peppermint shrimp

[hannahstank]

Hello

I was wondering if anyone has had bad experiences with Peppermint Shrimps. I have read somewhere that they may eat your coral. Is this true? I purchased the little guy because our tank with getting those little bad Aiptasia. Well those are all gone now but we have been noticing our Bubble Coral looking a little "sad" lately....could he be the reason?

We also have 2 other shrimp as well and several snails and hermit crabs. Its a 12 gallon nano tank....with several mushrooms, 1 bubble coral, 1 hammer coral, 1 brain coral, a few little zoas and a tree like coral.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Mindy

 

[sadielynn]

In my honest and humble opinion I think that you have far to much for the tank that you do . Peppermint shrimp can be known to pick at polyps. I think that you tank is "sad" because of the bioload.......What are your perameters
Ammonia
NitrIte
NitrAte
spg
PH
What kind of lights do you have wattages how old are they ?

 

[r00onmac]

mine has never eaten any of my aptasia... but has taken out several of my tube worm things and one polyp of zoos before he realized they werent food... i keep him around because i get attached, but if he doesnt make it i wont be too upset... hes been less and less active as ive had him longer, and i attribute that to the fact that most people say they dont live long, and he was big when i got him.

 

[hannahstank]

I don't know our levels....we have taken water samples into our LFS and he said everything looks great. When we purchased the tank he said it wasn't necessary to buy the water tester kit myself just bring in water samples and he would test for me.

But I'm confused about the tank being overloaded....I see pictures of tanks in here all the time completely loaded down with coral....ours looks empty compared to them...what should be OK in a tank this size?

 

[sadielynn]

Get a test kit it is probably one of the best investments . You have already said some things about this store that leads me to belive that they may not be trust worthy..... it is a cheep investment that will save you greif you should be testing weekly in my honest opinion ....spend the 30-40 bucks for the test kit you will be happy you did , when you spot a problem and are able to fix it with out losing your corals and fish , and inverts also get a refractometer , hydrometer or a digi lab to test the salt levels

 

[reefman23]

Step one is to never trust what anything your LFS says until you seek several other sources that verify what they say is true. I love ALL of my LFS, but i never trust what any of them say without researching it further first.

Just my opinion.

Jesse

 

[reefman23]

Forgot to mention that your bubble may look sad because the shrimp may just be irritating it by walking across it or coming in contact with it often...doesnt necessarily mean he is harming it. But without pics, its kinda hard to tell.

Jesse

 

[Anonymous]

I have never owned a peppermint because about ten years ago a buddy of mine put a couple in his tank to eat aptasia and they proceeded to eat all his GSP instead, and then started on the button polps before he took them out - I don't trust them, and its not worth the risk to me to find out the one you bought has a taste for coral IMO

 

[NemoNano]

I love my pepermint shrimp they are so cool, but I have them in my FOWRL tank.

Eric

 

[drty811]

never had any problems with any of mine

 

[Jennie]

I've got peppermints and haven't noticed any problems with them to date. Sadie and Jessie are right though, you need to ease up on the bioload and invest in some test kits. As long as you yourself are testing your water, you have a bit more control over how it maintains itself.

 

[shaggydoo541]

I've had two peps. My first starting eating my shrooms so he had to go (got fed to my brain). The second one has been well behaved so far but I'm keeping an eye on him. IME they are invaluable for the aiptasia control they provide.