Do Peppermint Shrimp eat Zoas???

nduley

New member
First of all I would like to say that I am new to the reef side of our saltwater hobby, I do have years invested in FOWLR tanks.

Second, a quick report of tank parameters. ph 8.2-8.3, amm,nitrate,nitrite,phosphate, all at 0ppm, cal 380, alk 9-10.
Tank has been set up and running for 14 months. 75gal, 330watts of VHO, coralife superskimmer220, eheim 4chamber canister filter, 2 maxijet 1200, 2 eheim powerball powerheads.

Third, lifestock. 1 Kenya tree 5 inches, 4"x4" piece of green starpolyp, 5 red/green mushrooms 1-2" each. 1 peppermint shrimp, 1 sand sifting star fish, 1 brown sebae anenome 6" across, 1 Scopus Tang medium size, 1 2" maroon clownfish, 1 blue with yellow tail damsel 1-2" long, 1 cleaner wrasse. I also have about 50lbs of manmade live rock (by me, and on a side note, it took me almost a year to cure this out good). I also have about 50-60 lbs of live rock from the LFS that came from their display tank which has been there for several years. And about 10 hermit crabs, 50 mixed glass snails, astrea and some black shelled snail which i dont know the name. Also about 12 sand sifting snails.

Ok, today I recieved my first Zoathid frag pack, acclimated and placed in the tank. Within the first few minutes in the tank, some polyps were already opening, less than two hours later, all the polyps were open on all fifteen frags. Needless to say I was very happy about the condition of the frags I recieved.

Later this evening (after the lights went out in tank) I walked into my office and had to turn on the light in the room to find my laptop powercord. I looked in the tank and my peppermint shrimp was on top of one of the frags picking it like a mad-man. I pulled up a seat, got close to the tank, and watched him for about 15 minutes. He appeared to be picking in between all of the closed polyps and for a few minutes while he was digging, he would jump back, as if whatever he was digging at bit him back. It really didn't look like he was picking the zoas, just between them....i am perplexed.

Anyway, i just want to make sure that he isn't gonna eat my zoas. Anybody ever seen this happen? Are pepperment shrimp reef safe? Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated.


Anyway this is my first real post, but wanted to say that I have been getting valueable info from everyone here for a long time, love this site!

Thanks,

Nathan
 
argg... too long :lol: but just by reading your thread title, yeah i've had incidents where peppermints attacked my zoas, same way how they would develop taste for yellow polyps, xenia, and aiptasia. but also another incident where they never attacked zoas, different stock. most of the times, people mistakenly assume that peppermints are eating zoas, while all they are doing might be just cleaning it or eating already dead/dying polyps...
 
I added some new frags last night after a gruesome dip, my peppermints instantly went to munching away at the new additions. I thought i overdipped them a bit and the peppermints were feasting on dead coral but all polyps were open today so i guess they were just cleaning!
 
Hey i just seen your location! gotta love Clearwater Lake, and the Current up by Big Spring is the best.

I am down at least once a year, we should hook up and trade;)
 
aquarius77 - Yea, i have been keeping a pretty close eye on them the last couple nights and have come to the conclusion that he is cleaning them. All the polyps are open and look good. When they first arrived the other day, there was some "fuzzy" stuff in between the polyps, it is now gone and they are very clean looking.

We do make it to the current several times every summer and we usually go to Wappapello instead of clearwater. I should have some frags available for trade in a couple months, pm me when you are planning to come down and we can hook up and swap a few.
:rollface:
 
Just a advice... when dipping new zoo's which stresses them out.. its good to put them on a frag rack away from prodding ampipods and shrimp...

I have modified soap dish holder to the top or side of the tank... that is where I place my newest zoos, puts them in peace till they get acclimated and no longer stressed..

see pic

Picture104.jpg
 
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