Pepermint shrimp in reef tank? Yes or no

[nitr8]

Well your in luck cause she defected it. No need to worry.

Defected a perfectly good product that the manufacturer could have sold. Now they will spend money for shipping the product and troubleshooting the "defect" for no reason. You obviously have never owned your own business. This is criminal, regardless if the HD employee giggled about your deceit.

 

[nathan1986]

Pretty sure this thread is being taken off topic due to a decision i made. Sorry to have ruffled some feathers, whats done is done.

 

[CHizer]

I've had many peppermints with LPS and have never seen them do anything bad.

 

[sageblade24]

I have 2 peppermint shrimp for an aptasia outbreak in my old biocube 29. They cleaned out all of the aptasia but then set their sights on my clam.

Great for aptasia but remove immediately afterwards.

I believe you need to buy peppermints who specifically had a diet of aptasia.

 

[ichthyman]

Read and you shall learn. Some old posts on the "Peppermint" shrimp controversy. Its not a simple matter of being confused with Camel Shrimp.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1978538&highlight=peppermint+shrimp

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1144459&highlight=peppermint+shrimp

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1144459&highlight=peppermint+shrimp

 

[Jconsing]

I had some for aptasia when I first started my tank and just scavenged for food after they did their thing...no harm at all. Gave my friend the same shrimp for his aptasia problem and they took care of it as well as an acan colony he had. I guess its kinda luck of the draw with these guys.

 

[VanHeze]

I've had mixed results with "peppermint shrimp", and heard similarly mixed stories. Some have annihilated aiptasia swiftly, some have ignored them completely, but I've never had them attack corals. My most recent foray was with ORA peppermints, and that's been a smashing success.

With that said, I've seen peppermints obliterate a large Stylophora in minutes (while ignoring every other coral). That they steal food from LPS, well every shrimp I've kept has tried that.

Are they reef safe? If they're the right species, have adequate food sources, and space?

MAYBE. Aiptasia certainly aren't.

 

[zachfishman]

I've had mixed results with "peppermint shrimp", and heard similarly mixed stories. Some have annihilated aiptasia swiftly, some have ignored them completely, but I've never had them attack corals. My most recent foray was with ORA peppermints, and that's been a smashing success.

With that said, I've seen peppermints obliterate a large Stylophora in minutes (while ignoring every other coral). That they steal food from LPS, well every shrimp I've kept has tried that.

Are they reef safe? If they're the right species, have adequate food sources, and space?

MAYBE. Aiptasia certainly aren't.

Funny you should mention Stylo. When I added a few frags back at The Pier, the peppermints attacked them (pic). The frags recovered the initial onslaught and the peppermints never touched them again...

I also had a pepp that ate rics. They've never failed me for eliminating Aiptasia though.

 

[TampaWater]

My vote is no. Peppermint do attack corals and hunt snails when they get flipped over. Before our clownfish started hosting our anemone, the peppermint shrimp would attack our BTA and rip tentacles off of it. Thought I don't have video proof, I'm fairly certain it's also responsible for the loss of many of my LPS due to infection after ripping.
https://vimeo.com/70420841