Be careful the peppermint shrimp!

[WVUreefer]

I had 2 peppermint shrimp in my tank that I kept to keep aptasia out..Well the aptasia has been gone for months so I though I would just leave them in there for maintenance..wrong..first they shredded and ate a very nice blue maxi mini carpet..Then proceeded to feast on a new Aussie elegance that I had just received!?!..I quickly trapped them and off to the sump they went...The elegance I hope recovers..Anyone had an experience like this with peppermint shrimp?.. :tsk:

 

[emerald525]

Are you sure they were peppermint shrimp and not camel shrimp? They look almost identical and sometimes fish stores sell them as peppermints. Camel shrimp are definitely NOT reef safe.

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[ritter6788]

Mine picked apart a large acan colony. 100% sure they weren't camels. It's still alive but damaged in spots. My bangaii cardinal suddenly decided peppermint shrimp are tasty so I haven't seen them lately and the acan is healing up.

 

[.AcroKiller.]

I have 2 and they never touch anything

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[iggiebee]

I have 2 and they never touch anything

+1 BUT they are voracious eaters and will start including lots of things in their menu if not fed at least every two/three days, that's my experience. That is until I introduced an Tridacna Clam, that proved to be too tasty for them, so back to LFS they went.

New additions are almost always attacked by them during the first days, no matter if they are tasty or not, again my experience.

 

[KSzegi]

I have also had peppermints that turned into little coral eating monsters - have had them pick at both lps and sps. Positive they were peppermints and they had plenty of food access daily. Peppermints are banned from my tanks now!

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

I had that happen. Then, the shrimp went to the seahorse tank. Unfortunately for them, my seahorses thought they would make a yummy snack.

 

[chort55]

yeah Ive watched them pluck heads off of frogspawn, in disbelief I left them in and watched them do the same thing to a nice torch too!

 

[skinz78]

I've had them pester clams to death.

 

[bige]

I had one eat a huge acan colony. Then he destroyed my clam. Then he was fed to a scorpion fish.

 

[sammirooter]

i have 3 and they havent touched anything..... yet.... after reading this ill be trying to catch em and move em to the fuge. better safe than sorry. if i get aptasia ill move it to the fuge.

 

[skinz78]

I had one eat a huge acan colony. Then he destroyed my clam. Then he was fed to a scorpion fish.

Like LOL!

 

[foundnemo]

Yes I had similar experiences with peppermint shrimps feasting on my elegance, lobo, hammer, and acans. From the limited research I found there is a morph of this family that is actually not reef safe after eat aptasia. I will try to find the link post it. If I remember correctly to evil's one hail from the lower areas of the Caribbean.