Killer Peppermint?

[snostorm]

I had a little aptasea problem so I got a pair of peppermints and they did I fine job of eradicating it. About 3weeks later I found my beloved cleaner shrimp dead in my tank. Tested the tanks params and everything was fine. 2weeks later I noticed my female clown picking at a dead peppermint shrimp that had passed. Now I am down to one peppermint so I just bought the coolest little fire shrimp for 20 bucks at my LFS. I asked if it was compatable with the peppermint and tey told me he would be ok. I acclimated him and set him free into his new home. About an hour later I decided to check out my new inhabitant and to my horror the damn peppermint was having a shrimp cocktail, and had apparently murdered him. Next my clown grabbed the fireshrimps carcas and swam around with him in his mouth for awhile. It was like a feeding frenzy! Bastards had a 20 dollar lunch. I am not sure who originally killed him though. Could it be the clown or the peppermint?

[holyherbiness]

It could have been that the fire shrimp died itself due to poor acclimation, generally poor health, etc.

 

adn then the peppermint scavenged it!

[snostorm]

was thinking that too, he was really small. But in light of the other shrimp deaths I am a bit skeptical on that. Are they particularly sensitive to acclimation? The pepperment had him dragged up under a power head and had his torso in half! Last I saw him alive he was hanging out under a rock with the peppermint.

[burrito]

how long does it take a pep to eat a 1in fish? assuming the fish died and he just ate the dead body

[Angel]

Actually the peps usually are bullied by cleaners and fire shrimp. I acclimate all inverts slower then others because they are so sensitive. If the pep even got a whiff of it dying, he did his job. They smell it almost as quick as nass snails do.

[snostorm]

Acclimation tips? I fear my enthusiasm killed the poor little guy. I am sure there are a ton of threads on this topic. I just followed the same routine as with my fish. I thought shrimp where acclimated similar.

[BKtomodachi]

Same, just slower.

[Brokken]

Also dim or turn off the lights in your tank - I've been told.

[lobo41a]

Peppermint shrimp will not kill fire shrimp. They will eat them if thery dead. The only shrimp you have to worry about are coral banded or mantis in the same tank with most other species.I have been keeping shrimp for over 30 years and have yet to see a peppermint kill another shrimp, now what you might of had was some camelback s , some fish stores sell them as peppermints which they are not. Now some times a camelback will kill a smaller shrimp if the tank isn't big enough.

I have a 10 gal that I have in it A mated pair of skunk cleaners,mated pair camelback,mated pair peppermint,and a mated pair of fire shrimp and they all get along fine,they all have been in the tank togeather for over 5 months now. some times they scuable over food but nothing life threating.

[lobo41a]

the 10 gal shrimp tank has a 10gal ref.which has mineral MUD in it with 5 diff kinds of alage and a Aquac Remora pro skimmer,and a power compact 65 watt light on it. The ref supplys plenty of extra food for the shrimp.

[snostorm]

Will camelbacks eradicate aiptasia like a peppermint?

[yoshiod9]

dunno...but they will eradicate your soft corals.

 

 

i had one that ate hairy mushrooms. needless to say he got banished to my brother's tank where the lionfish lived.

[lobo41a]

no they won't eat the aiptasia

[snostorm]

I am pretty sure I have a peppermint, and that I killed my new fire shrimp due to poor acclimation. Interestingly, last night under the moonlight I saw a bunch of little white things swirling around in my tank and the fishes were going nuts feeding on them. I think my peppermint spawned. I think that this is a sign of a healthy tank and am dismayed at the recent deaths of my other peppermint and my prized cleaner.

[renichms]

I mixed my peppermint pair with my fire shrimp. No problems. I added a cleaner shrimp. Fire shrimp chased the cleaner some but nothing bothered peppermints and they bothered nothing. Got 2 more peppermints for the refugium and they've both molted, though one is starting to lose color.

 

RN

[ny3papi]

hey snostorm , i had a pepermint shrimp who I beleave was responcible for the death of a firefish goby i had, 2 days after i got the goby i found it dead with its stomack missing and the shrimp on top, after i got rid of the shrimp and got a new firefish with no problems

[lobo41a]

How I acclimate my new shrimp is I have gal container mounted on the wall about 6ft high,I have a fitting coming out of the container with a needel valve so that I can controll the flow of the water to a drip so that it takes 3hours to empty.I have a 3 gal container that drip emptys into,with a airstone in the bottom.When I get my new species I put them in this container with half of the water from the bag that they came in.I then turn on the air pump,so there is air in the water,and then start the drip system. When the gal container is empty I then net the shrimp and add them th the tank. Shrimp are verry senitive to water perms. A slow acclimatetion is a must for shrimp. I have never lost a shrim by this acclimation.

[Angel]

Originally posted by ny3papi

hey snostorm , i had a pepermint shrimp who I beleave was responcible for the death of a firefish goby i had, 2 days after i got the goby i found it dead with its stomack missing and the shrimp on top, after i got rid of the shrimp and got a new firefish with no problems

 

I honestly do not think your pep was the "killer", he was probably just doing his job and cleaning up the debris. The fact that you didn't have him when you introduced the second fish is probably just coincidence.