How bad are Aiptasia Anenomes Anyway?

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WhiteCloud

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Sep 17, 2004
Messages
305
Location
New England
I got my live rock last week...and I had a lot of Aiptasia aneomes. I know they are considered pest anemones..but how bad are they really?

We have 5 or 6 good sized ones...and many much smaller. I know they can reproduce like mad.

I am wondering if I introduced 4 Peppermint Shrimp in my 40 Gallon tank...I would think they would nicely take care of the smaller ones...and get any newly reproduced ones that come along.

My wife and I (and even a co-worker) have become fond of these guys. I really do not want to manually take the bigger ones down with Joe's Juice or Kalk. But I have no problem with nature (peppermint shrimp) taking it's course.

I know they can harm corals...but can they harm fish? I do not plan on any corals for 3 to 6 months. And my first fish additions will be Ocellaris Clowns.

Could I be safe in seeing what happens with the peppermint shrimp for a while before I take drastic measures?

Thanks,

WC
 
I think the peppermints is a gret soultion they have done a good job for me in takeing care of aptasia. They even ate one which was 2 and half inchs long. Sometimes aptasia will grow one stalk and no others, but to give u an idea of how pervasive they are i have had my tank for 4-5 years had peppermints, used kalk (joes juice), and at least once every 3 months i find one new one poking up. Other times i have seen them spread across and take over an entire tank in a matter of months. Think of this way if u have one now and plan for corals in a few months, if u do nothing then u may have 10 by then. IMO the peps will be enough give them a good two weeks before u expect to see a difference, also be aware that peppermints are not like skunk shrimp they hide all day and u may never see them. They are nocturnal so they will do all their munching at night. One last word of cation be aware that some pet stores sell camel shrimp as peppermints, now the difference, because camel shrimp eat coral.

HTH J.C.
 
I have seen aiptasia completely take over a tank at the LFS. They must have had hundreds on the LR in one tank. One of the employees is a marine biologist and was actually studying growth rate and how thye spread. Not very attractive.
 
Ever try lemon juice to get rid of aiptasia? I've read a couple of articles about lemon juice injections.

Hey, at this point, I'm looking save a few $$$.


OT: Remember "The Lemon Song" by Led Zeppelin? OK, different context. :D
 
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