Does Peppermint Shrimp eat coral?

[Tanthaitrung]

Dear all,

My tank has a ton of aiptasias. I used to have a Copperband Butterfly. But this guy could not pick aiptasia. When I removed him due to ich, aiptasia came back again.

I ordered some of Peppermint Shrimps and will get them tomorrow. But someone told me they will eat my coral.

- If that's true, how can I pick them out after killing aiptasias?

Thanks so much
Khanh

 

[AlSimmons]

I've had a few Peppermint shrimp over the years that have gone rouge and eat my corals before. (Favia, Echinophyllia, Blastomussa) Whether this will be the case with yours I don't know. Each one is different. If you need to catch the Peppermint shrimp though you can always make a trap out of a 2 liter soda bottle.

https://offgridsurvival.com/fishing-trap/

 

[Tanthaitrung]

Thanks AlSimmons

 

[Timy10110]

What about a filefish? Heard they eat aiptasia but it's a hit/miss

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[Tanthaitrung]

I haven't tried. But heard it eats coral

 

[Tcox]

+1 on caution. I had a couple before. One was a model citizen. The other destroyed two hammer's overnight. I won't risk it again

 

[Tanthaitrung]

+1 on caution. I had a couple before. One was a model citizen. The other destroyed two hammer's overnight. I won't risk it again

I'm sorry. Thanks for your sharing. Did your tank has aiptasias?

 

[Tcox]

I did have a handful. It was a 75g, I didn't have an infestation but I had enough aptasia to keep them at work. Your mileage may vary though!

 

[CrazyCanadian]

I have 3, haven't had an issue with SC but not sure about HC. Sure keeps the Aiptasia in check though.

 

[Coralfuture]

I have had them eat my corals as well didn't have an aiptasia infestation(there were 7 in my 75gal but they went for corals over aiptasia. They did eat a few of them but many remained unharmed. Seemed more interested in taking food out of the stomachs of my acans than anything so I had to stop target feeding them....they now have their own tank

 

[Tripod1404]

Does Peppermint Shrimp eat coral?

IMO peppermint shrimp are more likely to eat stressed corals. I had a peppermint shrimp consuming half of blasto colony the day I introduced the coral. I moved the coral closer to the den of my blood shrimp pair since peppermint shrimp doesn't go near that place. Blasto recovered and I moved it back to the original place that was close to the peppermint. He never ever attacked the coral after that point, although it is the same coral and same shrimp.

In the end these animals are scavengers, if they sense something is highly stressed (which is the case for most corals we receive online), they might take their chance. But I have never observed them going after health coral colonies.


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[scooter31707]

I did a test one time with Peppermints. When I feed duncans, hammer/torches, acans, and favias Mysis shrimp they tore into the tissue of the corals to get the shrimp. When I feed the corals Reef Chili or Marine Snow, I notice they didn't bother the corals at all. I caught mines by cutting a 1liter bottle in half and flipping the mouth part into the bottom part. I would rubberband a piece of silverside to a piece of rubble. Out of 6, I caught 4 on the first night. Other 2 took about 4 days to catch.

 

[Tanthaitrung]

I did have a handful. It was a 75g, I didn't have an infestation but I had enough aptasia to keep them at work. Your mileage may vary though!

I have 3, haven't had an issue with SC but not sure about HC. Sure keeps the Aiptasia in check though.

I have had them eat my corals as well didn't have an aiptasia infestation(there were 7 in my 75gal but they went for corals over aiptasia. They did eat a few of them but many remained unharmed. Seemed more interested in taking food out of the stomachs of my acans than anything so I had to stop target feeding them....they now have their own tank

IMO peppermint shrimp are more likely to eat stressed corals. I had a peppermint shrimp consuming half of blasto colony the day I introduced the coral. I moved the coral closer to the den of my blood shrimp pair since peppermint shrimp doesn't go near that place. Blasto recovered and I moved it back to the original place that was close to the peppermint. He never ever attacked the coral after that point, although it is the same coral and same shrimp.

In the end these animals are scavengers, if they sense something is highly stressed (which is the case for most corals we receive online), they might take their chance. But I have never observed them going after health coral colonies

I did a test one time with Peppermints. When I feed duncans, hammer/torches, acans, and favias Mysis shrimp they tore into the tissue of the corals to get the shrimp. When I feed the corals Reef Chili or Marine Snow, I notice they didn't bother the corals at all. I caught mines by cutting a 1liter bottle in half and flipping the mouth part into the bottom part. I would rubberband a piece of silverside to a piece of rubble. Out of 6, I caught 4 on the first night. Other 2 took about 4 days to catch.

Thanks so much all of you

 

[Sk8r]

THey may occasionally steal a bit of coral polyp, off something fluffy like poci, but they don't eat it. They rapidly decide it's not edible and usually stop. You do have to be able to tell the diff between peps and camel shrimp, who are not well-behaved.

 

[Half Vaped]

THey may occasionally steal a bit of coral polyp, off something fluffy like poci, but they don't eat it. They rapidly decide it's not edible and usually stop. You do have to be able to tell the diff between peps and camel shrimp, who are not well-behaved.

Yup, LFSs sometimes sell Camel Shrimp as Peppermints. Camel Shrimp don't eat Aiptasia and are likely to snack on corals.

I've read that Peppermints from certain areas, like Florida are more likely to eat Aiptasia than ones from other areas. Mine seem to keep small Aiptasia in check, but don't touch the bigger ones.

If you're serious about eliminating Aiptasia, look into getting a captive bred Bristle-Tail Filefish. Mine fixed my badly infested 150G in under a month. Make sure to get captive bred, though because wild caught specimens are often the wrong species and don't eat Aiptasia.

 

[Tanthaitrung]

THey may occasionally steal a bit of coral polyp, off something fluffy like poci, but they don't eat it. They rapidly decide it's not edible and usually stop. You do have to be able to tell the diff between peps and camel shrimp, who are not well-behaved.

Thanks so much Sk8r

 

[Tanthaitrung]

Yup, LFSs sometimes sell Camel Shrimp as Peppermints. Camel Shrimp don't eat Aiptasia and are likely to snack on corals.

I've read that Peppermints from certain areas, like Florida are more likely to eat Aiptasia than ones from other areas. Mine seem to keep small Aiptasia in check, but don't touch the bigger ones.

If you're serious about eliminating Aiptasia, look into getting a captive bred Bristle-Tail Filefish. Mine fixed my badly infested 150G in under a month. Make sure to get captive bred, though because wild caught specimens are often the wrong species and don't eat Aiptasia.

Thanks for your sharing.

Does your Bristle-Tail Filefish eat coral? liveaquaria.com said "with caution"

Could you please explain caught specimens and captive bred? Sorry about my English