reefnoob4
New member
I'm still new to the this so bare with me please... The tank is 55gl and I have had it for months now. Today I received some new members to my aquarium family, one of them being a new red tuxedo urchin. I have about 6 peppermint shrimp in the tank and for a long time I thought my Peps might be kinda vicious.
First, around the beginning when I had these peps I introduced a potter's angel and I believe it got something in its eye and before I could quarantine the fish that evening, the shrimp tore out and ate the fish's sick eye. (beginner mistake, I thought, I should have immediately quarantined the fish.)
I put a Haitian nem in the tank a month ago and when I first put it in, after a little while, I saw the shrimp ripping off chunks of it and eating it. (I know this because the blue lights were on in the evening and the neon glowing chunks were going straight into its little mouth). I figured it might be a normal reaction because they eat aptesia which I believe is a nem too, so I just made sure to separate it to the far end of the tank where the shrimp don't hang out normally and after its been settled in the tank, they never touched it again even after the nem decided to move near the peps hang out spot.
(Sorry as I was typing this, events were occurring and I'm really upset.)
Today I put in some new chromis and the tux urchin after properly acclimating them and all that. I observed them for some time and thought it was all good. When I came back later that evening (no more than an hour later), I came to find a pep eating chunks of the inside of the little urchin through the hole on top of the urchin. Immediately I separated it with a net set near the surface of the water so the urchin was still inside the water.
When I looked at the urchin in the light, the entire insides were gone and all that was left was the moth. I could see right through it, through its mouth and out the top! I was incredibly upset and couldn't get over the fact the shrimp ate the new beautiful urchin...
I have come to trust you guys as this forum had a lot of info on many things that helped me with my tank...
So my question is this... is this normal peppermint shrimp behavior? Do they normally eat urchins? how should I go about this next time I get an urchin? Are my shrimp just vicious? What are your thoughts guys...
First, around the beginning when I had these peps I introduced a potter's angel and I believe it got something in its eye and before I could quarantine the fish that evening, the shrimp tore out and ate the fish's sick eye. (beginner mistake, I thought, I should have immediately quarantined the fish.)
I put a Haitian nem in the tank a month ago and when I first put it in, after a little while, I saw the shrimp ripping off chunks of it and eating it. (I know this because the blue lights were on in the evening and the neon glowing chunks were going straight into its little mouth). I figured it might be a normal reaction because they eat aptesia which I believe is a nem too, so I just made sure to separate it to the far end of the tank where the shrimp don't hang out normally and after its been settled in the tank, they never touched it again even after the nem decided to move near the peps hang out spot.
(Sorry as I was typing this, events were occurring and I'm really upset.)
Today I put in some new chromis and the tux urchin after properly acclimating them and all that. I observed them for some time and thought it was all good. When I came back later that evening (no more than an hour later), I came to find a pep eating chunks of the inside of the little urchin through the hole on top of the urchin. Immediately I separated it with a net set near the surface of the water so the urchin was still inside the water.
When I looked at the urchin in the light, the entire insides were gone and all that was left was the moth. I could see right through it, through its mouth and out the top! I was incredibly upset and couldn't get over the fact the shrimp ate the new beautiful urchin...
I have come to trust you guys as this forum had a lot of info on many things that helped me with my tank...
So my question is this... is this normal peppermint shrimp behavior? Do they normally eat urchins? how should I go about this next time I get an urchin? Are my shrimp just vicious? What are your thoughts guys...
