Peppermint shrimp ate my corals...

[CEverii]

So i found out that my poor hammer coral didnt die in my tank, he was eaten. Came home late last night to both of my richordias half eaten, and my peppermint shrimp picking at the nub of whats left of my hamemr coral.

I somehow managed to catch one by putting some food into a tall glass and he swam right in. He must have warned the other THREE because I couldn't get them to come out of the rocks last night for the life of me.

I set up three glass traps with food on the bottom last night, but no luck. Any other ways you guys know of to get those pesky guys out of there so my coral will be at peace?

Also, do cleaner shrimp do the same? I want to get 1 or 2 of these guys because i've heard that hawkfish dont really mess with them (as long as the shrimp are bigger). Something about how they instinctively know their purpose or something lol.

 

[stegm1sc]

I've had peppermint shrimp b4 in a reef tank i did w/ some college buddies and they seemed to pick @ our corals but the corals just went into hiding. it didn't seem to harm them though. (not saying it didn't harm yours). we also had a cleaner shrimp and a decent sized red spotted hawkfish. The cleaner shrimp cleaned him all the time and they got along great. the cleaner would pry open the hawkfishes mouth and eat whatever was inside! lol it was fun to watch. All of our shrimp all were eaten by a coral banded shrimp that got extremely big though . I have NO IDEA how u would catch the peppermint shrimps. (besides moving rock and causing a stir). Our peppermints would swim around at night and could have easily been caught then. HTH

 

[CEverii]

The only time mine "swim around" would be feeding time. But as soon as I dip a net in there, they go running into the rocks.

 

[Jimbo7]

Spear gun.

Pepps are usually nocturnal if I recall. try after your lights go off, use a flashlight with a red filter to see what you are doing, they don't see red wavelengths. Some red saran-wrap over a mag light has always done the trick for me. I would put your stuff up in a frag rack or something to try and keep em away before you get em out.

 

[austinsdad]

And you're sure these are peps and not camel shrimp, right?

Camel Shrimp

Peppermint Shrimp - Guide On The Peppermint Shrimp

 

[Jimbo7]

^tru dat. Pepps are so often mislabeled and misidentified by LFS lackeys.

I have never had any problems with my cleaner shrimp. He loved to clean under my nails more then anything else.

 

[CEverii]

100% peppermint

 

[Jimbo7]

Should have gone with the spearmint.

 

[CEverii]

Haha. Ya, I bet they are easier to catch too.

 

[Jimbo7]

It's the wint-o-greens you gotta watch out for. Good luck in your hunting tonight.

 

[skae310]

I too am one that swears that peppermints take out corals. It got my ricordea. Totally ripped it apart. The pep went back to the LFS and the ric did survive after about a month Bigger than ever actually, but still I wont be getting another pep regardless of how people claim its only camels that are bad.

 

[CEverii]

Ya and i have FOUR OF THEM!!!! Got one out last night, No clue what im going to do about the other three. Most likely tear the tank apart and net them out

 

[Zer0]

Going to go ahead and throw this out there.. but is it possible that maybe some of those corals the shrimp were feeding on, were almost already dead? And that's the reason you saw them picking at it? Or maybe something else destroyed your coral and then the peps just finished them off? Have you ruled out everything besides the pep shrimps?

 

[cabezon]

I use a red light and I can see their little eyes glowing.

 

[CEverii]

Going to go ahead and throw this out there.. but is it possible that maybe some of those corals the shrimp were feeding on, were almost already dead? And that's the reason you saw them picking at it? Or maybe something else destroyed your coral and then the peps just finished them off? Have you ruled out everything besides the pep shrimps?

Yeah the the coral looked good and was even growing. So I'm 90% sure it was them.

 

[skae310]

Going to go ahead and throw this out there.. but is it possible that maybe some of those corals the shrimp were feeding on, were almost already dead? And that's the reason you saw them picking at it? Or maybe something else destroyed your coral and then the peps just finished them off? Have you ruled out everything besides the pep shrimps?

I thought to myself the same thing because the peps are always said to be reef safe and I have kept them before my incidentwith no problems. However, the ric mine destroyed was perfect unless it was dying in a way i couldnt see. Plus right after I removed the pep it slowly recovered. Maybe I could be wrong, but I wouldnt by them again.

Ya and i have FOUR OF THEM!!!! Got one out last night, No clue what im going to do about the other three. Most likely tear the tank apart and net them out

Thats a little extreme being that your only 90% sure haha. Id just keep my eye out for them at night with a red light as said before. They arent like coral eating machines, I have just heard several cases of them picking at them now and then.