peppermint shrimp bully?

[twoodrough]

I have a 10 gal with a b/w ocellaris, trochus snail and peppermint shrimp. I had an emerald crab before the the shrimp came.

When it was just the crab, the snail and the fish, the crab was out daily, and the snail was on the walls all the time. Once I added the shrimp, the crab molted, came back out, then died. I hardly ever see the snail anymore.

Is this all a coincidence, or could the shrimp be a bully?

 

[ImACoolguy]

I have 2 of these guys in my 20g. They are as friendly as ever.

I would just say coincidence. Healthy invertebrates molt every 2 weeks I think it is.


Caleb

 

[54seaweed]

First it's normal to have a crab molt , the dead crab you've found is most likely the old shell , peppermint shrimps couldn't kill a crab if it tried if anything it would have been the shrimp , you may see a shrimp hang on to a fish , it's not aggression it's how they clean the fish , don't be surprised when the crab reappears , I see all my crabs maybe once a month , as they spend most of the time in the rocks , as for peppermint shrimp in either of my tanks would be lunch so I just avoid them ,

 

[Murmaider]

When I setup my new 34 Gallon Saltwater tank with it's first cleanup crew I had a Turbo Snail, 2 Emerald Crabs, 2 Hermit Crabs and 2 Peppermint Shrimp. I let the tank cycle before adding the cleanup crew and monitored ammonia, nitrites and nitrates every day for the first few weeks.

After a week or two I noticed one of my peppermints attacking my turbo snail, which died shortly after. I lost one of my emerald crabs about a week later as well (don't know if it was related to the shrimp, never saw it attack the crabs). After replacing the Turbo Snail and the Emerald Crab and seeing the same peppermint shrimp attacking the new Turbo, I pulled the offending shrimp out and returned it to the LFS.

I have read that Peppermint Shrimp can be aggressive toward snails, although I think it depends on the individual temperament of the shrimp and how well it is fed. Being that my tank was relatively young, maybe the shrimp didn't have enough food so she got aggressive... I still have one of the Peppermints in the tank and he hasn't bothered anyone that I've noticed.

Since the mean shrimp was taken out of the tank nobody has died since. *knock on wood*

 

[54seaweed]

When I setup my new 34 Gallon Saltwater tank with it's first cleanup crew I had a Turbo Snail, 2 Emerald Crabs, 2 Hermit Crabs and 2 Peppermint Shrimp. I let the tank cycle before adding the cleanup crew and monitored ammonia, nitrites and nitrates every day for the first few weeks.

After a week or two I noticed one of my peppermints attacking my turbo snail, which died shortly after. I lost one of my emerald crabs about a week later as well (don't know if it was related to the shrimp, never saw it attack the crabs). After replacing the Turbo Snail and the Emerald Crab and seeing the same peppermint shrimp attacking the new Turbo, I pulled the offending shrimp out and returned it to the LFS.

I doubt a peppermint killed either the snail or the crab the dead crab you seen is most likely a molt , as for the snail turbo snails don't last long the shrimp may have been doing his job cleaning up snacking what ever the crab left behind and than detected the dyeing off flesh of the snail and went to work on the dead snail as for the snail being killed I'd point a finger towards the hermits,

 

[Murmaider]

I doubt a peppermint killed either the snail or the crab the dead crab you seen is most likely a molt , as for the snail turbo snails don't last long the shrimp may have been doing his job cleaning up snacking what ever the crab left behind and than detected the dyeing off flesh of the snail and went to work on the dead snail as for the snail being killed I'd point a finger towards the hermits,

Nope, wasn't just a molt, I have seen those, this crab was dead. I never saw the shrimp on the crab, but I did see it on the very much alive Turbo Snail. Also, my hermits are tiny, not big enough to take down an Astrea, let alone a Turbo...

 

[54seaweed]

Nope, wasn't just a molt, I have seen those, this crab was dead. I never saw the shrimp on the crab, but I did see it on the very much alive Turbo Snail. Also, my hermits are tiny, not big enough to take down an Astrea, let alone a Turbo...

A molt can fool the human eye so don't be fooled
I had a lobster molt for a week I thought it was my lobster and I've been in the hobby for quite a while, even us old guys can be fooled

you know how a ant and has 10 times it's strength for it's size , hermit are the same way those little guys are stronger than you think , those little hermits are looking for bigger shells to grow into , don't be fooled by the size , that's like me saying oh my 1inch trigger can't eat a fish the same size as he is , well guess again if you seen how big they can open their mouth is amazing

just because they are small don't rule out a hermit ,
if something in your tank was killed look at it this way it's nature in a smaller environment .

if you keep pointing fingers at everything that kills something and you remove them , next time something dies you need to find something else to blame .

sooner or later you won't have any stock left as you blamed everything of killing something and removed it !

best example think of the food chain and how it works , it's basically the same for all living creatures , we all encountered this type of issue over time you just learn to avoid certain critters in small foot print tanks .

but still you can't point that finger as many types of fish both reef safe or not will also prey on inverts , it's a never ending game .

when I had my 37g bow front I would average around 10 to 15 invert deaths a week.
than I up grades to a bigger foot print tank a 40b my invert deaths decreased to almost half ,

than I upgraded to a 90g invert deaths dropped to almost none , it's not always what you keep it's how you keep them ,

another point I never just kept 1 or 2 hermits in both my 37g and 40g I always had around 50 hermits along with 50 snails , than my 90g came along 100 hermits and 100 snails

for snails I prefer nerites as for hermits I always had assorted reds , whites , blues , jades , ect
I also have a purple lobster that one would point a finger at killing stock him I would put a thousand dollar fish in with him and not blink a eye that is how much I trust him,

I also keep a good assortment of emerald crabs , Porcelain crabs , ect

Shrimp skunks , fire shrimp , shrimp coral banded , used to keep peppermints till my fish ate them as feeders ,

yes I feed my fish live feeder shrimp , minnows , pods , brine , clams ect

a shrimp won't kill a snail but a hermit will kill both a snail and a shrimp and still you can't blame the hermit , turbo snails don't last long in captivity in the first place that's why I keep nerites .
90% of the time the inverts get the blame and they are only doing their job cleaning up.
a lot of times when you find dead inverts I will bet your parameters are out , if a invert dies overnight , first of all they are so tiny they would barley put a dent in parameters .

1 dead snail or hermit won't raise your parameters 5 points it would almost be undetectable ,
tank size is another variable on how detectable it would be for a small invert I would say if anything showed up it would be around 1/5th of a point now if its higher you have problems

Like I said earlier Ive been in this hobby quite a while I still religiously check water parameters daily along with keeping a log , this not only shows me everything is good it also shows when there is a decline , I almost lost my tank 2 times if it wasn't for the story the log told I'd be out thousands of dollars in stock and coral ect , this log not only showed me when the problem started it shows when it was caught and told me what was needed to be addressed to correct the problem ,

My log is my life line to my tanks if I had to put a value on it I would have to say 1 times the value of my stock and coral , it's my saltwater bible in a sense I don't touch my tank till I look back a few days to see how things are ,

the fun part is I can go back 5+years and tell you on this date what my parameters were and what I added along with what maintenance was performed ,
this log can save you every time . It's my life line for my tank

 

[Marty.h]

Molts can be very deceiving I come down one morning thinking huh I've got 2 boxer shrimps yet I know I only put 1 in it sat there beside it's molt and even looking side by side at each I did not know which one was which I had to put my claw in to see which one moved haha.