Peppermint shrimp safe for all coral

[Angelajean]

Hello,
I have been MIA for awhile. Homeschooling has started back for us and life has been very busy.

Last peppermint shrimp I had devoured the head of my hammer coral. It was fine, but I was quite annoyed. He got evicted to the Biocube with some rock and a mean emerald crab and then went back to the LFS along with the emerald crab.

Aren't peppermint shrimp usually reef safe? I have read and read and can find no other instances of them attacking coral. Yes I had it identified on here. It was not a camel shrimp.

How many for my 40 breeder with 20 gallon sump?

I have snails for my CUC. Margaritas, a few astrea, 2 tonga nassarius, 2 small nassarius, 2 turbos, and 2 top crowns. The top crowns are the coolest things ever and they eat cyano.

Thanks,
Angie

 

[ErinCahir]

You should have WAY more nassarius snails than that. Also the margaritas probably won't last long-term. They are a cold water species and do not do well in the tropical tanks.

Peppermints ARE usually reef safe but sometimes you just get a bad apple. I had one in my first reef (a 125) that pulled all the polyps out of a big chunk of GSP overnight. :grumble:

I'd say four in a 40 gallon.

 

[Waddi]

+1 Erin
My Pep was a good lil guy! He killed all my Aiptasia and then went on to munching on Vermetid snails!! I loved him!

 

[Smitty]

Yeah, they can be hit or miss. They're usually good, but I've had one in the past to pick at my corals too.

 

[Angelajean]

So how many nassarius snails should I have?
Tongas or the small ones?
Also any other DSB cleaners that anyone recommends?

 

[Waddi]

Start out at 20 and see how it goes.

 

[FishWrangler]

Had a pair living in a reef until one day they decided to start ripping apart and eating my mini-maxi anemones. Got them out after a few hours and them totally eating a 2"-3" anemone. They have been residing in one of my refugiums since.

 

[Waddi]

Had a pair living in a reef until one day they decided to start ripping apart and eating my mini-maxi anemones. Got them out after a few hours and them totally eating a 2"-3" anemone. They have been residing in one of my refugiums since.

Could be Camel shrimps. Some people do get them mixed up.

 

[madhattertcm]

I had two - I watched one eat my hammerhead as well. Unfortunately I was too late and it never recovered. I took it back immediately. I replaced the hammerhead with frogspawn and watched for it carefully. The second pep (which I got at the same time as the first one) never touched anything.

And this was indeed a pep, not a camel.

 

[FishWrangler]

Could be Camel shrimps. Some people do get them mixed up.

Ummmm. No. They were pepps. Quite frankly pepps and camels look NOTHING alike.

 

[Bifferwine]

Ummmm. No. They were pepps. Quite frankly pepps and camels look NOTHING alike.

Maybe if you are an "expert." But to many people in this hobby, it's very difficult to tell the difference. It's not obvious which is which if you are not familiar with how both look.