Peppermint shrimp

[Capt. Nemo]

Hi everyone,

Can someone tell me how large these shrimp get? Are they easy to care for and hardy? Do they help with controlling aiptasia and do they help with keeping the sand clean? Thanks.

Gary

[antdog]

My marine inverts book says that they get to about 1.5 inches. I have one, "Pepe". He's quite entertaining, and yes they do eat aptasia. I had some small aptasia when I first started my tank. I bought Pepe and now I have no aptasia!! I don't have any experience with larger aptasia though. I've heard that they only eat the small ones. Definitely worth the purchase! The local Petco down here sells pepermint shrimp for $5.99. I don't know if they carry them up there in Jersey. Hope this helps!

[robgardner]

ditto antdogs statements... they are indeed very hardy, and known to spawn biweekly if kept in pairs... they are simultaneous hermaphrodites. ... both male and female at the same time...unfortuneatly... even commercial breeders have not been succesful at raising the young... but nonethe less it's a fabulous treat for all planktivores residing in your tank...my experience is that they do not prefer larger aptasia sp, but they will dance back and forth upside down or right side up i find them very entertaining...

[syilk1]

They are very good waste cleaners also. And these are the only few animals and coral I have managed not to kill :)

[mfisher2112]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7985067#post7985067 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Capt. Nemo
Hi everyone,

Can someone tell me how large these shrimp get? Are they easy to care for and hardy? Do they help with controlling aiptasia and do they help with keeping the sand clean? Thanks.

Gary

Hi Gary. Ditto to the others. I have a pepermint in my 55 that will eat anything I put in there. He has figured out when feeding time is and exactly where the food will land and sits upside down under the lip of the rock waiting for the food to come. So far he has eaten every kind of frozen and flake food I have put in the tank. Anything the clowns eat, he eats!

And they are fun to watch if they are social. Many have stated that theirs hides alot, but mine races to the corner of the tank to greet whoever may be peering in and does a little dance. I think he's begging for food, but believe me the little hog gets plenty! :)

[meco65]

I have one in a 2.5 gal nano tank he's cool, but when he was in my big tank he liked to munch on my condy anemone so I made him his own little world.

[loyalty]

i recently got two to take care of some aiptaisa, and like eveyone above said, they'll make quick work of small ones, but won't mess with the bigger ones. they're pretty cool, though my pair hide a lot

[mfisher2112]

Oh, and as a side note. I recently had a temperature emergency where the air quit in the house and the tank got up to 87. My clowns and my pepermint shrimp shrugged it off even though my diamond goby didn't survive. I guess that speaks to their hardiness.

Hope that helps!

[2fishy]

Sorry to hijack your thread, but does anyone know if peppermint will disappear for a couple of days? I haven't seen mine since Friday, however I was at work over the weekend. My husband doesn't remember seeing them this weekend either. The only fish that I would think might have eaten them would be my Cardinal fish, but they were pretty big. They also come out every time we feed the tank, but they never came out today. Only 30 lbs of live rock in there and I can't even find a tentacle.:(

[SeanySean]

does anyone know how many could I have in a 200g? I want loads of shrimps and I think if I got about 10 of the little cuties I would see them more?

[lt34]

I haven't heard of a limit on Peppermint Shrimp. I have 5 in my 90 and they took care of a little Aiptasia. They usually hang upside down on the rocks. Usualy don't see them cleaning any sand.

[ericwebster]

I agree with everyone. Peppermint Shrimp rock. I had what I would call a large piece of Aptasia (head was about 3/4 inch wide) and I woke up one morning and it was all gone.

[dixonba]

They will tend to hide after a molt.

[lux_06]

would anyone keep a peppermint with a royal dottyback?

[2fishy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7987366#post7987366 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dixonba
They will tend to hide after a molt.

Thanks for the response!:) I'm hoping they molted and are just hiding. I wanted to add a cleaner shrimp, but now I don't know if they don't reappear I may have to reconsider!:(

[Sangogo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7987912#post7987912 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lux_06
would anyone keep a peppermint with a royal dottyback?

I have heard of one case where someone's dottyback ate their peppermint. (The peppermint was still small).

Some pages I have read on peppermints have been rather humorous though. They're native to the Caribbean, so they're actually fairly expensive here in Asia and hard to find compared to most other livestock. People only buy them here in cases of aiptasia desperation. Some sites have reported that the larger Asian shrimps (skunk shrimps and the like) "did in" their peppermints, which makes me less than enthusiastic to buy them.

It doesn't seem like anyone on this thread has that problem though.

[ericwebster]

Are peppermints known for killing hermit crabs .. my hermit crab population is slowly dwindling.

[juice454]

I just started my tank and noticed 3-4 aiptasia buds growing rapidly on the LR. If I get a peppermint, will it eat the Zoanthid which also hitched a ride on the LR??

[cmsargent]

I have a pair of pepermints in my 29g. They are very personable. They come out and beg for food whenever I'm working in the tank. They'll even come and crawl over my hands and 'clean' them. When I want to target feed just them I'll pinch a bit of flake between my fingers and let them come up and pick it out. They are little hogs. I'm always suprised by how much such a little critter will eat. My biggest compalint is that they are always stealing food from my corals. I have to make sure they are well feed 1st otherwise they will go around the tank raiding all the polyps.

I know these guys will canabalize eachother if you have too many in one tank, especially if some are smaller than others. I'm not sure how many is too many though. Probably depends on the tank, how many hiding spots it has, how much you feed, etc.

Mine dissapear for a couple of days when they molt. You think in a 29g I could find them but they are excellent at hinding when they want to. Mine seem to produce a brood about every two weeks and then molt within a day or two.

Word of caution I've seen some places that call all red and white shrimp pepermint. If you want them to eat aiptesia make sure you're getting true pepermints. They generally are not quite as bright as other red shrimp and are clear with red stripes. The camel which is often called a pepermint is red and white striped (not red and clear).

Oh and no I've never heard of them eating zoas.