Large Peppermint Shrimp attacking new BTA?!

[3Tripnip]

Hey everyone!
I got a new BTA a few days ago and today I witnessed my large Peppermint shrimp attacking it. It picked off pieces of the anemone and ate it... at least that's what it looked like. The anemone stayed closed for along time but eventually expanded again. I took the shrimp out of the tank until I know for sure what's going on. Anyone had an experience like this? Is this normal? Please let me know. Thanks in advance!
-Trip

[Carlos]

Did you just feed the anemone?

[3Tripnip]

Nope, I fed him this morning and the I saw the shrimp messing with him late this evening.

[Pinecone_Jeff]

I'd say give the shrimp away. I had some peppermints who dug at some bubble coral of mine and killed it before I could get them out. But they were only after food. I have heard of peppermints chomping on anemones besides aiptasia, but I can't remember where I heard that from or if it's accurate.

Better safe than sorry, eh?!

[ozmonster]

Before I removed my peppermints, they would pick the end off my carpet anemone's tentacles and eat them. Also ate xenia stocks.

oz

[3Tripnip]

Thanks for all the responses. He's outta there! It's weird because I've never heard of a Peppermint doing that to an anemone. Live and learn I guess. Thanks again for all the help!
-Trip

[Pinecone_Jeff]

There are other shrimp you could have that won't do the same kind of damage the peppermints do. The blood red shrimps are nice, but a bit secretive. Skunk cleaners are pretty well behaved.

[SeanT]

Out of curiosity, do you think that clowns that have hosted with an anemone would protect it from shrimp attacks?

[chewie]

Out of curiosity, do you think that clowns that have hosted with an anemone would protect it from shrimp attacks?

My pair of percs. used to do just that until I got rid of the peppermint shrimp.

The shrimp only stole the food from the anemone and it never picked at the BTA.

Jon

[Pinecone_Jeff]

My maroon clowns don't do a thing to protect their host BTA from bristleworms. The bristle worms try to get into the anemone's mouth after he eats. I don't know about shrimp, but my peppermine and skunk cleaner shrimps stay away from the maroons!

[3Tripnip]

I've also got a Camel Shrimp in the tank. Would that pose any threat to the anemone? I don't have clowns in the tank yet, being that the anemone is so new. How long should I wait to add the clowns?
-Trip

[shez15]

You made the ordeal of getting your peppermint shrimp out of your tank sound really easy! I had the same problem, p shrimp picking at my green BTA. I liked the anen more than the shrimp so I tore my reef apart for an hour trying to catch the sucker! Anyway, I'd be leary of that camelback shrimp. They will pick at and eat corals, polyps and probably anens if they get hungry enough. You could introduce your clowns at any time.

[eco-tropic]

To those of you who have had peppermint shrimp attack your anemones, how much damage have you observed? This poor person, http://archive.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=140951 seems to have had a sebae ripped to shreds but what might have been a peppermint shrimp. While I have never seen this happen it certainly makes sense. Perhaps peppermint shrimp should come with a warning.

[ozmonster]

Here's the post you were referring to eco:

First I want to apologize to Aaron for taking over this thread. Secondly, I came home last night and my Sebae looked like crap. It had stuff kinda stringy comming from it like maybe it was expelling its guts. I picked it up and it kinda looks like maybe it was attacked or something, it is hard to say, one part of it had what maybe looked like a laceration on it. But I dont know what would have done that other than maybe my pepperment shrimp (if I can even find him) I took him out last night and put him in my brothers tank where he has some bubble tips that have been growing successfully. Is their something I should be looking for in my tank like a crab or shrimp or something else that maybe attacking it? My ammonia, is fine my salinity is around 2.6 -2.8 and ph is a little low around 7.6 and my nitrite and nitrate levels are fine. Please help. Is there anything I can do at this time other than wait?

I would have to say that I doubt very much that the peppermint shrimp did this. Anemone's are very delicate. If the water parameters are not optimal, a small laceration can lead to an injury descibed above. When my tank was an infant, I had a long tentacle anem that had a tiny cut on its base. Over a two week period stringy stuff (same as above) came out as if the anem was expelling his guts. He died soon after.

