Getting Perppermint shrimp to eat aiptasia

[yankieman]

I would like to try and help with a problem lots of folks have , getting peppermint shrimp to eat Aiptasia, , I have spoke to many people that say they have peppermint shrimp that wont eat aiptaisa , and I say most if not all Peppermint Shrimp WILL eat it if "trained" to ,, now of course this is just my opinion based on my experience !!,, first let me say i have had lots of aiptasia in my display tank , my refugium, my overflows, etc etc etc,,,,,
and i have used store bought remedies , home remedies, and peppermint shrimp , and so far peppermint shrimp have by far out preformed all other options, and all my shrimp are bought at local pet stores ,,so with that said I would like to say it is very easy if you have a quarantine tank , simply place the shrimp in to the QT add several rock that have aiptasia on them and do not feed tank ,,, wait till they eat it all and then put them back into the DT or refugium or wherever aiptasia is located and watch it disappear,, it has been that simple with me ,, I still have aiptasia in a few places , but i have 3 little workers that are slowly eliminating it ,, I hope that this can help anyone that has had a problem getting peppermint srimp to eat aiptasia and that they can soon be aiptasia free ,,,,, here is liveaquarias.coms info on peppermint shrimp that can be helpful ,,, Saltwater Aquarium Shrimp for Marine Reef Aquariums: Peppermint Shimps

 

[yvr]

In my experience, the Peppermint Shrimp that I have placed in my tank usually always eat Aiptasias. I normally buy smaller shrimp because I personally think they may do a better job at eating aiptasias than larger ones. But, on the rare occasion I ever see an Aiptasia, I inject it with Tropic Marin Elimi-Aiptas directly into the stalk as opposed to into the mouth. I find that the product has a better kill rate when injected into the stalk.

 

[DaddyTLi]

My problem is knowing if it is Aiptasias. I have three ps and those "stuff" are still around.

Tom

 

[yankieman]

My problem is knowing if it is Aiptasias. I have three ps and those "stuff" are still around.

Tom

I use a QT and put the Peppermint shrimp in it then add rocks with Aiptasia on them and wait till its gone , and i dont add any kinda food ,, then put the srimp back in to the main tank and it eats the aiptasia in there after the training,, if you have aiptasia its not that hard to identify but here is a good explanation on it with the with pictures,,, Reef Keeping: Aiptasia: Recognize and Understand this Stinging Cnidarian

 

[yankieman]

In my experience, the Peppermint Shrimp that I have placed in my tank usually always eat Aiptasias. I normally buy smaller shrimp because I personally think they may do a better job at eating aiptasias than larger ones. But, on the rare occasion I ever see an Aiptasia, I inject it with Tropic Marin Elimi-Aiptas directly into the stalk as opposed to into the mouth. I find that the product has a better kill rate when injected into the stalk.

I have injected many Aiptasia with Aiptasia-X from RedSea and while it seems to kill it , soon there after its like an explosion of them , as I said the BEST WAY I have found is peppermint shrimp,,,,JMO

 

[AC273]

I have injected many Aiptasia with Aiptasia-X from RedSea and while it seems to kill it , soon there after its like an explosion of them , as I said the BEST WAY I have found is peppermint shrimp,,,,JMO

That is why you don't inject it. You completely cover it and the Aptasia X kills and disolves it. I have successfully treated many live rocks with this stuff. It works best when you can quarantine the rock with no flow for a number of days so that the solution has a longer time to work on the Aiptasia

 

[SubRosa]

The best way to get Peppermints to eat Aiptasia is to make sure you actually have Lysmata wurdemanni which is the species that eats them. The best way to do that is to know the origin. If they came directly our of FL you're probably good, but if they came from some place that buys through wholesalers in LA, they could be sourced from several places, and there are other species which a hobbyist is not going to be able to distinguish among.

 

[yankieman]

That is why you don't inject it. You completely cover it and the Aptasia X kills and disolves it. I have successfully treated many live rocks with this stuff. It works best when you can quarantine the rock with no flow for a number of days so that the solution has a longer time to work on the Aiptasia

When I say "inject" i mean completely cover it , but in some cases in my display tank there is no way to even get to it ,, i do not disagree with you im just saying its not always that easy to "inject,completely cover etc etc" where as a peppermint shrimp can get to it,,,

 

[yankieman]

The best way to get Peppermints to eat Aiptasia is to make sure you actually have Lysmata wurdemanni which is the species that eats them. The best way to do that is to know the origin. If they came directly our of FL you're probably good, but if they came from some place that buys through wholesalers in LA, they could be sourced from several places, and there are other species which a hobbyist is not going to be able to distinguish among.

That is probably correct but most people will get their PS from their LFS as i do , im just saying to train them use QT tank and add a rock that has Aipstasia on it and you will soon know if it will eat it ,,,it is best to us a QT on all fish , corals and inverts anyway ,,, so have some fun with it and see if you can train them ,,,,

 

[HUNTER1]

Will they eat aiptasia that are large like nickel size disc diameter? Mine is infested with over 100 now from huge to babies. I'm looking for matted filefish to help.

 

[yankieman]

Will they eat aiptasia that are large like nickel size disc diameter? Mine is infested with over 100 now from huge to babies. I'm looking for matted filefish to help.

I say if they are hungry enough there is NO aiptasia that is safe , I have had them eat very large ones,,, so IMO yes to your question

 

[HUNTER1]

I say if they are hungry enough there is NO aiptasia that is safe , I have had them eat very large ones,,, so IMO yes to your question

I suppose I can start with 3.

 

[Oxylebius]

http://decapoda.nhm.org/pdfs/27306/27306.pdf - On pg 196, there is a photo of several peppermint shrimps (posted below) including the species that is supposed to be known to eat aiptasia, Lysmata wurdemanni.

I have had in my tank both Lysmata boggessi and Lysmata ankeri at the same time and they lived in harmony with the aiptasia anemones, didn't harm a single one. Lysmata boggessi, is also a species known to consume Aiptaisa based on this article by Rhyne et al. 2004.



The reason why I bring this up is b/c all of these peppermint shrimp can and are sold in the aquarium trade labeled only as 'peppermint shrimp'. I have found that it is helpful to take this photo w/me to lfs to determine which one the store is selling b/c a little while ago I had three different species of peppermint shrimp in my tank and none ate aiptasia. One interesting behavior that I observed was that one of these peps did go after some aiptasia only after I applied aiptasia-x. Picked at it and tore it up.

I hope this is helpful. If you have the time the article that I linked to above does goes into the differences of these peppermint shrimps, which will help you to identify which species you have or plan on buying.

I never placed rock and shrimp in QT. This is also a way to get picky fish to eat. Limit the food types available and the critter has no choice but to eat what you provide or starve.


Rhyne AL, Lin J, Deal K (2004) Biological control of aquarium pest anemone Aiptasia pallida (Verrill) by peppermint shrimp Lysmata sp. (Risso). Journal of Shellfish Research 23: 227–230.

 

[sheavens]

I have a filefish which does the job nicely, but I believe that not all filefish will eat aptasia, just as not all peppermint shrimp will.