Peppermint/Cleaner Lysmata Kuekenthali Reef Safe?

[MantisShrimpMan]

Just picked one up off divers den but after reading more about them online I’m nervous and am strongly considering cancelling my order. I have a weakness for unique shrimp- I’d like to fill my tank up with all sorts of shrimp, not just the 2-3 mainstream species. Right now, I have my eyes on Urocaridella Antonbruuni at my LFS, as well as pedersons, the regular Scarlet skunk cleaners, Bongo Shrimp, zanzibar banded, and a whole host of other species. I just happen to find inverts very cool and when I can find shrimp slightly off the beaten path they tempt me.

But I don’t want to have issues in the long run. I would like to add a BTA and a RFA to my tank soon, not to mention corals with vulnerable polyps like zoas and torches. Will Lysmata Kuekenthali avoid the same pitfalls that many people see with rogue peppermint shrimp? I dont have aiptasia yet, but I do feed frequently and I have a crab I have to feed mollusks to who leaves plenty of leftovers in the shells for picking at.

 

[Fish Styx]

L. Kuekenthali are known to feed on small polyps. I have 2 each of blood, skunk, and pedersons in my 180, and a whole clutch of peps. They leave everything alone except for the food. Their apetites are insatiable.

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

L. Kuekenthali are known to feed on small polyps. I have 2 each of blood, skunk, and pedersons in my 180, and a whole clutch of peps. They leave everything alone except for the food. Their apetites are insatiable.

so you do or don’t have Kuekenthali? Have you had them in the past?

 

[Fish Styx]

so you do or don’t have Kuekenthali? Have you had them in the past?

I do not have them, no. Never have either. They are beautiful though. I just don't trust them.

 

[Stomatopods17]

FYI bongo shrimp are pickier versions of harlequin shrimp. They only eat micro brittle sea stars, wouldn't recommend unless you plan on ordering large supplies of micro brittles (usually hitchhikers you might get lucky and find a source of). They even pair like harlequins too.

Zanzibar (and other coral bandeds) can be opportunistic as well and territorial to other shrimp, never heard of them attacking coral.

Bruuni I don't see enough but I don't think it'll injure corals. Peppermints absolutely can eat coral though.



Lysmata Kuekenthali I've never seen personally. I know you're probably eye balling that diver's den listing cause I haven't really seen this shrimp available consistently.

Most of the good reef safe community shrimp are the really small ones that are often the victims (sexy shrimp, which even gobies can swallow, bumblebee shrimp, anemone shrimp, etc), the specialty shrimp that won't injury anything you value as long as they won't get injured (harlequins, bongo), and the shrimp that keep to themselves and probably will never interact with the others (pistol shrimp, particularly the goby ones as they are better scavengers than hunters).

Otherwise you're looking at a species tank for a particular shrimp you like or a tank of shrimp that aren't aggressive but you don't have corals for them to harm (camel, saron, peppermint).

Curious if that crab is calappidae bychance? Just based on the molusk statement.

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

FYI bongo shrimp are pickier versions of harlequin shrimp. They only eat micro brittle sea stars, wouldn't recommend unless you plan on ordering large supplies of micro brittles (usually hitchhikers you might get lucky and find a source of). They even pair like harlequins too.

Zanzibar (and other coral bandeds) can be opportunistic as well and territorial to other shrimp, never heard of them attacking coral.

Bruuni I don't see enough but I don't think it'll injure corals. Peppermints absolutely can eat coral though.



Lysmata Kuekenthali I've never seen personally. I know you're probably eye balling that diver's den listing cause I haven't really seen this shrimp available consistently.

Most of the good reef safe community shrimp are the really small ones that are often the victims (sexy shrimp, which even gobies can swallow, bumblebee shrimp, anemone shrimp, etc), the specialty shrimp that won't injury anything you value as long as they won't get injured (harlequins, bongo), and the shrimp that keep to themselves and probably will never interact with the others (pistol shrimp, particularly the goby ones as they are better scavengers than hunters).

Otherwise you're looking at a species tank for a particular shrimp you like or a tank of shrimp that aren't aggressive but you don't have corals for them to harm (camel, saron, peppermint).

Curious if that crab is calappidae bychance? Just based on the molusk statement.

Yep. Don’t know species 100% but if I had to venture a guess I’d say Calappa Flammea.

I got the one on divers den but ended up cancelling my order. If I hear more positive things I could see myself eventually getting one but for now I don’t think it’s worth the risk.

I think I’d consider doing more in a larger tank, but for the time being I’m mainly looking at the Bruuni (since my LfS have them and they’re cool) and the classic peaceful scarlet skunk cleaners

 

[Stomatopods17]

Yep. Don’t know species 100% but if I had to venture a guess I’d say Calappa Flammea.

I hate to derail the thread but where did you get him? I've been desperately looking everywhere for calappa for almost 7 years lol..

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

I hate to derail the thread but where did you get him? I've been desperately looking everywhere for calappa for almost 7 years lol..

Funny Story Actually!! I am from New York City originally and Ive spent my summers growing up out on Long Island NY doing every form of fishing imaginable. Inshore, offshore, spearfishing, you name it! If you’ve ever eaten clams by the name “littleneck clams” or “cherry stone” or “Quahog” those are different sizes of the same clam- the Atlantic Bivalve, Scientific name Mercenaria Mercenaria. Well, the way that recreational fishermen catch them is by being in the water. You can use rakes that you drag through the substrate, but also, you can simply wiggle your heels back and forth to sink a few inches deep into the substrate. If you feel a hard rock like object buried just under the surface of the substrate while doing that, you reach down and pick it up, and odds are its a clam!

Well, I’ve done it long enough that I thought I had encountered every possible thing that could feel like a clam. Spoiler alert- I was wrong! While I was home on fall break from university, in ~40 degree water, I was clamming in a wetsuit and felt what I thought was a clam. I reached down and picked it up and was shocked- it was a juvenile box crab! I instantly recognized the genus from my time spent in the Caribbean but frankly they don’t belong in NY so I knew it was a rarity. Must have been swept north while it was still a planktonic larvae by the strong currents stemming from the Gulf of Mexico.

Anyways, I brought him home with me, and at the time, I didn’t have a saltwater tank. I’d wanted one for years, but never had one. So I decided to leave him in a pen off my dock, have my dad feed him a minnow or two on a weekly basis, and I flew back to college and set up a 20G. When I returned home for Thanksgiving, I picked him up, and flew him back to St Louis with me!

I feel like I kinda did him a favor. The water was already too cold for him in October and November, he was basically catatonic when I found him. He likely would have either died directly or indirectly via starvation from the peak cold months where it drops down to just under 30 Fahrenheit.

So yeah, it would be very hard to replicate how I found him, lol, and also, hes responsible for me setting up my saltwater tank! Also worth mentioning despite being similar to a calappa flammea, his pigmentation is slightly different, so he could very well be an unnamed subspecies or hybrid.