pepermint shrimp

[new_world_disor]

are pep shrimps reef safe ? i have several hermits and a couple of cleaner shrimps as well as a SS starfish. if i get one to try and annihilate my apstasia.... will everyone be ok ??

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[Packersfan21]

There is always a debate on whether or not they're reef-safe. They doa good job of taking care of apitasia, but IME they have also attacked starfish,cucumbers, and a bubble tip anemone.

 

[new_world_disor]

hurmmm. not worth the risk i dnt think., ill have to buy some joes juice. i lost mine

 

[JoeMomma]

They, like most shrimp, will be a pain if you need to spot feed corals or other things in the tank. They steal food right out of my starfishes stomach. I have to stand guard until the food is completely inhaled.

 

[luke33]

If they are stealing food there's a simple solution. Feed your fish first and they will be happy. Then when they are eating feed your nem or spot feed your other corals. They are hit and miss for aptasia imo. I've had one in my tank for 6mths and he hasn't touched an aptasia. I only have one i can see but i would have thought he could have got it by now. I bought three more yesterday so we'll see what happens. Worst i've seen them do is pick up a halfshell and eat it.

 

[roxy]

I've never had any problems with mine. An interesting addition to the tank although not the most striking shrimp.

 

[Mark426]

The ones I have tried did a number on the aptista. BUT...once they were gone they became a royal pain. I ended up giving them back to the LFS. Not a bad way to get rid fo the aptista, just have to think of it as renting one/some for a while.

 

[Arati]

Big cleaner shrimp will kill pepermint shrimp.

 

[jadams7]

I have never had any problems with mine either, like previously said, just feed the fish prior to corals...

 

[Amoore311]

I had 2 peppermints in my small tank.

They devoured 15 or so stalks of aptasia in 1 night. Then they disappeared in the course of 2 weeks.

I did have a Skunk Cleaner at the time who could have gotten em.

 

[wesdaniel]

I bought 4 peps when I had an aiptasia problem. They took care of it within a couple of hours. The two skunk cleaners ate the pes within a few weeks (had no idea that would happen at the time).