*2 Questions That Need Attention*

[Gtownguy487]

1. I have "Florida Tampa Bay Live Rock" I cured my rock inside my aquarium for 2 months before adding any critters to my tank during this time I had seen about 250+ feather dusters some brown some yellow all very cool looking. They were about 1 to 2 inches in diameter and growing! Now I have added fish and about 30+ frags of coral to my aquarium and for the last 2 weeks every feather duster has disappeared. Will these little guys come back? Where have they gone?

2. I have a single female Banded Coral Shrimp. I also have 20 peppermints. I plan on purchasing a pair of Harlequin Shrimp and a few Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp. Will my Banded Coral Shrimp be aggressive towards any of these guys? If so I could store my Banded Coral Shrimp in my refugium with no problem.

 

[star27624]

The 20 peppermint shrimp probably explains where you feather dusters have gone. I have had problems with them eating feather dusters.

The coral banded causing problems for the other shrimp depends on how large your tank is. If there is enough space for them all to establish territory's you might be ok. Personally I would skip the coral banded. If the refugium is large enough you could put the coral banded in it, but that defeats the point of a refugium. A refugium is supposed to be a place w/o predation for pods to grow and the macro algea to export nutrients.

 

[olemiss reb]

Peppermints more than likely ate them. I've had peppermints destroy the smaller dusters, never the large Hawaiian ones. Recently added to pepps to my 90 to help with aiptasia- little sobs ripped one of my coco worms to shreds. The CBS is a threat to all of the shrimp you listed. The CBS will be fine in a fuge provided there is food available.

 

[VacavilleFC3S]

20 peppermint shrimp??? i wouldn't put 20 peppermint shrimp in a 400g tank

 

[birdmike]

I would be almost certain that the peppermint shrimp ate your feather dusters.

I added a pair of peppermint shrimp to my 29 gallon tank to control aiptasia. The first things that they chose to eat were all of the feather dusters they could find on my rock! Once those were gone, then they all but eradicated the aiptasia. Curiously, since the shrimp seemed to only eat pieces of the feather duster's filter feeding apparatus, the feather dusters emerged weeks later with new "heads" and the shrimp leave them completely alone now!