This aiptasia eating scavenger makes a colourful and reef safe addition to any home aquarium. All shrimp are scavengers, they help clean up leftovers in the aquarium while some perform other very important duties keeping a tank rid of aptasia anemones or providing a natural defense against ich outbreaks. If necessary, their diets can be supplemented with chopped squid or pellets. There are many different kinds of shrimp that are both interesting and colorful additions to an invertebrate or reef aquarium. As a true scavenger, the Peppermint Shrimp will consume leftover meaty foods and pellets and aiptasia as well as feeding off the fish that they clean. I am constantly looking for new and innovative ways to improve my aquariums, and I love sharing what I learn with others. This passion led me to start, which I use to share my love and passion. The invasive aiptasia has few natural predators so a relatively small, reef safe, colourful invertebrate who will help manage it is a welcome addition to a home aquarium. I’ve been passionate about fish tanks and aquariums since I was a little kid. What separates the Peppermint Shrimp from all other cleaner shrimps is its willingness to consume aiptasia. While they sometimes display this type of behaviour in a home aquarium they are not as reliable cleaners as the Scarlet Skunk Cleaner shrimp. Since it is a cleaner shrimp, it will sometimes set up a cleaning station where, in exchange for an easy meal, the Peppermint Shrimp will clean parasites and dead tissue off of reef fish. In the wild they are most often found in the caves and crevices of the reef, which they use as a homebase for their tireless scavenging of the reef in search of meaty foods. The Peppermint Shrimp is found on coral reefs of the Caribbean and the Florida coast. It is sometimes confused with the camel shrimp, which is native to Indonesia. durbanensis Commonly known as the Camelback Shrimp, Camel Shrimp or Dancing Shrimp, R. Its legs and antennae also tend to be a darker shade of red. Here is a brief description of each of the imposters: R. This shrimp has a pinkish body with dark red and white stripes running laterally. They are also less excitingly known as the Caribbean Cleaner Shrimp or the Veined Shrimp. If you have larger fish in your tank, we recommend keeping them in an acclimation box for a time.With its red and white body reminiscent of a candy cane, the Peppermint Shrimp is aptly named. These shrimp are most active at night, so it's normal that you won't see them during the day. After acclimation, it helps to introduce them to the tank when the lights are off, and do try to place them gently in the safety of the rock work rather than introducing them to the empty water column. They tend to grow very quickly when introduced to the home aquarium. IME if you get a peppermint shrimp that will eat it you are better off. Been chancing them ever since with aitasia-x, never seems to completely rid the tank only kill the ones I find. Then a few years later after it died got one in as a hichiker. Since these shrimp are short-lived, knowing you're getting a young shrimp that will work hard for its full lifespan is another benefit of aquacultured shrimp. I had a peppermint shrimp a while ago, never had one aiptasia. Coral Banded Shrimp have an attractive and unique coloration consisting of alternating red/brown and white bands around its legs and body and have very long front claws. They can look like peppermint shrimp and have been known to munch on corals from time to time. They work incredibly well at cleaning up our Aiptasia and we're sure they'll help you out in your tank, too.Īquacultured shrimp tend to be on the smaller side at sale size than wild caught shrimp, but the trade off is that they're hardier and better suited to aquarium life. You may want to double check and see if its a camel shrimp. We feed our peppermint shrimp a mix of pellet food and rocks covered in Aiptasia. The peppermint shrimp is an extremely popular reef tank pet because it naturally eats the ubiquitous nuisance pest Aiptasia anemones in the aquarium. But the actual number can vary depending on many factors that we will cover in this article. In general, for every 1 shrimp, they need about 5 gallons of tank space. Lysmata wurdemanni - The Biota captive bred true peppermint shrimp from Caribbean broodstock is a great detritivore for your clean up crew that will eat leftover food and detritus. One question many people ask is how many Peppermint shrimp per gallon, which is also the topic of this article.
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