Peppermint shrimp

[FindingNem0]

Hey everyone

Why does everyone state it's a reef safe shrimp, I've been with fresh water for 6years and finally decided to go reef. Tank has been cycled and corals and fish been added, had my shrimp for a couple days until they all jumped onto my frogspawn and hammer corals. Luckily I caught them at midnight. I used the soda bottle trick and literally only took me 5mins to catch all 3 of them.

Could someone please tell me if a cleaner shrimp is reef safe.

Thanks

 

[SPR1968]

Welcome to R2R @FindingNem0 !

I’ve got a cleaner shrimp and peppermint shrimps and I have a full blown reef tank without any issues from them.

We’re they damaging the coral or just maybe dancing the shrimp dance! Lol

 

[FindingNem0]

Welcome to R2R @FindingNem0 !

I’ve got a cleaner shrimp and peppermint shrimps and I have a full blown reef tank without any issues from them.

We’re they damaging the coral or just maybe dancing the shrimp dance! Lol

Haha. Hey SPR1968

Both my frogspawn and hammer almost had full skeleton showing. After removing them 3 they're starting to look so much better.

 

[Lloyd Williams]

Hey everyone

Why does everyone state it's a reef safe shrimp, I've been with fresh water for 6years and finally decided to go reef. Tank has been cycled and corals and fish been added, had my shrimp for a couple days until they all jumped onto my frogspawn and hammer corals. Luckily I caught them at midnight. I used the soda bottle trick and literally only took me 5mins to catch all 3 of them.

Could someone please tell me if a cleaner shrimp is reef safe.

Thanks

I had 3 peppermints that I called the Mafia. They killed dang near anything and collected remains in one spot. I called it the dead zone. Cleaner shrimp is no issue. Even cleans my hands.

 

[Maacc]

Cleaner shrimp and fire shrimp are much safer than peps. By the same token peppermint shrimp can be ok, usually they behave better the better fed they are.

 

[FindingNem0]

LOL the mafia, I guess cleaner shrimp it is !!!

I had 3 peppermints that I called the Mafia. They killed dang near anything and collected remains in one spot. I called it the dead zone. Cleaner shrimp is no issue. Even cleans my hands.

 

[FindingNem0]

Cleaner shrimp and fire shrimp are much safer than peps. By the same token peppermint shrimp can be ok, usually they behave better the better fed they are.

Yeah I got 3 peps, but I think only 2 of them was eating my corals, I currently moved all of them into my sump. I always had to feed a bit more due to them being so aggressive and active during feeding time. Because of that I have algae bloom. A little bit of diatom and dino, which makes me really annoyed, I hear people restart because of dino !!!!!!

 

[rkpetersen]

Agree with other posters that peppermint shrimp can sometimes be coral irritators. Make sure that you don't actually have camel shrimp instead though, which look much like peppermint shrimp (more attractive, actually); camel shrimp are well known as not reef safe.

Scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp, fire shrimp, and sexy shrimp are all great for reef tanks, imo. Some otherwise reef-safe fish will go after sexy shrimp, though.

You know, 'shrimp' is one of those words that if you say it enough times, it starts to sound weird.

 

[DangerDave]

Make sure that you don't actually have camel shrimp instead though, which look much like peppermint shrimp (more attractive, actually); camel shrimp are well known as not reef safe.

+1

 

[itisjp]

Dive deep into the debate if you actually can identify the peppermint shrimp you want. There are several ones that look really similar but do different things and not at all good for a reef tank. But if your going to have them I suggest feeding them and keeping them happy if they are in the display tank with corals. Spot feed them like you would with a coral. Get a syringe and some tubing that fits and feed them directly. It does not take much frozen of any type of food. If you spot feed them they are fat and happy not scavenging all the time. It’s a pain in the butt but if you want them with your coral then feed them. If they are hungry they will look for other sources of food.

