kidkaos520
New member
Dunno if i spelled aptasia right I'm using my phone.....anyway do those little guys eat them if not what does
peppermint shrimp and aptasia
- Thread starter kidkaos520
- Start date
There has been a few ppl that have had success with the peppermints but I've heard that it depends where they came from. I added 5 to my 55 for the same reason and they didn't touch the aiptasia. A few weeks later they just disappeared. I've also heard success stories with butterfly copperbands and file fish (green file fish I believe), but have also heard failed stories with these. A true aiptasia predator os the berghia nudibranchs but you need quite a bit of them to even try to get a colony large enough to demolish your aiptasia population.
rwtucker
New member
I've almost always been able to find a few aiptasia in the display tank, and would use calk paste, or lemon juice to try and kill them. This worked with limited success, couldn't always get a good angle with the siringe. I had also tried a peppermint shrimp and saw no change, and after about 2 or 3 days, never saw the peppermint again. So few months ago thought I would see if a file fish did the trick or not. And although I have never seen him actually eating an aiptasia, I have seen him picking at the rock, and after about a few weeks, I haven't seen an aiptasia. I would guess there are some file fish that don't control them, but so far this one has. There are some aiptasia in the fuge, and I have considered transferring him there and see if he gets them under control, and if they reappear in the display tank while he is gone. But that would require catching him, and disrupting the display tank.
kidkaos520
New member
I heard from a reliable source that only the peppermint shrimp from the pacific eat the aptasia also I was reading up on file fish I saw they are not reef safe or is that just a certain species.
brettinteriors
New member
I use aptasia x on the ones I can reach. Works fine and I do it about once a month. I consider it regular maintenance.
aquaph8
Love The Fish
I hate posting this pic but for the sake of this thread here you go. Peps are responsible for taking my tank from this to this. I used 12 in a 125. I have to add some once in a while cause they tend to pick each other off over time. I still have a couple that pop up from time to time but you can see how far the tank has come since I added the peps. HTH
Before Peps:
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After Peps:
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Before Peps:
After Peps:
kidkaos520
New member
Sweet Neptune hahaha holy crap thats a complete 180 it looks like a totally different tank. how long was the process?
I think its a certain file fish that isn't reef safe. I also added a file fish but this one was white with spots, lfs told me it ate aiptasia, instead it feasted on my waving hand colony the first night I put him in and after that night I never sar him again either. like I said I'm pretty sure its the green file fish that eats the aiptasia but I would research it a little more just to make sure 
sillygoose
New member
You have to make sure you get real peppermints. I think camel back shrimp look a lot like them but they do not eat aiptasia. Research a little and talk to your lfs. Three peps cleared out a fair amount in our tank and it didn't take too long. Of course they eat the little ones - you have to kill the big ones yourself.
Unfortunately I had to leave town for work when I was breeding them and the gf couldn't keep the aiptasia farm going so they went into my display and I haven't seen them since then
Triple One
New member
I'm with you AquaPh8:
Had at least two dozen aiptasia three months ago, so I fed the tank a little extra for a few days, then added 3 peppermints and didn't feed the tank at all for four days. This kick-started the peppermints into eating the aiptasia, and after about a week, I had no aiptasia at all, and only one peppermint left. He survived another two months or so (dunno if my phantom pistol shrimp got him, or if he just died of old age), and literally the DAY AFTER I noticed he wasn't in his chosen cave, i saw three tiny clear aiptasia growing, and then another day later, like twenty other babies opening up all over the tank. This number continued to grow until my next paycheck came in and I bought eight more peppermints. Now, I don't know if they're not the pacific ones, or if they're the notorious wurdemanni look-alikes, or what their deal is, but they haven't touched a single one of the new aiptasia (and of course they've battled themselves down to only two shrimp), so I'm disappointed to say I clearly wasn't as lucky the second time.
My next step was to purchase a small copperband butterfly from the LFS, and he does nip at the rocks (so at least he's EATING...), but hasn't touched the aiptasia that I can see... He's pretty though. :hmm4:
so seriously, there's gotta be somebody in town that's got berghia... and if not, anybody interested in a group buy? some of the sites i've looked at drop the price the more you order... we could get them relatively "cheap" if we went in on it with enough people...
i'll start another thread later today. gotta go to work now...
TucsonWhoDat
New member
Who was the source since they got it wrong. Carribean peps eats aps. the pacific seldom do.
phenom5
Member
Peppermints (from LiveAquaria FWIW) and Joe's Juice worked for me. Peppermints alone wouldn't do it because they won't go after the big ones. Joe's Juice/ Aiptasia X/ Kalk alone wouldn't do it, because there's no way you can reach all of them...and if you don't get them good, it just ****es them off, and they end up sprouting 3 or 4 more little demon spawns.
Like Sillygoose said, you just have to make sure they are peppermints. Camelback shrimp look very similar and are often sold as peppermints.
Like Sillygoose said, you just have to make sure they are peppermints. Camelback shrimp look very similar and are often sold as peppermints.
