Peppermint shrimp

[dede]

I bought a peppermint shrimp from LA last week and also had a bunch of corals I bought come in the same day. My plan was to keep the shrimp, snails and coral all in the same tank for q-time of 2 months.

Well right away the shrimp ran right over to the large rock flower anemone climbing all over it. I grabbed an acclimation box and put the anemone in it to keep it separate.

Well next day I notice the shrimp sitting on top of a large trachy and the trachy had lost all it's flesh.

So I moved it into the acclimation box also, it has some bits of flesh here and there but figure it is a loss.

I also moved a meat coral into the box as well as that also looks very fleshy and I didn't want to lose it to the shrimp.

Now the dang shrimp is poking his feet through the holes in the acclimation box to get to these corals.

I got him and the filefish(now dead) to deal with aptasia in my 180, but wondering if he is going to be a problem, I don't have many fleshy lps in the tank as yet, these were my first purchases.

My question now is how soon can I move him to the DD without worrying he will carry Ich or velvet. I thought I read once they molt you can move them but he has only been in there a week.

I was planning on waiting 2 months but he is being a huge pain in the q-tank.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

It doesn't look like this, does it?

 

[Zack33]

Are you 100% you bought a peppermint shrimp? There are actually a wide variety of shrimp that look just like the peppermints we all know and love to deal with Aptasia, and not all of them deal with it.....

Make sure you fully ID your "peppermint" shrimp, it might be a camelback....a common mistake!

 

[dede]

Here is a picture, looks like a peppermint to me.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Here is a picture, looks like a peppermint to me.

Yup, that's a peppermint shrimp in the grand scheme of things. It might've gone rogue after not having anything to eat in a while and developed a taste for coral. I've had some that eat leather corals.

I would get some aiptasia to him in the QT system if you can so he can redevelop a taste for that.

 

[John3]

In my experience they tend to eat already dying coral flesh. They are normally the first one to the dinner table.

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

I just had three peppermints go after a healthy Cycloceris plate Coral. They wiped out the Aiptasia and we're obviously hungry. I gave them each an algae wafer yesterday, but found them tearing into the plate today. Sucks. Luckily, I was able to catch them all and get them into the sump.

 

[DRTYshredCo]

I think my Peppermint has been feeding on (killed) my Candy Cane and just started on my Clove Polyp. :-/ These were doing great until I got the Peppermint... ever since it entered the tank things have been going downhill. Just caught it and put it in the back of my tank to see if the Polyp opens back up. The Polyp was even sprouting new heads. All levels are good.