Aptaisa eating organisms?

[ffc3]

Klein's are not reef safe. I bought one for aiptasia purposes and it was picking at all my SPS within an hour. I traded it in after a few days but it took another couple of days for the polyps to open up fully again.

 

[Hawk23]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13729471#post13729471 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ffc3
Klein's are not reef safe. I bought one for aiptasia purposes and it was picking at all my SPS within an hour. I traded it in after a few days but it took another couple of days for the polyps to open up fully again.

Interesting. I was just going off what I observed at the LFS, was told about the experience at the LFS, and what I read in the article in Aquarium Fish International. It's always great to have input from someone who has handled the species first hand.

 

[Whalehead9]

kleins that I have used for this purpose will normally eat whatever is most dominant in front of their face first. If you have an absolute aptasia infestation, the A kleins will take them out first, and when they are gone, then whatever comes next - zoos, mushrooms. Right on down the line

 

[mxett]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13693618#post13693618 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cybrsufr
IME, The Copperband or even better the Chelmon Marginalis (Australian Copperband) are the best candidates for keeping a tank free of unwanted anemones, Majano and Aptasia. YES they have a very poor survival record and it took me 3 of them before getting one to last more than 3 months.. What I have found IME is that the ones smaller than 3" don't survive well as neither do the ones over 5". It seems the medium sized ones fare the best. The C. Marginalis has a better track record but is also 3x the price of a standard Copperband, going for around $150.00. The Long Nose is OK but IT WILL eventually start picking polyps off your SPS, Clams are at high risk, and worms will be non existent. Raccoon will definitely make very short work of any anemones, however if you have corals in that tank, it WILL decimate them very quickly. I have never tried the Bergia, but have had friends tell me they work great unless you have wrasse's in your tank, if so then they will eat them fairly quickly. Peppermint Shrimp have also worked very well for me in the past. I put three of them in my 75G sump that was loaded with Aptasia and within 30 days they were gone. My only problem I have now is that my Banggai Cards are huge now (close to 4.5" from top of dorsal fin to bottom of ventral fins) and the pair of them have taken a strong liking to peppermints. I put 6 of them in my 180 and within 3 days they were history, nice 40.00 snack for the Banggai's :mad2: . I personally will stick with the Chelmon rostratus or Chelmon Marginalis to control my anemone pests.

Would have to agree with your summation. I introduced an Australian Copperband a little over a week ago and I no longer have a single aptasia in my 4' x 4', after what was a significant infestation of them!

I now hope he will start taking frozen food!

 

[Snail-po]

i got a pair of peppermint shrimp and they never leave each others side. they ate all the aptasias excluding two on the highest rock in the tank.

 

[swencel]

That's funny. I have a Copper band that I bought because I found one that looked healthy and I love the fish, but I've had it for about 1 year and he won't touch the Aptasia. Go figure. Wouldn't trade him for the world though.

 

[virginiadiver69]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13560403#post13560403 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MSUvsUM
Yeah, it's a green scat (although it is not green).

I've googled green scat to find a place to buy one...I'm getting some very interesting links. :lol:

 

[46FiatYamaha]

:lmao: virginiadiver, I bet so. I temporarily kept an Auriga butterfly for a friend while moving, and he destroyed all the aiptasia I had. Not sure if they are OK with other corals though

 

[Wakeskater02]

Thats interesting. I had an aptasia outbreak and put in 3 peppermint shrimp and within a few days the numbers were highly decreased. They are a good cheap alternative and I highly recommend them. If you have large aptasia you might have to manually take them out or eradicate them by hand.

 

[gwenvet]

Do the peppermint shrimp have to be a certain size? All my LFS has now are tiny ones (1cm max).

 

[cybrsufr]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13729471#post13729471 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ffc3
Klein's are not reef safe. I bought one for aiptasia purposes and it was picking at all my SPS within an hour. I traded it in after a few days but it took another couple of days for the polyps to open up fully again.

I just found that out myself. I had some idiot at one of my LFS's that swore they were as reef safe as a CB so I decided to give him a try. Within 30 minutes he was munching on my Acans, Wells Brain, and all of my SPS. Needless to say he came out and went to the sump real fast. These are definitely not reef safe at all, especially is you have any PS in the tank as all, They WILL eat your LPS real fast.

I have had excellent luck with peppermints of all sizes but since my 2 Banggai Cardinals are now approx 3" in size, peppermints are just an expensive snack for them, I found that out the hard way and they enjoyed a 50 dollar meal when I tried to add a dozen peppermints to my 180 and they were gone in 30 minutes :mad2: