Do Peppermint Shrimp eat Aptasia?

[j-ville]

Added 4 Peppermint shrimp yesterday, woke up this morning and no aptasia to be seen. I know Copperbands will eat them, and I've been meaning to get one, but if Peppermint shrimp will do the job.....

 

[lsu]

They are supposed to, mine won't touch it.

 

[kholla12]

Mine do

 

[j-ville]

Cool, that will save me about twenty bucks. Although I was looking forward to the Copperband.

 

[cynd]

mine do great in mine. We got a clam that had some on it and I saw the shrimp getting after them pretty quickly. Butterflies are hard to keep alive.

 

[j-ville]

Originally Posted by LSU
http:///forum/post/2656865
They are supposed to, mine won't touch it.

Maybe they have to be really hungry, you know, like right from the lfs.

 

[j-ville]

Originally Posted by CynD
http:///forum/post/2656889
mine do great in mine. We got a clam that had some on it and I saw the shrimp getting after them pretty quickly. Butterflies are hard to keep alive.
Ya, that was my main concern.

 

[atrialfib22]

There are 2 different species of peppermint shrimps that are commonly sold into the hobby. Lysmata wurdemanni and lysmata californica...the latter is characterized by bolder, darker, more accentuated banding and it is NOT the species that you can expect to consume your aiptasia. The wurdemanni is from the Atlantic and that is the species that has a taste for the annoying aiptasia. If you do a google search for images on both species you can easily differentiate them by their banding color.

 

[hariii2]

Copperbands do not live long in tanks. Read up on it. They are awesome to watch swim and eat and look at, but just know that it will die. Soon. 6 months probably max. I think one guy here had one for a year. They should leave them in the ocean.