THIS aiptasia killer got MOST VOTES but be careful, you might not have the REAL thing!

[redfishbluefish]

That is not what mine looked like lol. What is C? That looked more like mine and it loved Xenia.
I probably won’t try again with peppermint, I don’t have any aptasia and prefer skunks. I actually have a hard time keeping shrimp alive as is due to likely low iodide level.
My psycho emerald does a good job at removing bad hitchhikers anyway.

Great info. I would also like to see what C is as that is what my "peppermint shrimp" that don't eat aptasia look like.

The caption below the picture states that C is Lysmata ankeri. Interestingly, Wikipedia says that this variety was mistakenly first classified as Lysmata wurdemanni.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

The peppermint shrimp in the past i got from swf.com and they were successful. I thought maybe ppl were getting camel shrimp. Which are not reef safe.
D

 

[ppatches24]

Why give them a chance when berghia nudis do the same thing and wont eat corals and are better at getting deep in the rocks where aiptasia can be hiding?????? HMMHMHHMm

I guess if your more in to the creepy crawly legs instead of sea slugs lol

They take a month or longer to show any results. But your aptasia will be gone. Its simple. If you thing Nudis dont work. You dont have enough/ aren't waiting long enough to do thier job.

That being said ill never try a peppermint shrimp.

 

[Conrad Noto]

Earlier this week we had a poll here where you voted on the best eradicator or aiptasia anemones! To my surprise the peppermint shrimp edged out the berghia nudibranch by over 4%. Needless to say both of these natural aiptasia predators will do the job. But since the peppermint shrimp won the total votes let's talk about making sure that when you purchase a peppermint shrimp that you're actually not just getting a cheap knock off of the real thing!

According this this study the real peppermint shrimp is a Lysmata wurdemanni.

1. Have you ever gotten a "peppermint shrimp" and now believe it wasn't a true peppermint shrimp?

2. Are you willing to give peppermint shrimp another try at eradicating aiptasia now that you know what the real one looks like?

THE REAL PEPPERMINT SHRIMP IS THE LETTER..........A

Screenshot via the study A WESTERN ATLANTIC PEPPERMINT SHRIMP COMPLEX

I've most likely had many fake over the years, I just assumed it was naturally occurring color variations lol

 

[CoralB]

If I had aptasia or a outbreak I probably would use again for the small one but in my experience they don’t touch the big ones

 

[andiesreef]

I put peppermint shrimp in my 20g long just for fun... if I have Aiptasia I don't know it because I never see any. They are so funny to watch sway in the current and almost "dance" across the rocks. My female constantly has eggs and they like to steal coral food with my skunk cleaner shrimp. Would recommend for any smaller tank so you can see them get up to their shrimp antics.

 

[Massic]

I used to have what I thought were peppermint shrimp, in addition to a pair of skunk cleaner shrimp, just because I like inverts. After a few months I had no cleaner shrimp, one less lefty hermit and only one fat "peppermint" despite direct feeding. If I do at some point have a serious aiptasia outbreak I'd consider berghia first, as I don't have a wrasse.

 

[kdogley]

Earlier this week we had a poll here where you voted on the best eradicator or aiptasia anemones! To my surprise the peppermint shrimp edged out the berghia nudibranch by over 4%. Needless to say both of these natural aiptasia predators will do the job. But since the peppermint shrimp won the total votes let's talk about making sure that when you purchase a peppermint shrimp that you're actually not just getting a cheap knock off of the real thing!

According this this study the real peppermint shrimp is a Lysmata wurdemanni.

1. Have you ever gotten a "peppermint shrimp" and now believe it wasn't a true peppermint shrimp?

2. Are you willing to give peppermint shrimp another try at eradicating aiptasia now that you know what the real one looks like?

