No wonder i can't keep peppermints shirmps alive!

[Gooli]

Have you guys had the same problem with peppermint shrimps? I just can't keep them alive in my tank.

Well, i finally got the "Marine Inverts" book and it has two different types of peppermint shrimps - one that is from warm reef-like waters and the other is from COLD WATERs - like 60 degress or something.

I am willing to bet that here in California, we're getting some of those shrimps sold to us on a regular basis.

They look identical to me...anyone know how to differentiate?

 

[golfish]

I doubt that your seeing cold water peppy's...all the places that the shrimp are kept would need special tanks just to keep the shrimp alive.

 

[saltyESQ]

i buy 6 at a time and get 1 to survive

 

[Bebo77]

you have to hand feed them.. i feed them frozen mysis twice a week

 

[kusanagiz]

really? my pepps have been doing fine. i feed them maybe once or twice a week from a piece of meat i feed my anenome later. other than that, i hope they eat the aiptasiai tank.

 

[laverda]

gooliver: I think your right. Some don't eat aiptasia and they also don't seam to survive for long in our tanks. Just because one variety needs cold water, does not mean the LFS aren't selling them to us!!

 

[retin78]

I hav 135 gallon tank. Once I put them in I don't even see them anymore. So it is iimpossible for me to feed them.

 

[saltyESQ]

they hide and never come out. my 1 surviving peppermint shrimp only came out when I fed the tank and only for about 2 minutes. but he did eat the apatasia that I had growing

 

[Gooli]

i wonder if anyone has bred them successfully where i can purchase the young hatchlings

 

[pledosophy]

I raised the fry for sometime to feed seahorses. It's not really that hard compared to the seahorses.

I think if they are dying on introduction you are not acclimating them correctly. They are sensitive to SG changes so slower acclimations is good.

I have 6 in my 65g, I have 10 in my prop tank. I haven't had any die that I've noticed yet.

They do seem to be more active at night, I think they are nocternal to avoid other predators in the systems.

 

[hpasternak]

Will they eat soft corals??

Harvey

 

[rscott76]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7195926#post7195926 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kusanagiz
really? my pepps have been doing fine. i feed them maybe once or twice a week from a piece of meat i feed my anenome later. other than that, i hope they eat the aiptasiai tank.

can i get a frag?







ps. just kidding for those of you who think im serious.

 

[MG21]

I put a few in my 240 and never saw them once, til i went in with a flashlight at 4 in the morning. Just cause you don't see them, doesn't mean they aren't there.

 

[pledosophy]

they are reef safe

 

[NicoleC]

There are peppermint shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni) and camel shrimp (Rhynchocinetes durbanensis). They look astonishingly familiar and even people good at IDs will fail to ID correctly sometimes -- in other words, what the label says at the LFS is useless for ID purposes.

Camel's are coral eaters, particularly soft corals like leathers and polyps like zoanthids. Peppermints may occassionally take a nip of corals as well if hungry, but are usually reef safe.

At least one major aquaculture company is working on making CB peppermints widely available last I heard, but they have been successfully bred in captivity by many hobbiests.

If someone finds a CB source of L. wurdemanni, I would be interested in a group buy.

 

[Sk8r]

Remember that shrimp and their ilk have to be drip-acclimatized over an hour, because they're subject to osmotic shock (shell can't equalize salt balance) on intro into different salinity. You can also lose them in a topoff accident, same reason.