Are peppermint shrimp reef safe?

[Fish_Tank_J]

Today when I woke up I saw that my peppermint shrimp was on my new elegance coral I got last night and seemed to be eating it what should I do.

 

[John3]

I think a lot of shrimp get a bad rap. I think they only eat coral flesh that is already dying. Believe it or not in those cases the shrimp may save the coral by eating dead tissue and stopping it from spreading.

I think most people see a shrimp on a coral with missing tissue and assume the shrimp ate it but in reality the shrimp is just cleaning up dying flesh.

The one thing shrimp will do which I think will cause damage is stealing food from a coral. They may tear at the corals flesh causing cuts when pulling food out of a corals mouth.

At this point you can only put some kind of physical barrier over the coral because the shrimp is not going to leave dying no flesh alone. Not sure if that is feasible. If you do go that rout you should probably do a iodine dip to help in the area with the eaten flesh.

 

[pdisner]

Today when I woke up I saw that my peppermint shrimp was on my new elegance coral I got last night and seemed to be eating it what should I do.

I raise these little guys and I assure you that they don’t eat corals. They will eat aiptasia. They are cleaners so they will pick at things around the aquarium. Of course there are ALWAYS exceptions to the rule. Just keep an eye on him. Any questions, send me a PM

 

[Fish_Tank_J]

I raise these little guys and I assure you that they don’t eat corals. They will eat aiptasia. They are cleaners so they will pick at things around the aquarium. Of course there are ALWAYS exceptions to the rule. Just keep an eye on him. Any questions, send me a PM

Thank you for the help. I have been watching him and he seems to be fine. I was just a little alarmed at first.

 

[cristata.reef]

@Fish_Tank_J there are a bunch of shrimp species sold under the name of Peppermint shrimp; Lysmata wurdemanni, L. rathbunae, L. ankeri, L. boggessi, L. bahia, and L. pedersoni. Occassionally you might encounter Lysmata californica depending on where you live but those are semi-tropical/coldwater and wouldn't last long in our reef tanks. And if we're talking about camelback shrimps then you can add on Rhynchocinetes durbanensis and R. uritai. I apologize for the overload of info but maybe you can look them up and determine what you have. (also some of them are reef-safe, some aren't but I'm really not an expert an that part). Hope that helps!

 

[DSC reef]

Shrimp can be opportunistic feeders and while I had some "behave", I have witnessed peppermint shrimp tear away and eat perfectly healthy flesh from acans. IME once they get a taste for a coral it won't stop eating said coral. Make sure where your purchasing from are giving you peppermint shrimp and not camel shrimp. There's definitely never a guarantee they'll be coral safe though.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Yeah my duncan coral was doing great but when I added the shrimp most days he would be closed and I saw the shrimp on him at night a few times, I finally caught the shrimp and moved him to the sump yesterday and we will see what happens, personally I believe it was him

 

[pdisner]

Yes they definately are. Should be considered part of your clean up crew. Will even spawn weekly if you have enough of them. I’m trying to raise them myself.

 

[pdisner]

I think a lot of shrimp get a bad rap. I think they only eat coral flesh that is already dying. Believe it or not in those cases the shrimp may save the coral by eating dead tissue and stopping it from spreading.

I think most people see a shrimp on a coral with missing tissue and assume the shrimp ate it but in reality the shrimp is just cleaning up dying flesh.

The one thing shrimp will do which I think will cause damage is stealing food from a coral. They may tear at the corals flesh causing cuts when pulling food out of a corals mouth.

At this point you can only put some kind of physical barrier over the coral because the shrimp is not going to leave dying no flesh alone. Not sure if that is feasible. If you do go that rout you should probably do a iodine dip to help in the area with the eaten flesh.

I concur.

 

[pdisner]

@Fish_Tank_J there are a bunch of shrimp species sold under the name of Peppermint shrimp; Lysmata wurdemanni, L. rathbunae, L. ankeri, L. boggessi, L. bahia, and L. pedersoni. Occassionally you might encounter Lysmata californica depending on where you live but those are semi-tropical/coldwater and wouldn't last long in our reef tanks. And if we're talking about camelback shrimps then you can add on Rhynchocinetes durbanensis and R. uritai. I apologize for the overload of info but maybe you can look them up and determine what you have. (also some of them are reef-safe, some aren't but I'm really not an expert an that part). Hope that helps!

Yes. On www.MBIsite.com there is a bunch of info on all kinds of species of everything. But there is a post with a pdf file article that has color pic along with the info.

 

[pdisner]

I you want to breed them, it goes without saying, make sure u have the same species.

 

[Makers Marc]

Had a bad batch of 3. Literally watched them pull spines off a longspine urchin after adding it.

I defended it with a net for a few hours and thought it could protect itself.

Even if you overfeed, large peppermint shrimp can be destructive.

 

[2CC's]

Last night I fed a nice healthy (favorite) acan in my frag tank - this morning pretty much all the flesh was torn away by a peppermint shrimp (caught him in the act). Bottle trap and relocated to the cheato chamber

 

[tastyfish]

There's a lot of misinformation on peppermint shrimp. I'd actually take a guess that 50%, probably 75% of shrimp advertised in LFS as "Peppermint shrimp" are not actually Lysmata wurdemanni, L. bogessi or even any one of the recognised true peppermints (https://decapoda.nhm.org/pdfs/27306/27306.pdf)

They are often Lysmata seticaudata or even Rhynchocinetes durbanensis (Camel shrimp).

Athough L seticaudata will occasionally eat an aip, it's just as likely to go rogue and eat other LPS, worse with other shrimp.

As above, if a true peppermint appears to be munching on LPS, it's typically cleaning dead flesh (or robbing food). They are opportunistic feeders, so theres a balance to be struck between being hungry enough to eat Aipistasia and finding an easier meal.

 

[Makers Marc]

There's a lot of misinformation on peppermint shrimp. I'd actually take a guess that 50%, probably 75% of shrimp advertised in LFS as "Peppermint shrimp" are not actually Lysmata wurdemanni, L. bogessi or even any one of the recognised true peppermints (https://decapoda.nhm.org/pdfs/27306/27306.pdf)

They are often Lysmata seticaudata or even Rhynchocinetes durbanensis (Camel shrimp).

Athough L seticaudata will occasionally eat an aip, it's just as likely to go rogue and eat other LPS, worse with other shrimp.

As above, if a true peppermint appears to be munching on LPS, it's typically cleaning dead flesh (or robbing food). They are opportunistic feeders, so theres a balance to be struck between being hungry enough to eat Aipistasia and finding an easier meal.

Mine were clearly peppermints.

For 3 hrs the longspine urchin moved around pretty fast trying to avoid them. They literally tag teamed and took turns, for hrs, picking at it and pulling spines out (not fallen), but out to the point you saw white flesh on the base.

Also watched them decimate large tubeworm/feather duster by tearing an opening from its foot (or part under sand).

Not saying they aren't reef safe. But they definitely are more aggressive and harmful imo, then any cleaner or fire shrimp.

 

[Jet915]

I saw a peppermint picking at my galaxea coral, they are now gone and the coral is slowly recovering....

 

[looneywun]

never had any problems with them. but like everything there could always be that one.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

They're great sump pets, I keep mine down there and he keeps stuff from getting too crazy down there.

 

[JustSomeGuy]

I cringe every time I see a peppermint shrimp post.
I would only use one again if I had aptasia and would remove it via trap immediately after it's job was confirmed done

 

[lewisriverfisherman]

I had a peppermint shrimp eat a perfectly healthy frog spawn. I caught it 2 nights in a row, in the pitch black eating my spawn so it had to go.