Peppermint Shrimp vs Aiptasia

[blizzardscout2]

I have heard that if you place a few Peppermint Shrimp in a tank that they will eat Aiptasia if you have any. Anyone have similar experiences?

 

[reefnetworth]

yes, i got 2 peppermint shrimp to eat some aps. in about 2 .5 days they had devoured 26 aps. havevnt seen one aps. since!

 

[viodea]

I had 4 peppermint shrimps and only 1 that ate aps.

 

[blizzardscout2]

Interesting how some do and some dont. Well, I guess I will give it a go and see if they do. I currently only have a few little ones in my tank, but it would be nice to have none.

 

[philter4]

there are 2 species here in the atlantic that are very similar looking but different species. One eats aptasia and the other doesn't, I'm pretty sure that is why there is different opinions on the effectiveness of aptasia control.

 

[iamwhatiam52]

I've never had one eat a single aptasia. Even when I saw some eating aptasia at the store, in my tank they would not.

Like most things in reefing, everyones experience is different.

 

[jim.l]

If you have true peps and they aren't eating the aiptasia, they are finding other food. Try not feeding the tank for a while. They prefer real food to apts, but when they get hungry enough they will eat. They may sample other things before they discover the apts though! Once they start they will go through them in a short while. I had a thickly infested 100 and put in 12 young peps. didn't feed for about 3 weeks, and very sparingly for several weeks after that. Apts started disappearing at the 3 week mark and were gone 3 weeks later.
HTH

 

[jonathanws]

i had a pep shrimp that took care of an aiptasia problem. once the aiptasia was gone i didn't see the little guy anymore

 

[ReefWreak]

I've had peppermint shrimps who ate aiptasia, but when not fed, also were caught eating coral on a few occasions. I had seen my peppermint a few times eating the head of a candycane coral. I did end up catching him and getting rid of him, but the aiptasia never returned, so I was happy. This was all in a 24g nanocube with a light bioload and a bunch of corals.

 

[serolis7]

I have used them repeatedly for aiptasia eradication, and they were successful on each occassion. They are especially good with a bad infestation. However, if the number of aiptasia is small, I prefer using kalkawasser paste on a toothbrush.

 

[biger]

I got 2 peppermint shrimps for a coral QT with some aptasia. They ate the aptasia and then they ate every mushroom too.