Aiptasia Anemone

[sanababit]

ohh i forgot, anyone out there ever nuked their new tank to kill aiptasia anemone?? if so what did u use so i can kill all the ones that are living in my tank:smokin:

 

[uscharalph]

Peppermint Shrimp. They'll also get the Aiptasia you can't see.

 

[sanababit]

mmmm ok, and when the peppermint eat all the aiptasia will they go after other anemones??? and or corals?? or are they reef safe??
thanks

 

[Sepeku]

Mostly reef safe. "True" peppermints are completely safe but occassionally other species that aren't so much reef safe are sold as peppermints.

But even then the nastiest "peppermint" you can get is still much safer than the "reef safe" emerald crab.

Perhaps I'm rambling. I've never had any problems with the 4 I had.

 

[Blackacid]

what is wrong with an emerald crab? I've got one in my 75 and he hasn't caused any problems yet. What do I have to look forward to?

 

[sunfish11]

"True" peppermints are completely safe but occassionally other species that aren't so much reef safe are sold as peppermints.

I am afraid I will have to disagree here. "True" peppermints are not completely reef safe, but they are pretty much reefsafe. Keep them well fed and they will usually leave stuff alone. They will decimate your spaghetti worms and possibly feather dusters. They eat pods as well. I watched one of mine clip a polyp off my goni and eat some nice yellow polyps as well. They sometimes hunt small stomatella snails. I have watched these things happen. Others have reported them harassing frogspawn and other LPS at times but I have not seen this behavior. I don't really like them in my reef but I have 4 in my sump.

I know the differents between camel shrimp and peps. There are actually two different types of 'true' peppermints. They come from different areas. Both eat aiptasia and aren't easy to tell apart. I do not know of any specific behavior differences between the two.

Lisa