Missing Peppermints...

[ReefingFreak]

I had 2 peppermint shrimp in my tank that were very social. They would always jump on my hand when I put it in the tank and would pick stuff off my hands. Anways...I have added 2 emerald crabs to help with some algae issues. Since I added them, my peppermint shrimp disappeared. Are emeralds known for killing them off? I need to peppermints also, to control any aiptasia. Should I try again, or will the crabs possibly eat them again?

 

[amazo]

I have 2 emeralds and a peppermint(1camel,1skunk cleaner,and a coral banded)and never had any problems.Maybe they are hiding i've had them dissapear for weeks at a time.

 

[wloftin]

do you have any other shrimp in your tank?

 

[r_jay]

I've heard peppermints are known to be a tad bit on the cannibalistic side.

 

[mpcolson]

If the Pepermint Shrimp went canibalistic...One of them would be alive, it would have eaten the other one. Not likely.

You may have another crab that has a nocturnal hunting schedule that was a hitchiker in you LR. This would be a crab that also eats hermits and snails, you may want to do a head count on those.

It could also be a drastic change in Ph or salinity caused them to die and your tank has bristle worms that consumed the shrimp leaving no trace.

Last possibility could be thay have molted and will reappear in a day or two.

I would say the most likely answer is they died and were consumed by the tank.

 

[AJSTITAN14]

Maybe the victim peppermint was named Vasquez and had a grenade left....

Just sayin...

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

At night, turn the lights off. After 30 minutes, turn them back on. If your peppermints are still in the tank, you will most likely see them running around on one of the rocks.

This has worked for me.