Peppermint shrimp

[steamboatwv]

I found out something i did not know about the pep shrimps, I bought them for the aiptasia that i had, but they cleared that out within a cpl weeks, i was really suprised at how fast 5 shrimp could clean up, but now that it has all been gone for a while they have found them new snacks lol, I didnt know they ate worms and such also. I really am not sure what kind of worm it is but I do know that its clear completely, the white you see in it is sand, the shrimp is picking the sand out and throwing it down as the worm squirms around. just thought it was cool. if anyone knows what kind of worm it may be that would be nice to know, it isnt a bristle worm, i'm positive of that, and have seen a couple of them crawling thru the SB.

[tiburon]

yes - they will turn to other food sources when the stuff they prefer is gone.. I am hearing more and more about them picking on LPS corals also... like torches and hammers.. I am not going to be adding any more pepps to my tank..my flame hawk dispatched one of my pepps and the one I have left seems to behave itslelf, but I have yet to attempt putting a torch or hammer coral back in my tank..

[reefermike1]

Originally Posted by tiburon

yes - they will turn to other food sources when the stuff they prefer is gone.. I am hearing more and more about them picking on LPS corals also... like torches and hammers.. I am not going to be adding any more pepps to my tank..my flame hawk dispatched one of my pepps and the one I have left seems to behave itslelf, but I have yet to attempt putting a torch or hammer coral back in my tank..

thats kinda scary! first ive heard of this... been looking for somehing that might be picking on my acan lord. is it just the euphyllias they pick on or all lps?

[tdwyatt]

ACTUALLLLLYYYY...

They act as cleaners and will pick other small fauna off the skeletons of the Euphyllids and related larger single-polyped corals (a great place fror these shrimps to look for such food items). I would worry more about more related species to Aiptasia like Xeniids, etc. Once they are accustomed to having your arm in the tank, they will actually display cleaner behavior to your hand around your nails, creases of your fingers, etc.

[tiburon]

I watched one of my pepps snip tenticals off my new torch and hammers corals.. the shrimp would not leave them alone so I had to pull the corals... it did look like the shrimp was very interested in the dead flesh near the base of the coral stock also, but it continued to bother the corals so much they would no open fully.. as fortune would have it, shortly after pulling the corals and pondering what I needed to do to catch this little guy, my flame hawk dispatched with the pepp which was the biggest problem.. the one I have left seems to leave things alone.. maybe one of those "let this be a lesson to the others" type of thing? ;-)