aptasia and peppermint shrimp

Reefugee · #1 02/20/2006, 01:39 PM

Hello Everyone,

My tank is having some aptasia problem. I want to control it before it gets out of hand. I have killed all the aptasia that I have been able to reach, but there are some that I can not get to. A few months ago - I bought two peppermint shrimp to take care of the problem. I haven't seen them since the day I put them in. They were pretty small, and I think they may have been eaten by my closed loop system which has 1/8" slot opening.

Question: How big do peppermint shrimps get? Where can I get larger shrimps that won't be chop suey for my other fish.

Question: What other natural predator can I use to control my aptaisia problem? Where can I get them? I would try a Berghia - but I don't think I have enough aptasia to keep one alive for very long. I have also read this Minhthread

Thanks
Minh

Sparkss · #2 02/20/2006, 01:46 PM

Most likely the aiptasia ate the shrimp, if they were that small. We had had peppermints that get almost as big as our skunk cleaner shrimp.

Nudis will ge eaten by your closed loop alot quicker than any peppermint. they have a short lifespan, even under good conditions (we tried them in the past).

Just make sure that the peppermints that you get come from the East Coast (IE: were collected there). Pacific "peppermints" won't touch aiptasia. Larger peppermints are available periodically from various LFS and online vendors (that is where we always got ours). Wish I could be more help

TotalKhaos · #3 02/20/2006, 02:12 PM

I got 2 peppermints early on when I had the 90g. They were both Medium size (bought from incredible pets in auburn)

You might still have those peppermints and not know it - they are extremely shy. They knocked out the aiptasia I had overnight but after that I never saw them out and about. Only reason I knew they were still there is I found a little dark cave they hid in ALL THE TIME.

As far as aiptasia eating, from what I understand it is hit and miss with them. I'd say call around to the LFS's in the area and see if you can find one that has medium to larger size peps and snag em.

H20Sidhe · #4 02/20/2006, 06:18 PM

Hey!

Slightly off topic - I did a google search on "aiptasia" just now & pulled up Bob Fenner's column on Wet Web Media. The top of the page has an ad for the Western Marine Conference. It links right to the WMC website!

Sherie

robertloop · #5 02/20/2006, 08:14 PM

Hey Minh,

I had those a while back. Quite badly too. I got one peppermint and the problem was gone in a week. You may already know this, but..... Make sure you did not accidentally get camel shrimp instead of a peppermint. They look VERY similar. I see them mismarked all the time at almost any store here in the greater sac area. Definitely try some bigger ones. Also note... If you have any pseudochromis/ dottyback/ grama species of fish in your tank you can kiss a peppermint goodbye dang near overnight. I had a a juvenile "strawberry fish" and some shrimp in my reef about 5 years ago. When the fish matured the shrimps lives were over quick.

xia · #6 02/20/2006, 08:24 PM

I had a copper banded butterfly that did the job real well, only he was a real picky eater. He ate mysis for the first week, after that he went on a hunger strike and didn't last past the third week. Beautiful fish you just need to get it to eat other things.

racrumrine · #7 02/20/2006, 09:46 PM

When I first started, my first live rock "deal" came with lots of aiptasia. Back then, I had a problem with a Skunk Cleaner killing my Peppermints.

Based on my experience, only about 33-50% of them will eat aiptasia. My best one wiped out over 100 aiptasia in one day and then got eaten the next.

Regarding the peppermints, check your tank at night after the lights go out. Chances are you still have at least one of them. Unlike Skunk Cleaners, they don't like to show themselves.

Best of luck,

Roy

Reefugee · #8 02/20/2006, 11:43 PM

Thanks everyone. Today I picked up two decent size peppermint shrimps from Capitol Aquarium. Lets see if these two guys can take care of the tank. If not - I will keep on trying until I find one that will eat those aptasia.

BTW - is there a way to definitely tell the difference between a peppermint shrimp and a camel shrimp?

BoomerD · #9 02/20/2006, 11:45 PM

I rarely saw my peppermints. Several ended up in the sump, making the trip thru the overflow. I had a heckuva time getting them out of there...and they kept going back!
When I started taking the tank down, I found 6 of the 8 I started with...but never saw them...except once in a while at night. BUT, I had no small aiptasia. A couple of BIG ones that they stayed away from, and I kept in check with Joe's Juice...never seemed to completely kill them, but knocked them back, and took them a couple of weeks to come out of it.

racrumrine · #10 02/21/2006, 09:36 AM

If you do a search on both types of shrimp, you'll see color pictures with the differences.

When they are side by side, it's easy to tell them apart. Basically, the Camel has a pronounced hump that is rather pointy, the colors are brighter, and the contrast between the colors is strong and distinct.

A Peppermint's colors are rather muted and you can almost see through their shells. The body shape doesn't have the pointy hump.

Best of luck,

Roy

stabruciandosi · #11 02/21/2006, 11:44 AM

minh - if you would like since my peppermint seems to be MIA ive been looking for another, since he did destroy all the aiptasia in my tank save 1. Ill let you know if O street comes up with any large ones. or we could find somewhere to order like 20 each and im sure at least one or 2 will survive?

wombat2 · #12 02/21/2006, 12:18 PM

Rhynchocinetes sp.....(camel es no bueno)

Lysmata wurdemanni.....(peppermint)

Sparkss is correct that there are a few Lysmata spp. from the Indo Pac that won't eat Aiptasia. They look very similar to peppermints. I have only seen one or two of these ever, so it's unlikely you'd come across one while searching for peppermints.

BoomerD · #13 02/21/2006, 12:34 PM

YOU have to be observant when buying them as well. I've been to several LFS that had camel shrimp labeled as peppermint shrimp, and when called on it, they just shrugged, and said "well, the look the same to me..." While there is a difference, once you know what to look for, they look similar enough that many "less scrupulous LFS" will try to pass the cheaper camels off as peppermints.
Buyer beware...and be careful...

wombat2 · #14 02/21/2006, 12:41 PM

Just remember that peppermint shrimp don't have any white on them. Unlike actual peppermint candies.

RxBandit · #15 02/21/2006, 01:40 PM

If these peppermints that you bought do take out you aiptasia would you consider selling one of them? I'm just now noticing a couple popping out when I thought I had the problem beat, so now I'm looking for another option

robertloop · #16 02/21/2006, 02:08 PM

I wonder if peppermint shrimp are as good eat'n as peppermint candy?

stabruciandosi · #17 02/21/2006, 05:47 PM

no they taste funny, but the tails are decent with catsup.

The Marmot · #18 02/22/2006, 12:30 AM

JM2C...I've found that aside from the 30-50% of the peps that actually eat the aptaisa, most of them prefer smaller aptaisa over the larger ones. I'd say I had no luck if the polyps were larger than about a 10mm diameter. Good luck, I wouldn't wish those little pests on anyone!

Sparkss · #19 02/22/2006, 11:00 AM

That is most likely because larger aiptasia will eat the peppermints, versus the peppermints eating the smaller aiptasia.