NepTuNe-UsD Posted September 20, 2002 Share Posted September 20, 2002 Recently I added a pepermint shrimp into my 20g reef tank to munch on a small colony of aiptasia growing on my live rock. To my surprise, within a day the aiptasia was nearly gone. What a great little shrimp I thought to myself. However, while checking my tank out about 5 minutes ago, I noticed the small peppermint shrimp eating my Frogspawn! No he wasnt picking between the branches, and no he wasnt just standing on the coral. I literally saw him rip off a piece of tissue and consume it! Has anyone else had this problem? I really do not want this pest in my tank if he is going to get his claws on my torch coral or any other coral for that matter. If anyone is willing to pay for shipping, and if I can catch him, he is yours. X) Link to comment
flaunt Posted September 20, 2002 Share Posted September 20, 2002 damn... yeah i think i'd rip my tank apart to get that sucker out! sucks when something unexpected like that happens... like i tried the other day to put a frag of a purple mushroom in mine and my coral-banded shrimp decides to use it for chewing gum! arrrrrgh. good luck. Link to comment
ajroahkni Posted September 20, 2002 Share Posted September 20, 2002 What's the cost/method of shipping this little sucker to Hawaii? Link to comment
printerdown01 Posted September 21, 2002 Share Posted September 21, 2002 LOL!!! DUDE YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN AT THE MEETING TODAY!!! I bought a pep while I was there!! I would have gladly taken it off your hands!! LOL. Link to comment
NaNO ReeFiN Posted September 21, 2002 Share Posted September 21, 2002 God.. so many horror stories about peppermint shrimps.. How come I've never had a problem with them..? ??? Mine have all been perfect and well behaved. Hey printerdown01, thanks again for hooking me up with an assortment of algaes today. Link to comment
Chromis Posted September 22, 2002 Share Posted September 22, 2002 I've never had one but from all the mixed reactions I hear about it can only mean one thing ... different individuals have different behaviors and habits. In conclusion, peppermint shrimp = russian roulette ... maybe try isolating the shrimp with a coral for a while a feed it lightly before adding to the main tank. If it starts a munchin take em back. Link to comment
printerdown01 Posted September 22, 2002 Share Posted September 22, 2002 People get them BECAUSE they munch on stuff... -aptasia. People would take them back if they DIDN'T eat cynadarians (which includes polyps and other soft corals). The bad part is they might eat other stuff too -not just aptasia. If left in the tank long enough, and exposed to enough corals they will eventually find something that they will munch on! -but you are right each shrimp has his own preferences (I hope the one I have right now prefers aptasia over everything else!!). And that is exactly what you have to do "hope." LOL -I know it is not very scientific.... Link to comment
SteveC Posted September 22, 2002 Share Posted September 22, 2002 I know I'm still quite the newbie here, but being a newbie I spend a lot of time reading everything I can find, and I just happened to be reading the reefs.org Hitchiker FAQ a little while ago, specifically the section about dealing with aiptasia: http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/pages/main_page...s/faq_rock1.htm Here they mention that there are two kinds of shrimp called "Peppermint Shrimp": Lysmata wurdemanni is the good kind, and Rhynchocinetes sp. is the coral polyp eatin' kind. Maybe you guys already had that covered, but I thought I should mention it. Links on that page lead to photos of both. SteveC Link to comment
spectre Posted September 23, 2002 Share Posted September 23, 2002 nice post Steve, and good research.. I believe the Rhynchocinetes sp. is commonly refered to as "camelback shrimp" very similar in appearance, and will definitely eat corals. Usually will not touch aptisia...Mother nature is just full of irony... Link to comment
cjm033 Posted September 23, 2002 Share Posted September 23, 2002 how much would shipping to virginia be? Link to comment
jdiver Posted September 23, 2002 Share Posted September 23, 2002 Ah the peppermint shrimp- my nemesis! Since I had one attack my feather duster and yellow polyps, and it took me 2 hours to catch the stupid thing, I don't recommend them to anyone. How I finally caught mine, in case it helps, is to put a small net in the tank with one side of it firmly against the glass. Then I lured/coaxed the shrimp into the net, pressed the net completely against the glass, and scooped the shrimp up. Shrimp kabobs for dinner that night. Link to comment
tang27 Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 peppermint shrimp are such little sh*ts they have been killing of my fish for awihle they have been jumping on them and well eating them i have lost 1goby,2 tomatoe clowns,1brown sabae clown,1domino damsel,and last 1anemone (condy).thats been a loss of more money then i bought the shrimp for and im p##sed about it .i going to do 1of2 things a.squeeze the sucker B.use as realy expensive fishing bait havent decicded yet.my recommendation never buy one unless you need it even then use it and bring it back to your LFS . Link to comment
printerdown01 Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 Tang you do realize that they will eat DEAD or DYING fish right? I'm not saying that it is impossible for the pep to have killed your fish, but I would consider it HIGHLY unlikely!! The fact that you have lost 5 fish to this TINY shrimp, especially the aggressive dominio would suggest to me that your fish are dying in your tank. This is the same reason that bristleworms get such a bad rap... People see them eating their fish and corals and thus assume that they caused the death. I don't even think that a pep has the "tools" nessicary to kill fish.... I guess I could be totally wrong though (god knows it has happed before ). Link to comment
sjpresley Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 I agree with Printer, and then some. There is NO way that a Lysmata killed tomato clowns or any other kind of damsel. These are tough fish, which had to have been in pretty bad shape to have been attacked by a Lysmata wurdmani. However, I have also seen my L. wurdmani decide to attack my Euphyllia ancora (hammer coral). Neptune yours must be hungry. They are largely nocturnal. Wait until the light go off and give him a few bits of frozen food a few times a week and this should help out. Tang, I would do some testing on my tank if fish were falling "victim" to a scavenger. Even a mantis wouldn't do the damage you describe. Link to comment
Pikelet Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 Peppermints are not the perfect creature for a reef tank. In fact they are often a PITA. Mine has a penchant for Cerith snails but luckily tends to leave my corals alone. He's generally a very good boy and loves to ride around on my tongs whenever they're in the tank. BTW He has no problem with fending off my clowns if they get between him and food. My pep .... King of the Tank!!! Link to comment
BCOrchidGuy Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 Dang I just bought 3 of them yesterday..... well I guess I will watch my tank for the next few days, nice thing is nothing is growing yet so if I need to remove the LR to catch the shimp I can and I know the LFS will take them back. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.