Pepermint shrimp - Poll

[Richer]

I bought a couple of peppermints a little while back... they were so young, you couldn't even see the strips on them. For awhile, I thought they died in my tank until I cleaned my sump... and there they were, about twice as big .

They don't touch anything in my tank and only come out when food is present in the water column. Every now and then I would see one of them carrying eggs, which I assume turns into good quality food when the larvae get released into the water.

-Rich

[Fish]

I guess as long as I get the "Caribbean pepermints" I should be ok. I almost wonder now if I should have got two - between a spawning pair of shrimp and some "smoking" stomatella snails, I would have live food taken care of. Hmmm....
Thanks for shedding some light on this everyone.
- Chad

[Pansy-Paws]

As far as I'm aware, we had Carribean peppermint shrimps ... here's a photo of one of the 3 culprits.

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/sho...php?photo=2647

Good luck

... careful watching and an action plan for transfer into another tank in the event of deviant behaviour would be prudent (although your frustration level will sky rocket trying to catch them if they're in a tank with live rock)

[Delphinus]

My tank used to have tonnes of stomatella snails until I had cleaner shrimp and peppermints. Basically the little bugs (sorry Bob I still call them bugs ) are hungry little buggers. They pretty much wiped out my main tank of stomatella. I would still have stomatella in the sump and whatnot (where there were no predators). But whether they'll develop a taste is not a given (I would think). So, hit and miss.

Also I should mention that over the last .. um .. 7 (?) years in the hobby, I've tried buying peppermints on at least 3 occasions with the specific intent for them to munch on aiptasia, and in each case they never did. I found them interesting in their own right and I don't mind having them, but they have never fulfilled the purpose of "aiptasia muncher" for me (unlike the countless stories of others). I guess I got fussy shrimp. "Ew aiptasia I'm not eating that!" They didn't have mothers that forced them to eat their vegetables .. er .. aiptasia... I guess.

Just my $0.02 ... Your mileage may vary and dealer may sell for less.