Peppermint Shrimp behavior?

[Goldndoodle]

I put 2 Peppermint Shrimp in my tank to take care of an aiptasia outbreak. They cleaned up the live rock within a couple of days - they actually did a great job. Over the last week though - they have murdered and eaten 1 red tip hermit crab and 2 Margarita snails. Is this usual behavior for them? Obviously they must be hungry, should I be throwing some sinking pellets in there every night to feed them? Or does that defeat their purpose - as part of the CUC??

 

[Hawg Pharm]

How big is your tank? I added six to a 189g dt and two to a 110 sump. No sign of aptasia in the sump but the six in the dt have only done a marginal job thus far. I feed three times a day so I might be giving them a little too much to forage on when the lights go out. My plan was to wait until the aptasia was gone and then start tossing in some sinking pellets when I turned off the lights. I have plenty of snails and hermit crabs that are constantly by "shrimp rock" where they hang out during the day but have thus far not noticed any casualties.

 

[Goldndoodle]

I have a Nano Cube 28 Gallon Intermediate.

I am noticing when I feed the fish (which is now on every other day due to a minor green algae outbreak) that the shrimp (2 Peps and 1 skunk cleaner) all go nuts for the food. They all do that crazy upside down, hanging from the waterline, grabbing all the food they can, dance.

I saw the larger Pep pull the hermit crab out of his shell and eat him - happened right after lights out about 10 days ago. Similarly, I saw the same shrimp poking at the marg snail shell right after lights out 3 nights ago, then the following morning the empty shell was sitting in the same spot.

I might start dropping in some sinking pellets when I feed the fish ...

 

[Calappidae]

The hermit was already dead in the shell and the pep was just scavenging it.

They all go nuts during feedings like that. Other than aiptasia they won't harm anything.

There are soo many more likely factors as to what really happened rather than blamming the harmless scavengers just cleaning up the mess.

 

[ExpensiveHobby]

Worthless Squatters

Worthless Squatters

I wanted to purchase a coral banded or a sexy shrimp because the look cool and I wanted an Invert. But I have 5 aiptaisa in a 16 gallon tank, so I figured the more intelligent purchases was the 2 peppermint shrimp, plus they were buy one get one free. Well that was 1 week ago and these lazy fools haven't touched the aiptasia. However when I feed my clown fish and the other various CUC these two goes go bananas and eat like kings. How do I starve these guys so they eat the aiptasia but at the same time keep my hermits, snails and clowns fed?

 

[Calappidae]

It's 50/50 that a pep will kill aiptasia... give it time and be patient and he'll eventually kill it all one night or in some cases not at all.

 

[ExpensiveHobby]

It's 50/50 that a pep will kill aiptasia... give it time and be patient and he'll eventually kill it all one night or in some cases not at all.

wow that was basically the most accurate information I've ever received. Woke up this morning. All aiptasia gone, one night. 7 days of nothing, then 1 night, all gone.

 

[Goldndoodle]

The hermit wasn't dead, I saw it fighting back. They ripped it out of it's shell kicking like wild. I noticed it stuck in a hole in the life rock, and before I could put my hand in there to try to pull it out, the peps had it extricated from it's shell.

The marg snails may have been dead or sick - they were on their backs opening to the sky before the meal started. I kept righting the snails though out the day, but an hour later they'd be belly up again. They were easy picking.

You're right, the Peps were probably just doing their jobs with the snails, but to avoid anymore hermit crab evictions ... should I be feeding the Peps something at night? Or just let them scavenge??

 

[Calappidae]

The hermit wasn't dead, I saw it fighting back. They ripped it out of it's shell kicking like wild. I noticed it stuck in a hole in the life rock, and before I could put my hand in there to try to pull it out, the peps had it extricated from it's shell.

The marg snails may have been dead or sick - they were on their backs opening to the sky before the meal started. I kept righting the snails though out the day, but an hour later they'd be belly up again. They were easy picking.

You're right, the Peps were probably just doing their jobs with the snails, but to avoid anymore hermit crab evictions ... should I be feeding the Peps something at night? Or just let them scavenge??

I just ignore the peps and throw them in. The hermit crab might have been on the vurge of death and it was weak/sick so the pep went after it.