Hardy aiptasia eating fish, must be safe with SPS - suggestions please

[Tony B (UK)]

I am after ideas for a hardy aiptasia eating fish, it will live in my frag trays which are 3ft x 3ft x 6inches which house sps frags only, so it must not munch any sps.

Theres no lps in my frag trays.

I am thinking:

Racoon butterfly
Aiptasia eating filefish

Open to other suggestions, please fire away :)

Tia,

Tony

[kissman]

Aiptasia esting file fish is ugly but it worked great for me

[Retired Reefer]

Stay away from the Butterfly. If you go with the Matted Filefish you may be OK but keep your eye on him. I've had a Filefish for about 2 months and so far so good.

[hollister]

If you can remove the frag then a fresh water dip in RO water then brush it off with a new mini nylon brush with no harm to coral. 30 sec. to 1 min.

[Tony B (UK)]

Thanks for the replies. I think I may go for a kleinii - happy to hear other recommendations though :thumbsup:

Tony

[cjk76]

You can look into the Copperband too. Klein might be your best bet in that depth.

The best way to find a fish is to find one that is already eating aptasia in a tank but isn't nipping at corals.

[Retired Reefer]

I had a Klein and it started tearing up coral. It went after SPS and LPS. I had to get rid of it.

[Uncle Salty 05]

Kalk paste is the best aptasia killer I have found.

[Amoore311]

I've had a Capistratus Butterfly in my 100 Gallon cube almost 6 months. Plows down aiptasia and has not touched any sps corals at all.

[ItzJustinN]

inject the aiptasia with lemon juice, cheap and effective.

[bongarone]

A green laser may not be the most efficient, but it is effective and certainly the most fun.

[Sk8r]

Note: lasers are dangerous to everyone in the room, plus to the fish: the beam may bounce within the tank, and can do permanent eye damage. Anyone contemplating this method should read the ENTIRE thread in Advanced, so as not to face life having blinded their kid, their dog, or themselves.

[Allmost]

or a bunch of peppermint shrimp...

they will breed too, giving extra food for SPS..

[IridescentLily]

Tony, peppermint shrimp. TRUE peppermint shrimp, sometimes camel shrimp and other shrimp are called peppermint shrimp but are not.
Here's a link with the real peppermint shrimp's scientific name http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+525+701&pcatid=701
I had 13 aiptasia. I did everything to get rid of them including the aiptasia zapper.
It was suggested that get this kind of shrimp.
Literally 42 hours after putting him in my tank, all 13 aiptasia were gone. And the aiptasia has Never returned. :)

[Tony B (UK)]

Thanks for all the replies - regarding peppermint shrimps , these are great. I have these in my main display and they only eat aiptasia leaving alone LPS and SPS. I would highly recommend them too.

I would get some for my frag trays too, but 'real' peppermint shrimps are harder to get in the UK. There's loads being sold as peppermints, they look just like the one April links to and, even eat aiptasia in the shop (a test drive before you buy) but they refused to work in my tank. The only peppermint shrimps that have worked for me came in the post; there's only one place I know of in the UK which sells hard working effective peppermint shrimps.

It would just be easier to pop down to my LFS and get a small fish, this would avoid the postage costs and time spent waiting in at home for a parcel to turn up, that's why my preference is for a fish. Also the frag trays only hold SPS, unlike the main display.

Thanks,

Tony

[NatureNerd]

Tony, peppermint shrimp. TRUE peppermint shrimp, sometimes camel shrimp and other shrimp are called peppermint shrimp but are not.
Here's a link with the real peppermint shrimp's scientific name http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+525+701&pcatid=701
I had 13 aiptasia. I did everything to get rid of them including the aiptasia zapper.
It was suggested that get this kind of shrimp.
Literally 42 hours after putting him in my tank, all 13 aiptasia were gone. And the aiptasia has Never returned. :)
I have the exact same results. Haven't seen an aiptasia in my tank for four years. Only bad thing is my two shrimps only lasted 6 months. I am not sure why.

[FishTruck]

I have tried them all in my 300, including nudibranchs.

The most cost effective solution for me was going to war with kalk paste, then throwing in a CBB. Unfortunately.... the copperbands usually die after about 6 months.

I am currently using a mojano zapper and just trying to stay ahead of it. It has been about a 18 months since I have had to go to extreme measures.

I had no luck with peppermint shrimp (but who knows if they were "true" or not). The berghias I bought cost a fortune, and even after weeks, I saw no changes and used kalk paste then a CBB. I did see a live one though over a year after I put them in there... so I think they might even still be in there keeping the population of aips down.

[IridescentLily]

Ah, okay i understand. Yes, i can see why a fish would indeed be easier. :)
Thanks for all the replies - regarding peppermint shrimps , these are great. I have these in my main display and they only eat aiptasia leaving alone LPS and SPS. I would highly recommend them too.

I would get some for my frag trays too, but 'real' peppermint shrimps are harder to get in the UK. There's loads being sold as peppermints, they look just like the one April links to and, even eat aiptasia in the shop (a test drive before you buy) but they refused to work in my tank. The only peppermint shrimps that have worked for me came in the post; there's only one place I know of in the UK which sells hard working effective peppermint shrimps.

It would just be easier to pop down to my LFS and get a small fish, this would avoid the postage costs and time spent waiting in at home for a parcel to turn up, that's why my preference is for a fish. Also the frag trays only hold SPS, unlike the main display.

Thanks,

Tony

[IridescentLily]

I have the exact same results. Haven't seen an aiptasia in my tank for four years. Only bad thing is my two shrimps only lasted 6 months. I am not sure why.
They worked for you too, cool. Damn, i'm sorry that they died so quickly though.

[seapug]

I just picked up an Aiptasia Eating Filefish from my LFS with the hope it'll deal with a persistent problem I'm having in my 200 gallon. I've used Aiptasia X and a laser on all of them I could reach, but there's a few far back in the rock work that I can't get to. I'd try peppermints but my wrasses and hawkfish immediately destroy any shrimp I put in the tank.

I'm very concerned about the filefish eating my Zoas LPS and clams so I've got him in my 20 gallon for now with nothing but an aiptasia covered rock to keep him company. Once he starts munching on the Aips I'll put him in the DT. If this doesn't get the Aips under control, I'm going to take out all the rocks and redo the aquascape.

[Tony B (UK)]

Thanks for all the input guys, appreciated.

A wee update, I added a kleinii into the sps tray. When he first went in, he was a bit like a kid in a sweet shop, he was clearly nicking polyps off the sps, his favourite was an undata :lmao: but he pretty much sampled all the dishes on offer :lmao:

I'm glad to report no real damage has been done to the sps, but then again he's not touched any aiptasia yet either!:rolleyes:

He's eating flake and performing general grazing in the tray on algaes and picking around, I'm hoping some time soon he'll find out that aiptasia are for him :mad:

Regards,

Tony

[Allmost]

interesting, let us know how it works :)

[shoesE12]

I vote.peppermint shrimp they usually beast aiptasia plus they will breed releasing there eggs which will feed.your corals.