New peppermint

[CATALYST]

Cute little guy. Keeps hiding so I can't take a pic. I don't see him out galavanting or eating these aptasia right next to him. Should I feed him something or will he find it when he get hungry?

[JFK_Jr]

My Peppermints are great scavengers... I keep about 8 of them in my tank. I've witnessed them eating flatworms, but never had any luck with them eating aptasia when I had a few in my tank... Joe's juice took care of them.

My shrimp get buy on whatever they find in the tank... I don't directly feed them.

[CATALYST]

I've had no luck with Joe's Juice. I've squirted these about 6 different times and they just get bigger. Maybe this guy is just too little for now.

[framerguy]

You don't need to target feed although when I feed my corals I give the shrimp some just to keep them from stealing the corals food... it doesn't always work. I usually takes a mob approach for peppermints to take care of aiptasia, somewhere in the 1 or 2 per gallon range! Then when the Aips are gone you sell the excess shrimp to someone. Joes juice really should work, hmmm. I wonder if you have super anemones!

[CATALYST]

I thought about getting 2 but I have a cleaner already and my tank is small. I didn't want to overdo it. I'll try the Joe's again but I'm not so excited.

[goldenmean]

I have had a little luck with my peppermint shrimp eating aiptasia. She doesn't get to it right away or even fast enough for me but if I leave it I does eventually disappear so she gets to it when she has the taste for it

[hma]

Peppermint shrimps eat only the small, still young Aiptasien. The big ones leave them mostly untouched they find always enough to eat in a reef aquarium. Mine small peppermint fry's eat completely straight Aiptasia if one no other feed offers. It is dependent on the feed amount and the number of the animals in a tank, I could observe this for years.

[sasquatch]

well said Heinz! my big aiptasia have finally died of old age and I have yet to see a new one, for peppers

[recole]

About 3 months ago I purchased 2 pepperment shrimp to control my aiptasia. These shrimp hid and was not seen for almost a month. Even at night. Thought they were dead or one of my two very large green brittle stars had chowed down on them. But what I didn't realize was that my aiptasia population was dwindling. And in another 2 weeks NOT A SINGLE AIPTASIA was present! Now these two pepperments are pretty much out to see and are taking care of any aiptasia that may appear. This was one of the best additions to my 75 gal reef/fish tank. Now everytime I put my hands in the tank, they are there to greet me. Should I offer them silversides or just leave em alone to fend for themselves with no more aiptasia to eat? Thanks, Ron

[lcstorc]

They should get plenty of food from the fish leftovers.

[Rye_84]

I bought 3 of these guys about 3 weeks ago to get rid of my aiptasia. I have tried two bottles of joe's juice and can't get rid of them. After the first night they all dissapeared and I figured there goes another 30 bucks of my money. I did find one of them on the second day. When I returned home from christmas for a week all of the aiptasia are gone and I see a shrimp pop out from under a rock here and there. They rock! I've noticed one aiptasia since they've been in the tank, but not too worried with these guys.

[goldenmean]

The peppermint shrimp are more nocturnal. They are most active after lights out. They tend to stay hidden during the day especially when first added to the tank.

[JT101]

I am sure that Joe'sJuice works wonders. It has always instantly "destroyed' each and every aiptasia I have targeted with it. Problem is, you don't see the teeny tiny ones that are just starting to grow. You squirt a bunch of visible ones here and there, voila, they die and you think your job is done but a few days later you start seeing others pop up in places you didn't see anything in a few days earlier. I think my only choice is to get several peppermints AND simultaneously keep after the bigger aiptasias while the peppers eat the smaller ones I can't see.

[zy112]

I've had a little luc with peppermints eating aptasia but I ap the big ones with Joes Juice and it kills them fast. Peppermints are cool to have anyway