Just Got a New Peppermint Shrimp . . . or 4

I'm hoping they live up to their billing as aiptasia eaters. My 90 gallon tank can keep them busy for a few days at least. Right now, he's freaking out on my glass cleaner.

 

Killing aiptasia can be hit-or-miss; however, peppermints have been known to attack small decorative anemones and lps corals...

 

Yeah, I read that in a few places, although there also seems to be a large consensus of people that have not experienced any problems with peppermint shrimp. I guess we'll see.

 

I have one in my tank, he always is hiding behind a power head and never comes out, I think he is afraid of everything haha.

 

I have 3. Mine are very sociable. I haven't seen any aiptasia since there intro and ai had a few pieces I was going to zap but didn't need to. I had a rock that was sprouting aiptasia every few days...haven't seen any since. Apparently they will not eat big aiptasia.

I do have an acan brain that isn't doing well and the peppermint keep picking at it. I think that maybe when our corals are ill or dying they may be being blamed for killing them when maybe they are really cleaning up the mess the decaying coral is creating?

I have not seen them pick at anything healthy unless food drops on the coral.

 

sending you some positive karma that your shrimp take care of the aiptasia. You probably improved your odds by getting 4

 

They've been huddling in one spot since yesterday and I noticed them out after the lights turned off today. They had been camped out next to a big, juicy aiptasia, and now it's gone! The first strike!

 

That's good to hear. Just keep a close eye on any small nems (rock flower, mini-maxi, young bta, etc) and fleshy LPS corals, especially once the aiptasia are gone. While it's true that the majority may be well-behaved, the only way to find out you have a bad guy is to wake up to a perfectly healthy coral or nem being finished off...

 

Yeah, I'll keep a close eye on them. Hopefully, they are pacifists when it comes to coral and hawks when it comes to aiptasia. Does it make any sense, once the aiptasia are gone, to feed them specifically to keep their appetites for non-aiptasia flesh in check?

 

Absolutely. Even I would kill for food if I were to get hungry enough.