All my peppermints would do is sneak up on my carpet, lunge in and snap off about 1-2mm of the tentacle and grub it. No noticeable damage to the anem other than it would recoil for a few minutes after attack. I've never heard of a peppermint slicing through the base to get at food but maybe they do.

HTH

oz

[Pinecone_Jeff]

I had a bubble coral and some nassarius snails with a peppermint shrimp. That shrimp learned that there could be food to be had if he went DIGGING into my bubble coral. In no time, the bubble coral was in shreads. Then I started noticing that my very hardy nassarius snails were dying. I'd find their shells strewn on the sand empty. Each day, I saw a new shell. Then one day, I saw my peppermint holding on to a snail that was on the glass. He took two arms and jammed them under the foot of the snail until it fell off. Then, while the snail was on the substrate, the shrmip used his bigger claws and violently dig into the shell and ate the snail alive.

So I can believe that these shrimps could indeed cut through the base of an anemone to get to the food inside. Gruesome! :O

[SeanT]

Originally posted by Pinecone_Jeff
My maroon clowns don't do a thing to protect their host BTA from bristleworms. The bristle worms try to get into the anemone's mouth after he eats.
How do the worms not end up as Purina Anemone Chow?
They have a natural mucous coating or something?

And I must say...those are some damn bold worms!!!:eek1:

[Pinecone_Jeff]

These are 6" to 8" worms! Some may be as long as 12" or more! Bold they are indeed! I was feeding my anemone and trying to scoot them away when I accidentally brushed up against one. I must have had hundreds of bristles in my finger! I used to like these monsters. Now, not so much. I'm thinking of trapping some of them.

[3Tripnip]

I'm having the same problem with the bristleworms. I was thinking of going to my LFS and getting an Arrow Crab. Will the Arrow Crab mess with the anemone? I've heard these things are the masters at catching and eating bristleworms. Any experiences?
-Trip

[Pinecone_Jeff]

I was just reading about coral banded shirmps and how they have a taste for bristleworms. I need to do some more reading about them though before I get one or a breeding pair. I sorta remember reading something about them messing up corals by digging for food or eating up all your pods.

[SeanT]

Hey,
You do NOT want to get rid of your bristleworms.
They are a vital detrivore.
They help to keep your sandbed clean and take care of uneaten waste.

[eco-tropic]

SeanT,

I would agree with not wanting to get rid of all your bristleworms, which I think would be impossible. Don’t you think it might be important to keep their populations in check? I have seen very large ones attach clams and coral.

[Pinecone_Jeff]

Yeah, I wasn't in favor of getting rid of them all. I just want to keep them in check. Once they started to get big in size and in population, they became very bold and started robbing food from my anemone! Heck, if I drop a piece of fish on the substrate, within seconds a ball of bristleworms about half the size of my fist is formed around the food item. Freakish!

[ozmonster]

Why not just trap the big ones and remove them. Get a 32oz blastic coke bottle and cut off the top before the neck. Turn the neck upside down and superglue or zip tie it to top of bottle. Put a piece of shrimp or whatever inside and place it horizontally on substrate. Worms find their way in but have much trouble getting out.

oz

[Pinecone_Jeff]

Nice! I'll give that a try. :)
I just like the idea of adding yet another critter into my tank is all. Any excuse to put in something different, eh?!? ;)

[SeanT]

No need for you to try and keep them in check.
Mother Nature will do that for you.
As they clean up all the waste the food supply will run low and many will die-off.
Which in turn will become food for the others.

It's called the "Circle of Life."
If I may recommend a WONDERFUL documentary on the "Circle of Life'.
It is called "The Lion King" :):)
LOVE THAT MOVIE.
Uh-weeem-uh-way. Uh-weem-uh-way.

[Marc03]

about the sebae, you could have a mantis shrimp that tried to kill it

[3Tripnip]

Welp, I found another thing that was attacking my new BTA anemone. I saw the Camel Shrimp swim into the middle of the anemone and grab a piece of the anemone's flesh. Needless to day, he's outta the tank now. Amazing that these things don't become an easy anemone meal.
-Trip