Peppermint shrimp for aiptasia control

[gordoncheers]

How effective are the shrimp for controlling the aiptasia population in my reef?

 

[KrisReef]

Put one or three in and report back your results.

Unless you have a fish that will eat the Peppermints. In that case the answer is none.

They have "worked" for many folks including myself, and I have lost them out of reefs with zero fish and plenty of Aiptasia to eat? When they work, it's amazingly satisfying.

What fish do you have?
Try one and see if it gets busy, or not.
Good luck! :smiling-face-with-sunglasses:

 

[Tompickles]

They work well if you get the right type and enough of them. I ordered peppermint shrimp from saltwateraquarium and they demolished my aiptasia problem

 

[Clowning_Around72]

How effective are the shrimp for controlling the aiptasia population in my reef?

I agree with the other response. If you have no fish that can eat them then they are fairly low risk. Mine ate them. But you will also rarely see them most likely

 

[jsmkmavity]

I have had good success with the "true" pepperment which do eat aiptasia, and have had no success with some shrimp "sold as" peppermint but really a different kind.

 

[PapaFishRocks]

Another success story for me. Wiped out all the aipstasia in my tank and haven’t seen one since. (And I likely just jinxed myself)

 

[exnisstech]

I keep them in all of my tanks too small for a CBB which is currently 3 tanks. I have aiptasia in the overflows and sump but zero in the DT.

A below is the type you want for aiptasia. I've never had mine bother coral like some folks say they have.

 

[Reeferbadness]

I tried peppermint shrimp a couple of times - they lasted for a bit and their aiptasia appetites were hit and miss and eventually they'd go missing. The only thing that i've found (besides Bergia which die after they eat (almost) all of your aiptasia only for it to come back weeks/months later) is the Australian Stripey. Great fish, Reef Safe (with caution) and an aiptasia eating machine. A little on the pricey side since reefers have caught on to how effective they are but well worth it if you think of the cost of alternative methods that mostly don'e work long term. I have 1 in each of my 200g tanks and so far, all coral (lps, sps, softies) are fine (going on 6 months now) and all aiptasia is wiped out.

 

[GreenWave-Aquatics]

I keep them in all of my tanks too small for a CBB which is currently 3 tanks. I have aiptasia in the overflows and sump but zero in the DT.

A below is the type you want for aiptasia. I've never had mine bother coral like some folks say they have.

Just a heads-up: in the image above, “A” is Lysmata wurdemanni, but the species most consistently shown to eat Aiptasia is actually “D” — Lysmata boggessi.

The confusion comes from the fact that boggessi and several other species (ankerii, pederseni, etc.) were all grouped under wurdemanni until they were formally split in 2004. A lot of shrimp are still sold under the old name, which makes it hard for hobbyists to know what they’re getting — and why some peppermint shrimp never touch Aiptasia.

If you’re interested, I put together a reference page with visual ID and links to the original taxonomy paper ( the same one this image is from) here:

https://www.greenwave-aquatics.co.uk/pages/identification-of-true-peppermint-shrimp

In general, I would say if you identify the shrimp correctly, and you get boggessi, they will always eat Aiptasia (assuming they’re not stuffed full of pellets and mysis)!

Anyway, hope it helps someone.