Brittle Sea Stars and peppermint shrimp

[Nashlake]

I have been battling aptasia for several years and have tried kalk, Joes Juice, Berghia nudibranchs, and peppermint shrimp.

The nudibranchs disappeared and havenââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t made a change in the tank. The few peppermint shrimp I have tried havenââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t touched the aptasia and disappear after a week or so.

My tank is 10 years old, have kept cleaner shrimp for years, so I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t think it is the condition of the tank. I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t know weather it is the quality/health of the peppermints that I have gotten or if something is eating them.

Could a brittle star harm a peppermint shrimp? I have large brittle in the tank, he has been there for 4-5 yrs. Donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t see much of him but he is the only thing in the tank that I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t know if it can harm a shrimp. Other then the brittle, all I have for fish are a yellow tank, a true pecula, and a coral beauty angel. I keep clams, have mult sps and lps coral so I believe the basic conditions in the tank are OK.

I would like to get 8-10 peppermint shrimp to add to the tank in hopes that they would go after the aptasia rather then scavenge for food.

Any suggestions?

 

[Gools]

I have both in my tank no problems, and my peppermints are very tiny. Have you thought about a copperband, if fish stocking for your tank permits

 

[Nashlake]

I have been looking for a copperbanded butterfly but havent had any luck finding any locally.

 

[davocean]

I went though something similar. Added peps to clear aptasia.
Peps were small and I didn't see them for weeks. I thought for sure they became fish snacks.
About 3 or 4 weeks later I saw them again, bigger and very healthy/active.
They still never touched the aptasia from what I could tell.
I saw a rep at my LFS use chem-marin. He snuck up on it slowly
with a hypo and then quickly injected it deep in the center of the apt.
He waited about a minute and used the same hypo to suck out
both chem and apt. I was impressed.
I did the same, except I turned off my pumps to keep chem from
floating around. I have 2 beautiful aenonomes so I was a little
nervous at first it would bother them, but no problem.
My shrimps will run over to eat what floats around, but I wave them away. Their fine.
One apt was stubborn and took several attemps, but persitance paid off.
As for copperbands, I love them but never had good luck with them. I've heard they need at least 3 feedings a day.