took it behind the rocks to finish it off.

bllfish · 11/26/2006, 09:08 AM

Are you sure they are not camel backs.

Dr.FuManchu · 11/26/2006, 09:47 PM

Absolutely positive they are peppermints.

das75 · 11/27/2006, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by newb
in limited reaserch ive found two basic types of pepp shrimp. one is for cooler water other warmer. warmer is the usual type we buy (and the ones that stay alive) in our reef tanks. visually you can tell the diff between them by the stripes. vert = warm
and horz = cold. for me i have 3 pepp and 2 cleaner and we are all one big happy family.

Couldn't really get a good look until I got them home but think I might have gotten the wrong ones.

peppermint???

11/21/2006, 12:29 AM	#1
das75 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Edmonton AB Posts: 2,269	Are Peppermint shrimp okay in a reef? Fighting a battle with aiptasia. Got most of the big ones but still seeing lots of little guys. Considering adding two peppermint shrimp and have seen some negative comments in the references. Looking for real life experiences/opinions, once the aiptasia are gone can I expect problems with the shrimp to-wards my corals?

11/21/2006, 01:52 AM	#3
pledosophy Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Beaverton Posts: 5,290	I put 6 in my 65. All good. __________________ 120g mixed reef 90g QT

11/21/2006, 02:45 AM	#5
SuperNerd Registered Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: SoCal/Left Side- USA Posts: 4,572	I have learned my lesson three times now to never, ever, EVER buy the ones labeled "aiptasia eaters"...for some reason mine never made a dent in the pest populations. Mine also never went after any other invertebrates. __________________ I said fraggit! Current Tank Info: M-728 Combat Engineer (based on M60 hull). M-3 Lee Medium (British version with squatter).

11/21/2006, 07:32 AM	#7
anomie Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Virginia Posts: 193	I added two to my tank after cycling to take care of the aptasias that cropped up during the cycle. I was told not to feed the shrimp until they ate the aptasia and sure enough within 3 days all visible traces were gone. Now they chow down on sinking pellets so I'm not sure if they would take care of them if they popped up now. As for corals, I only have 2 zoo colonies right now and haven't seen them bother the colonies. I rarely see these shrimp during the day. Mostly right after lights out for the night. __________________ Christina

11/22/2006, 01:58 AM	#11
AquaReeferMan Got Reef? Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Under the Sea, Pa Posts: 4,593	I have always had peppermint shrimp in all my tanks. They have never bothered anything. In one tank they would house aiptasia in the other they wouldnt touch it. I have them with nems, a gbta and a s haddoni. A lot of the times when you hear stories of peps gone bad they are not even peps but camel shrimp. Everyone I know who has peps havent had any problems. __________________ Couple SPS/Zoanthid tanks and a couple of FW planted tanks. Current Tank Info: 5 pieces of glass with some silicone and plastic frames holding them together

11/21/2006, 01:43 AM	#2
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Yes, they are good in a reef tank. The more you add, the better they'll do. I just put 12 in my tank Saturday.

11/21/2006, 02:37 AM	#4
LFSmarineguy Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 199	there are 2 kinds of peppermint shrimp. One will never touch aiptasia and the other might go after it. In both cases I have heard horror stories about the shrimp either never touching the anemones and just tearing up zoas and other softies or eating the anemones (rarely) and then going after their corals. Expecting wild animals (or even tank raised) to follow some sort of guideline is a bad way to go about it. Also, each tank is different and the same organism may do 2 different things in 2 different tanks. Or they may do the same thing. You never know for sure. The best way is to just inject them with warm kalk paste and then siphon them out or if you feel like spending the money, get some Bherghia nudibranchs. They are the only animal I have ever seen go to town on aiptasia every time they come in contact with it. They do need to be in large groups however in order to take down the really big ones.

11/21/2006, 06:04 AM	#6
Krazy Registered Member. Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Albany, NY Posts: 2,941	I have 1 in my nano, I've been wanting to add some to my 90, BUT I have a mated pair of coral banded shrimps so I dont think they'd like to see any other shrimps...

11/21/2006, 11:41 PM	#8
Bret61081 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL Posts: 2,078	Ive always had them in my tank and have never had a problem with Aptasia. Ive had the same 3 for over a year now and if an aptasia pops up...its gone within a week....work great for me!

11/22/2006, 01:13 AM	#9
montanabay Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Berkeley, CA Posts: 465	How about pepermints with good anenomes, like BTAs or sebea? I've heard they will munch down on them, anyone have that experience? Would a hosted clown chase of the pepermint if it did try?

11/22/2006, 04:03 PM	#12
newb Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: ca Posts: 123	in limited reaserch ive found two basic types of pepp shrimp. one is for cooler water other warmer. warmer is the usual type we buy (and the ones that stay alive) in our reef tanks. visually you can tell the diff between them by the stripes. vert = warm and horz = cold. for me i have 3 pepp and 2 cleaner and we are all one big happy family.

11/22/2006, 06:38 PM	#13
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	The only thing I know they eat that upset some hobbyists are Yellow Polyps. They kind of resemble aiptasia, so that makes sense to me. I've never had Yellow Polyps, so it didn't matter. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...lr%3D%26sa%3DG

11/22/2006, 07:04 PM	#14
GregEMT Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 134	I've read that they can eat feather dusters too. I dont know if they kill the whole worm or just try to eat the crown.

11/22/2006, 07:40 PM	#15
TomDe Keep it simple Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 308	I have had yellow polyps and I have feathers, zoos....I have 3 and they never are an issue at all.

11/25/2006, 09:21 AM	#17
vessxpress1 Premium Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: NW IL Posts: 1,603	If you get some, take spend a loooong time acclimating them. When I originally got a few, I don't think I acclimated them well enough and I ended up losing them a few weeks down the road. montanabay: I wouldn't worry about them attacking and eating a BTA. I have 2 BTAs and 4 peppermint shrimp now. I caught my one BTA dragging one of my original peppermint shrimps in for lunch one time. I pulled it out but it was in bad shape and a hermit crab grabbed it and started eating it. As far as the shrimp go, here's the deal. They are very hit or miss as far as if they will touch aiptasia. Just because people say they will, doesn't gurantee you will get one that eats it. I have 4 in my tank and I had a few aiptasia popping up that they didn't touch for a long time. They appear to be gone now and I don't have any new ones, so I assume they took care of the problem. Finally. They prefer fish food much more than aiptasia and they'll come flying out when you feed. Some stay hidden all day an you never see them. The ones I have now have lost their shyness and I usually see a couple of them hanging out somewhere during the daylight hours. They roam the tank at night and can go anywhere. The only downside to them to me is, if you like target feeding your corals and you like to take your time and enjoy it. Forget about it once you get peppermint shrimp. As soon as they sense the food in the water, they all rush over to your feeder, climbing over the coral you're trying to feed which closes all the polyps up. I usually have about 5 seconds with the target feeder before I have to contend with the shrimp and then I have to hit them with it to get them out of the way and they still hover around and try to come back for more. They can lay eggs for you though and the hatch makes great food for the corals at night. I believe I had a hatch a few nights ago. Well, HTH.

11/25/2006, 08:56 PM	#19
bllfish Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Stuart, Florida Posts: 1,818	Make sure you get peppermint shrimp and not camelback shrimp. The camelbacks look like peppermint with a hump on the tail. THEY WILL EAT YOUR CORALS. I have had peppermints for years and my tank is loaded with feather dusters and no aiptasia. __________________ "I fish by myself because lots of people don't like me, and the ones that do like me, well, I don't want them to know my spots." ><)))))*>--- Current Tank Info: 72 bow, 36" stand, 4 54W T5, vantec stealth fans, eheim 1260, mj 1200 & 2 Koralia #1 to WaveMaster Pro, CPR 24" Aquafuge HOB & 7100K PC, JBJ Arctica chiller, LiterMeter III

11/25/2006, 09:01 PM	#20
DrHank Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Crestview, FL Posts: 2,138	I had a moderate problem until I added 5 peppermint shrimp. Say goodbye to the aiptasia. Took 4 days and all are gone. Haven't bothered anything else. __________________ Doc (Click the red house for the FPRS site) Current Tank Info: 210 gallon Mixed reef, 65 reef

11/25/2006, 09:07 PM	#21
evilsike Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: New Jersey Posts: 427	I have 6 peppermints and the first 2-3 weeks, they never touched my aiptasia (and I had alot). I thought I wasted my money but my girlfriend noticed there were less and less aiptasia. one day, we saw one shrimp ate the aiptasia like spaghetti barehanded. they haven't touched my yellow polylps neither __________________ All experts were once a beginner Current Tank Info: 46 Gal bow front, Aqua C 120, 10g sump w/ 6"x10" refuge, 5x39 T5, AC2, 2xmodded mj

11/26/2006, 09:03 AM	#22
Dr.FuManchu Moved On Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Northern VA Posts: 257	My 2 peppermints picked all the little round tentacles off of my ricordia and ate them. I witnessed them doing it. Now I cant find the ricordia. I think they took it behind the rocks to finish it off.

11/26/2006, 09:08 AM	#23
bllfish Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Stuart, Florida Posts: 1,818	Are you sure they are not camel backs. __________________ "I fish by myself because lots of people don't like me, and the ones that do like me, well, I don't want them to know my spots." ><)))))*>--- Current Tank Info: 72 bow, 36" stand, 4 54W T5, vantec stealth fans, eheim 1260, mj 1200 & 2 Koralia #1 to WaveMaster Pro, CPR 24" Aquafuge HOB & 7100K PC, JBJ Arctica chiller, LiterMeter III

11/26/2006, 09:47 PM	#24
Dr.FuManchu Moved On Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Northern VA Posts: 257	Absolutely positive they are peppermints.