Success With Peppermint Shrimp

[connorsbala]

Hey
Ive got alot of aipista in both my seahorse and reef tank. So, i'll be getting 2 or 3 peppermints for the reef but im not sure whether my SHs would have a go at them. I put loads of river shrimp into the tank once a week and they eat about 40 shrimp within 2 days. So if i get some larger ones, hopefully i should be ok.
What have your seahorses been like when you've added peppermints?

 

[pledosophy]

I have kept several peppermints with my seahorses without issues. I usually keep 1 peppermint for every 10g's of water in each of my tanks. I think they are neat little creatures and they help with aiptasia.

IME/IMO I would go ahead and kill all of those aiptasia now and not wait for the shrimp. With another available food source peppermint shrimp don't seem so keen on going after the aiptasia. They prefer the mysis like the seahorses are eating or just about any other food it seems. They just don't understand what we want them to eat or refuse to oblige. It's like a toddler with broccoli, most don't like it but the rare exception will love it. Peppermints are the same way with aiptasia.

IME aiptasia can kill an adult seahorse. I have seen it myself. Removing the aiptasia as soon as possible would be your best bet and then adding the peppermints to maintain the small ones that pop up would be a good husbandry practice IMO.

For removal there are seveal options. My favorite is really Joe's juice. However there are other products like Aiptasia-X, lemon juice, white vinegar and even boiling water that are used by some with succsess. If the rock is easy to remove you can pull the rock and use a cigarette lighter to singe and then bake the aiptaisa for a minute or so. It smells bad but is very effective. Some people recommend a blow torch and wearing proctective goggles when doing this, but I find a good old fashion bic works just as well.

HTH

 

[connorsbala]

Really! Didnt realise they could do soo much damage!
Well ill order some Joe's Juice today and go to my work and get some Peppermint's too.
Cheers for the advice!