Do Peppermint Shrimp eat Peppermint Shrimp?

[uscharalph]

Originally I had 4, what I believe to be Peppermint Shrimp. I got them all at the same time. They did a good job on the Aiptasia I had in my tank. 6 months later I am down to only 1 survivor. I recently had 1 Aiptasia pop up and for 2 weeks, that survivor has not eaten the Aiptasia. So I decided to get another PS from the same LFS as I got the others. This one is smaller and lighter in color than my surving PS. Last night I witnessed the survivor had the newbie in his grasp in his hiding place. I went to bed and haven't seen te newbie anywhere. Dis the survivor eat the newbie?

[gregrex]

I had a trio of them cooexisting peacefully for about 2 years. Then a couple months ago, I found one peppermint killing another. Ripping at the abdomen (still kicking at the time)... quite gorey I must say... another shrimp disappeared a couple weeks later leaving only 1.

Shrimp Highlander.

[lakwriter]

Yes and no. They typically leave healthy and happy cohabitants alone, but if one is sick, injured, etc, they eat their own, IME. I started out with three about 6 months ago. One morning I found that the largest shrimp had the tail of one of the others and the rest of the body was gone. I still have 2 and its been 2 months since the murder. No more problems.

[uscharalph]

Wow!! I had no idea. So the only way for me to add another is to get one about the size of the one I have.

[SALT WATER CRAZ]

I had a blood shrimp for abought 2 years that would try to get any shrimp in the tank. It killed another blood shrimp right in front of me as soon as I put it in the tank. And would harass my 3 cleaners. It was a real shock to me.