Peppermints and Aiptasia!!

[candycane]

I am about to get to the bottom of this once and for all. So much back and forth on whether Caribbean Peppermint Shrimp (Lysmata Wurdemanni) eat Aiptasia or not. I think just about everyone has dealt with that question. I have 4 seperate 39 gallon tanks, each with about 35 larger aiptasia in them. I am buying 4 shrimp per tank and introducing them with other factors such as dead animal flesh, snails and other food items that would be palatable to them. We shall see and I will take pics.
Since most of these tanks have caves, if they breed - the babies are free. Probably going to take about two months.

 

[mrsdorothy]

I have some peppermint shrimp in my tank that I got from reef topia that is collected in florida. Had about 100 aiptasia in my 90g tank. Added 4 peppermint shrimps, now I have some fat shrimps and no aiptasia.

 

[dejaco]

Peppermint shrimp will clean up or eat the smaller individuals but not the larger ones in my own experience.

 

[alyssia]

My pepps have never touched aiptaisa, big or small.

 

[chipmaker]

Some like it others do not. Unless you do not mind placing more shrimp in the tank, just go with lemon juice or Joes Juice and be done with it.

 

[candycane]

4 days in and still nothing. The peppermints havent touched the aiptasia. There are 5 of them in one tank - all of them just like to hang out under the rock and rock back and forth like IDIOTS!!! EAT THE AIPTASIA!!!

 

[reefreak29]

i had to buy ten p. shrimps the smaller ones tended to the aptasia

 

[bigarn]

just like emerald crabs eating bubble algae, it's the luck of the draw. as stated if the peps do eat the aiptasia it will be the smaller ones.

 

[h2offshore]

I had a few aptasia in my 180, put in 20 peps and now no more aiptasia.

 

[rot_stupid]

We had a bunch of aptasia's in our 150g and our 18g. After putting 2 peppermint shrimps in my 150 (we think 1 died), we dont have any transparant aptasia's anymore, so we put one in our 18 and after a few days, poof, again no more aptasia. We were told you kind of need to starve the tank a little because the shrimp will eat the fish food if it is available.

 

[scubanoah]

I put 5 pep shrimp in my 40 breeder that was heavily populated with aiptasia, big and small and after 1 month they ate all of it. no signs of any whatsoever. the shrimp also bred within 2 months.

 

[grendel]

Two peps added to my 55 gal and a light smattering of small aptasia was gone in two or three days. I do think they'd probably not be effective against larger aps.
JB

 

[fishrule]

I used Lemon Juice from the supermarket and a small syringe... It only took a small poke to the stem and a "little" bit of juice each... They were all gone by morning...

I also did a small water change the next day to make sure I didn't disturb the system with the lemon juice and the dead aiptasia...