THE REAL PEPPERMINT SHRIMP IS THE LETTER..........A

Screenshot via the study A WESTERN ATLANTIC PEPPERMINT SHRIMP COMPLEX

I purchased two peppermint shrimp and the aiptasia are still in my tank so I’m not sure they work well

 

[Fishboy42]

I think the paper mentioned in the first post is a great resource and helps to "organize" the peppermint shrimps by species, including recognizing some species that were previously lumped together under L. wurdemmani. I'm not sure if they are any less "real" though, since some of the other species are also known Aiptasia-eaters, including L. boggessi, the ones we raise/sell (and use for Aiptasia control) at SA.

 

[Jeff Jarry reef]

Letter is the correct shrimp for aptasia lysmata wurdemanni

 

[Jeff Jarry reef]

I tried nudi and they didn't do alot. But the peppermint shrimp cleaned my tank out completely and I had a mild infestation pretty bad.

 

[Cary]

My peppermint shrimp ate the aptasia then started digging in the mouths of my Acan's and favias.

 

[Appoloreefer]

Earlier this week we had a poll here where you voted on the best eradicator or aiptasia anemones! To my surprise the peppermint shrimp edged out the berghia nudibranch by over 4%. Needless to say both of these natural aiptasia predators will do the job. But since the peppermint shrimp won the total votes let's talk about making sure that when you purchase a peppermint shrimp that you're actually not just getting a cheap knock off of the real thing!

According this this study the real peppermint shrimp is a Lysmata wurdemanni.

1. Have you ever gotten a "peppermint shrimp" and now believe it wasn't a true peppermint shrimp?

2. Are you willing to give peppermint shrimp another try at eradicating aiptasia now that you know what the real one looks like?

THE REAL PEPPERMINT SHRIMP IS THE LETTER..........A

Screenshot via the study A WESTERN ATLANTIC PEPPERMINT SHRIMP COMPLEX

Thanks for sharing, that is great to know so the next time I purchase I will look closely.

 

[Appoloreefer]

Wow! I never knew. Thanks for sharing. And I just purchased a so called peppermint two weeks ago, and I'm not sure which one I have. After acclimating and adding to the DT, I haven't seen him at all.

Yeah, they like to hide upside down under rock and once in a while you will see them but not very often.

 

[Appoloreefer]

I had a real peppermint shrimp (A) and it used to pick on my acans and torches and leave the aptaisa alone... Berghia worked for me, but bristleworms prevented them from reproducing properly, and I think my yellow coris wrasse eventually finished them off.

Nothing is absolutely perfect, and different things work in different tanks. In my experience, berghia worked best and peppermint shrimp were too opportunistic on other corals.

That is so true, what works for one tank may not for another but usually peppermint shrimp are great which has been my experience and never had any issues with them eating corals.

 

[Mjl714]

Aptasia, hmmm well in my case, I have a mixed reef 75 gallon, which somehow got aptasia, from snails I believe. Now this tank has two wrasses and a hawkfish among other fishes. So My initial attempt at irradication was with peppermint shrimp, precise species I cannot confirm, but I caught them eating my acans, while not consuming aptasia. Nevertheless, I found their capture with a simple bated trap very easy (keep this in mind), even with many hiding places. So on to berghias, while these consumed aptasia and even laid eggs, the berghias were soon consumed by the wrasses and the eggs by various pods. After much debate, considering a Klein’s butterfly, and after considering peppermint’s “easy” capture I decided to try Lysmata wurdemanni, and to my delight after almost four months I will confirm their slow and systematic clearing of all aptasia. So far no noticeable damage to my acans, euphyllia, frogspawn or any other coral.

 

[elysics]

I have L. bogessi, they get rid of aiptasia no problem. When I target feed corals I have to threaten them with a stick occasionally but other than that they are very peaceful

Sometimes it rips at a Pocillopora but causes no real damage

 

[tehmadreefer]

Doesn’t matter which one you get, they won’t totally irradicate aiptasia like bherghia’s AND they WILL eat your lps!

 

[CavalierReef]

Just ensure when you feed, they get some. Once I ensured they were fed, they left my corals alone

Thanks, Jay, I do. They hold their own with a pair of scarlet shrimp and get their share. I'm amazed at how quick they are to get out of harms way.

 

[CavalierReef]

I hate peppermint shrimp

All peppermint shrimp or particular peppermint shrimp?