LF Aptasia Eating Peppermint Shrimp
 

Anyone have any peppermint shrimp for sale? starting to get a lot of aptasia. Or anything else that will eat aptasia but is reef safe?

I just bought two on the weekend from Golds. I don't have any aiptasia however days later they've grown significantly in size

Copperband Butterfly work somewhat as well with mixed results. The best is Berghia Nudibranches as that is all they eat. They are generally not cheap though.

If you're still looking for them, I saw a tank full of them at Ocean Creation on 16th Ave today, $13 each.

aiptasia
 

Nudies are the best option. Pepermint shrimp are hit and miss with eating them. The main reason why is that they normally have other food selections that they will go after before eating aiptasia. I also read in the Marine Reef Aquarium Handbook second edition (page 92) that you can use an elegance coral to sting them. "Lift your elegance coral by its base and press the tentacles against those nasty Aiptasia anemones. One sting from an elegance coral should kill them." (quoted from book).
If i had an elegance coral thats what i would do, i dont so its nudibranchs for me.

Copperbands are difficult as well. First you need to find one, quarantine it, ( flukes is common with them) get it eating and healthy and then hopefully it eats aiptasia and leaves your other corals alone.

ime nudibranches are more often hit or miss than peps, and personally i wouldnt use a elegance to sting aiptasia for one the aiptasia would more than likely close long before the elegance could get near it and besides that an elegance can get stung easily mine has on numerous occasions and my elegance is going on 20" with about 20 mouths so its def not a weak elegance and one of the largest ive seen in person, elegance have delicate flesh and do not heal fast .....plus not to mention theres something disturbing about using a $200 coral to sting pests.

Yeah i wouldn't either just putting it out there. Sharing the knowledge that ive read. Why are nudies hit and miss?

dont get me wrong nudis def do their job its the approach that makes them hit or miss. nudis attack in numbers and they have to breed, alot of times they get lost in tanks and they can even be eaten by aiptasia them selves. they arnt the fastest acting animal as they have to breed but they breed quickly.

its def worth it if you raise them and add a number of them to your tank but if your just gonna buy 2 and drop them in well i wouldnt expect much results.

copperbands are a tough fish to keep.

matted filefish is the best bet as far as fish goes but like every other natural means its hit or miss on what they go after.

Nudi
 

I put 4 adult nudis in a week ago havnt seen much of a differnce yet, guess I am just getting impatient. Thanks for all your input!

Sorry to have inadvertantly jacked your LF thread Leach29. I am going to start a seperate thread under REEFto disguss Aiptasia control