peppermint shrimp missing

[siptang]

I added 2 peppermint shrimps in my DT last night and they have VANISHED...
I have blue tang, purple tang and bi color angel....
Do you think they are hiding or do you think something has happened to both of them?

 

[meowzer]

I would say they are hiding....first of all they are nocturnal, and second THEY HIDE LOL
check at night with a light and look in caves....I rarely see mine in the bigger tank

 

[siptang]

man the thing is that I was looking for them for like 2 hours last night and for like 30 mins this morning.
I will try again today.. sigh..
I hope i didn't just throw away money. Regardless the price, I hate throwing away money. :/
I aquascaped too well this time. I can't find a darn thing any where lol.

 

[desertdawg]

I put a fire shrimp in a couple of weeks ago, it took 5 days of looking to find him.
The wife spotted him hiding in a hole behind some palys. A week later and we still feel lucky if we spot an antennae or something in there moving....

 

[siptang]

yea recently I put little bit over 100 lbs of live rock (i think it was like 150ish) and it has made things VERY tough for me to spot anything... sucks.. what can i do I guess...
I guess, I will buckle down a bit and look around for them at nights... If I see some aptasias gone then i will know that they are still alive lol.

 

[meowzer]

There was a time I went months w/o seeing the peppermints.....I am sure they are there somwehere

 

[siptang]

Thanks guys. Good to know that I'm not paranoid lol. ^^
This was a test for a cleaner shrimp down the road. i just didn't feel like spending 25 bucks on a shrimp only to have my fish to have an expensive dinner.
We will see how this goes. :/

 

[tirtza]

Don't worry Siptang, they'll show up eventually!
I made a big mistake when I first added shrimp. I have a big adult Skunk Cleaner Shrimp and he's been in my aquarium for a few months. A little while ago I added two really small young Peppermint Shrimp. A couple of days after I added the 2 Peppermints I realized that only one was left. Than I learned that large shrimp will kill smaller shrimp. So now I have one Peppermint left over and he's constantly hiding. I have a pretty small tank (only 29 gallons) and so there aren't many places for him to hide. Soon I realized that he likes to hide out in the same place (hanging upside down under the same rock ledge). I named the Peppermint shrimp "Chicken" because he's always hiding Hopefully he'll live long enough to grow as big as the skunk cleaner shrimp. Next time I add any shrimp, I'll make sure that they are the same size

 

[siptang]

Good news is that I found both of them hiding under a very tiny rock together.
Man... I was about to put a cleaner shrimp in 2 weeks or so... but my peppermints are fairly large... if I added smaller cleaner then p
epps will eat him right?

 

[desertdawg]

I don't think the peps will bother a cleaner unless they are like 3 inches long and the cleaner is a baby.
And none of the fish will eat the cleaner, even the meanest of them all see him as a benefit to keep around.

 

[gemmy]

I don't think that the pepps will bother the cleaner.

 

[siptang]

Sounds good! cleaner shrimp, here I come!
Quick q, is cleaner shrimp nocturnal and all hiding all the time as well?
If so, that would suck alot.
Looking for good astro snail sales now whew...
it sure is different being able to put these things in the tank.

 

[tirtza]

In my limited experience Skunk Cleaner shrimp are definitely not shy! Mine is out constantly and swims to top when I'm feeding. My fish never bother him. He tries to get close to the fish and tries to clean them sometimes, but usually the fish (2 clowns and a fire fish) seem kind of afraid of him. The skunk cleaner shrimp is pretty entertaining to watch

 

[siptang]

thank you, most likely this will be my purchase tonight.
Had a very depressing day with a melt down and I need some pick me up...

 

[tirtza]

Sorry to hear about the depressing day Just hang in there, I'm sending you lots of positive thoughts and strength. Just know that you aren't alone, and you have lots of care and support from people who have never even met you! I think a pick me up would be an excellent idea for you too

 

[siptang]

Thanks tirtza, I really appreciate your warm comments.

 

[tirtza]

Anytime Siptang How's your Skunk Cleaner shrimp doing? Are your two peppermints still doing well?

 

[siptang]

Hey,
yea they are all fine. Peppermints, I can hardly see them through out the day but they are there.
Skunk made the weirdest place his station... I will post a pic later. Maybe I need to get one for them to move around my tank..

 

[tirtza]

Skunks are definitely some funny little shrimp! Where did yours place his station? Are the fish in your tank letting him clean them? I know we are supposed to keep our hands out of the tanks as much as possible, but every once in a while (when I'm sure my hands are free of any soap residue or lotion) I'll put a couple of fingers in my tank and watch my cleaner shrimp rush up, grab hold of my finger and start 'cleaning' it

 

[siptang]

Never had that experience yet. (I would love to though!) Shrimp still hides by the return pump and no fish would go near it. I did however get another one for $10 on sale and it has moved down to the rock to hang out with the new one but still little skittish imho.