Are peppermint shrimp bad?

[saltyrich]

I got my u-build it kit yesterday and everything is just great. To add diversity to the tank I added 10 blue leg hermits. They actually sent 11, but one was so small; he was about the size of this asterik * ! Anyway, I also received a peppermint shrimp; also small, around an inch long. Later on I saw the peppermint grab the little blue leg and try to pull him out of his tiny shell. He then carried him off into the rocks. Should I expect this with the other blue legs and other hermits? Most of the other hermits are much larger than the one he carried off.

 

[radge69]

I've also heard that they will eat feather dusters as well. So are peppermint shrimp reef safe? And if they are what do you want to keep away from them?

 

[frankl15207]

Not normal but...
The shrimp may have just been hungry. I bought three of them from an LFS that jumped on everything when I first put them into the tank. I couldn't feed my coral with a baster because they climbed on it and deflected everything away from it. After they were in the tank for about a week they simply crawled under the rocks. Now I have trouble finding them at times.
Then again, in this hobby there is normal behaviour, and then there is the freak of nature.

 

[radge69]

I've also heard that they will eat feather dusters as well. So are peppermint shrimp reef safe? And if they are what do you want to keep away from them?

 

[saltyrich]

Has anybody else heard or have experience with them eating feather dusters?

 

[javajoe]

Ive not experienced peppermints eating feather dusters, but i had a rouge peppermint shirmp who went to town on my hammer and elagance coral. it was kinda funny, cause as he is see-thru, you could tell which one was the cuplrit-- his belly glowed green . he was removed from the tank and traded for a smaller one at the LFS, and my 3 peppermints have been fine- leave everything pretty much alone. incidentally, the one that was eating corals was the same one who would come out and bite my fingers when they were in the tank.

 

[carrie1429]

I used to have four feather dusters but lately they have been disapearing. I never thought that peppermint shrimp ate them, I not sure whether it was my peppermint or my chocolate chip star.

 

[nacl-h2o]

They have been known to pester some corals and even kill feather dusters and some types of polyps. But some live peacefully with those same animals. You never know which your going to get.