new with aiptasia/ shrimp questions

[fishAholic]

I bought my live rock and was so excited to see a cute little anemone front and center in my setup. naturally I wanted to see what little treasure I ended up with, would it live through my cycle, and how to take care of it in the tank.

results: TERMINATE WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE!

but how? I heard peppermint shrimp do well, but are they fish and reef safe? what about cost and how many would I need to curb the INSANE REPRODUCTION of the aiptasias (in a 14g)? what do they eat when those are gone? (if ever) If yall dont reccomend the shrimps, what else would work? I would like to get as many gone as possible before I start stocking corals.

Thanks!

 

[bobby]

I know there are shrimp that eat them but not which ones. Also there is copperband butterflys, or joes juice. The joesjuice would be better though because I've read copperbands are a hard to care for fish.

 

[yote]

Its hit or miss as to weather pepperment shrimp will eat the aiptasia or not.I have 2 pepperments and have not had aiptasia so far.At least not that I have seen. They are shrimp and so far mine have been reef safe.But I have read post of pepperments eatting some soft corals.

 

[Bifferwine]

Peppermint shrimp specialize on aiptasia and are fish and reef safe (I have two of them). Once they run out of aiptasia they will eat other stuff. I've never had aiptasia in my tank and my shrimp do fine. I hardly ever see them because they are nocturnal... I know there's a nudibranch that eats aiptasia but I can't remember the name of it...

 

[JellyMan]

copperband butterfly

 

[Bifferwine]

Duh jelly, the copperband butterfly is not a nudibranch, it's a fish! I was referring to berghia nudibranchs.

 

[JellyMan]

I know hon I meant the fish would eat the aptaisia

 

[bobby]

Copper bands may work but there very difficult to take care of. Yes the berghia nudibranch will eat them, gatewayaquatics.com has them for sale, and if I remember right there 35.00 each, or you can get them off ebay for cheaper from the same guy. Chad at gatewayaquatics sounds like a very nice guy and fellow reefers say his store is very nice. I will be making a trip there soon he has very good deals on stuff, his shrooms are 8.00 each if you buy 2 get 1 free buy4 get 3 free or buy 8 get 8 free. I dont know about you guys but that sounds good to me.

 

[bobby]

Another way to kill them I just read is inject them with highly concentrated salt water. What you do is take 2 cups out of the tank and mix it with 1/2 cup sea salt, then inject them with it.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yeah I've heard that too.

 

[SSalty]

I have aiptasia also,I did get a Peppermint but I have never seen him eat them, I am assuming he eats at night. The number of atasia have gone down.

 

[AndyB4784]

Joe's juice is prob your best bet in that small of a tank. 14g is way too small for a copper banded butterfly fish. Peppermint shrimp worked great on my tank but as many here have stated they are hit or miss on whether or not they will eat aptasia. Bergia nudibranch will starve after they eat all of the aptasia (they are obligate eaters of aptasia). so unless you know someone else who has lots of aptasia that you could pass it on to i'd skip it.

 

[fishAholic]

I like the salt water idea but wont that mess up my salinity? also, what is Joes Juice and is it safe on corals in the tank? (I found a button polyp thats doing nicely despite the cycling!) what would happen if I left them? would they kill anything they touched?

thanks for all the info!

 

[bobby]

It shouldnt you have to inject all the salt water in the anemone. Joes juice is a brand of apstia remover. Here is a link to it for sale.
Flatworm eXit, Tropic Marin Pro-Coral Cure, Joe's Juice, UltraLife Red Slime Remover and other medications from Salty Critter aquarium supplies

Its the third one down.

 

[JellyMan]

the rock that the buttons are on I would just move it to where you dont mind a colony being there and let it grow you should be ok. I dont know about the salt water or juice technique sorry I couldnt help you there.