 

[dede]

If you don't have aptasia then I would skip the peppermint shrimp. I had put one in a frag tank for quarantine and I believe it demolished a lobo I had just bought. But in my DD it has done it's job with the aptasia and has not bothered the corals so far, but I also feed heavy.

 

[FindingNem0]

Yeah mine is definitely a peppermint shrimp. We cant get the camel shrimp down in Australia. They're all in the refugium hopefully they dont eat my baby brittle stars, since I have a lot of them down there in the rocks. Besides all that my corals have bounced back and hardly any damage is noticeable.

 

[Scallywags]

I started getting aptasia sprouting up so I got one. Took care of it in a night or two and has been fine ever since. kind of sneaks around most the time. I have only shrooms/zoas/leathers though, so no LPS to bug like you ran into.

 

[Reefs of Space]

Peppermint shrimp wiped out my aiptasia and liked it in there so much they were always spawning. The only problem was they would steal food from the LPS, but never damaged them. They went nuts when I added two tube anemones and started ripping tentacles off in seconds. The shrimp are gone and everyones happy. Now aiptasias are coming back though.

 

[Kirschy17]

Iam currently on the fence about ditching mine. They dont bother healthy coral but if any fleashy lps get added to the tank the go on a frenzy. If i get acans i have to move them to a fry net every time they get attacked to heal. They dont bother the established acans and frogspawn or alvopora i have.

Ill try spotfeeding but my tank is currently fallow so i dont wanna overfeed all my vermetid snails and bristleworms.

 

[Pho Dac Biet]

Agree with other posters that peppermint shrimp can sometimes be coral irritators. Make sure that you don't actually have camel shrimp instead though, which look much like peppermint shrimp (more attractive, actually); camel shrimp are well known as not reef safe.

Scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp, fire shrimp, and sexy shrimp are all great for reef tanks, imo. Some otherwise reef-safe fish will go after sexy shrimp, though.

You know, 'shrimp' is one of those words that if you say it enough times, it starts to sound weird.

Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it.

 

[cristata.reef]

There are actually several different species of shrimp sold as "peppermint shrimp" known as the Lysmata wurdemanni species complex, and all of them are nearly identical to each other morphologically. Some are completely reef safe while others are quite the opposite. Unfortunately there isn't really any great way to tell them apart. Currently what was thought to be L. wurdemanni was split into L. ankeri, L. bahia, L. boggessii, and L. wurdemanni. But to add onto that, other species also look very similar to these and are often sold under the same name. My solution, if the shrimp isn't reef safe, get another one.

 

[lapenewell]

Hey everyone

Why does everyone state it's a reef safe shrimp, I've been with fresh water for 6years and finally decided to go reef. Tank has been cycled and corals and fish been added, had my shrimp for a couple days until they all jumped onto my frogspawn and hammer corals. Luckily I caught them at midnight. I used the soda bottle trick and literally only took me 5mins to catch all 3 of them.

Could someone please tell me if a cleaner shrimp is reef safe.

Thanks

Are you sure they weren't cleaning the corals? We have always had peppermint shrimp and never had an issue, they will clean corals.

 

[Fritz05]

To add to cristata.reef:

https://aquariumbreeder.com/peppermint-shrimp-detailed-guide-care-diet-and-breeding/

It depends on the Lysmata species. According to the study, even aquatic shops do not know what they sell. Unfortunately, it is very easy to confuse the Lysmata boggessi (the Atlantic Peppermint shrimp) and Lysmata wurdemanni (the Gulf and Carribean Peppermint shrimp). Unless you have a trained eye.

The Lysmata boggessi shrimp have semi-translucent reddish exoskeleton covered with narrow, longitudinal, transverse, and oblique pale red stripes. The carapace has V- and U-shaped oblique and transverse stripes. In addition, we can see a distinctive inverted Y on the carapace.

The Atlantic Peppermint shrimp (Lysmata boggessi) are NOT reef safe. Several of these shrimp can tear up a few corals within a night.

The Peppermint shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni) are reef safe. They will not attack corals. So, do not make a mistake when you are going to buy one.