peppermint shrimp trap?

[dragonfisher33]

so i added a peppermint shrimp on Sunday into my 29gal and was hoping that it would eat some of the baby aiptasia in the tank (i know i should've gotten a group of them but my lfs ran out). my current fish/livestock in the tank other than the corals are two oce clowns, one tiger pistol, some hermits/snails, and one diamond goby.

so i was trying to see where this darn thing is the whole night without much success. i thought peppermint shrimps are generally not shy at all. how do i lure him/her out? i didn't see it at all even during feeding time (albeit it's a new addition to the tank and probably not aware of feeding time yet). i would hate to lift every single live rock in the tank just to look for it. is there a DIY trap or something i can do myself just so that i can at least take a look at it? i wouldn't want it to be dead somewhere inside the tank as well, if so i would like to remove it before it fouls the water.

 

[Jaketit]

I have a few in my sump and 2 in my DT and they definitely took out my aipastia problem very quickly. I've noticed too that they are very shy and good at hiding. I see them for a split second when I feed the tank, they don't seem to like to be out in the open at all. I'm pretty sure my six line would tear their buts up. I'm sure it's still in there and I would tear a tank apart looking for a shrimp. If it is dead, Some other scavenger probably has it eaten anyways. I don't think one dead shrimp would foul up you water at all.

 

[woody390]

Peppermint shrimps do tend to hide a lot from my experience so wouldn't worry. I would say that they would be better in groups though with more of them you may find them beome more bold

 

[dragonfisher33]

thanks, i thought the skunk cleaner shrimps are the shy ones, maybe i got them mixed up in terms of personality. but when i picked it out from the lfs on Sunday, i saw it and the other shrimps would come to my hand

 

[Tkey3425]

thanks, i thought the skunk cleaner shrimps are the shy ones, maybe i got them mixed up in terms of personality. but when i picked it out from the lfs on Sunday, i saw it and the other shrimps would come to my hand

Skunk cleaners, fire shrimp, coral banded are all pretty social. I had 5 peppermint in my 210 and rarely saw them unless I looked for them really hard.

 

[54seaweed]

in my experience peppermints come out more at night

 

[dragonfisher33]

thanks guys. i saw the peppermint shrimp literally jumped when the light came on this morning. at least i know that he's still alive. hopefully he's going to kick some aiptasia butt soon

 

[Stlrockguy]

My didn't eat aiptasia, it decided to have my frogspawn for dinner. It's gone now but they are hit or miss

 

[dragonfisher33]

My didn't eat aiptasia, it decided to have my frogspawn for dinner. It's gone now but they are hit or miss

yeah i heard the story before, which is why when i bought it, i specifically asked the salesperson to drop a piece of live rock with many aiptasia on it into the peppermint shrimp tank. and voila, they came swiftly and destroyed at least half dozen of aiptasia within minutes while i was watching.