Peppermint shrimp and aptasia

[nodoubt]

I have a 10 gallon that was once dedicated to a mantis shrimp. He passed a few months ago and, I finally decided to address the aptasia with a peppermint shrimp. I acclimated the shrimp and dropped him in. There are so many aptasia, it landed right on top of one... rather than get hungry, it was an immediate jerky shrimp reaction to each one it touched until it found a dark place to hide.

It concerned me that the some of the aptasia are big enough to eat the shrimp... maybe patience and more shrimp in order?

 

[clay4au]

no good happens fast in this hobby....

Get about 5-7 in there, they like to be in odd number groups and will then they will tackle those big ones as a gang

 

[jennm]

What Clay said. They're bolder in numbers and one shrimp will take a long time to eat a heavy infestation - after all, he's just one little shrimp.

The problem won't resolve overnight, but as long as you have the correct species of shrimp - Lysmata wurdemani, they'll go to town on the aiptasia. If you don't have other creatures in there to feed, don't supplement the shrimp with other food - you want them to scavenge on the aiptasia.

Once they're all gone, then you can feed them (or presumably you'll have other creatures in there by then, they'll scavenge on the leftovers, detritus, etc.)

And be patient - it takes some time, but they are very effective.

Jenn

 

[nodoubt]

I'll definitely add a couple more if this one survives the next 2 weeks. I haven't had much luck with shrimp in a long time. Once I had a shrimp that lived for years... then it died not subsequent replacement made it for a few years. This is my first shrimp again in about a year. I had a Mantis shrimp for 3 years in this tank. Not the same species but, I'm correlating crustaceanness.

TY

 

[jennm]

What caused the other shrimp(s) to die? Did you figure that out?

Did you find a body, or they just vanished?

What fish do you keep? One of them might have been the culprit.

Jenn