I've found that my peppermint shrimp only bother my Micros/Acans/Brains, etc at feeding time. They will seriously "violate" corals to dig food right out of their mouths if you let them. Be prepared to play a little defense and shoo them away until the coral can fully consume the food. Other than that, I've never heard of a peppermint shrimp "attacking" corals just to eat them. They are a great way to control aiptasia, however. One note, while it may sound silly to more knowledgeable reef keepers, some people do confuse Peppermint Shrimp with Camel Shrimp -- especially when the shrimp are small. The latter isn't necessarily reef safe.
Oh, almost all shrimp and crabs are opportunists and can "learn" to eat corals, especially if they go hungry.... or just become interested in taste testing. There are actually several species that are commonly referred to, and sold, as "peppermint shrimp" (not camel shrimp, you are right they are often confused with each other) and each has a varying proclivity for going after LPS. I, and fellow reefers, have had enough Lysmata wurdemanni who have absolutely destroyed Acans (not at feeding time) that I don't keep them in the same tanks anymore and felt it was worth mentioning it in this video. I am glad your shrimp are behaving though!
Is there something wrong with an acan that shows no feeding responce like this? I question whether one of them is alive even. No tentacles coming out and no feeding response,movement or opening or closing. I did find an aptaisia growing out of it the other day after I had it for a few weeks and got rid of it and will be giving a dip tomorrow when my dip arives. My one acan is alive, I do see feeding tentacles come out when lights go out but dosnt appear to try to eat. These are wild cultured and have lost lots of color. I didnt realize local florida shops are more than likely all wild caught! It sucks because good prices but may need to start ordering online. My blasto is bright as ever though and shows no signs of life either and had an aiptasia as well. I am going to bring this up to the LFS but it didn't dawn on me that they may be dead until a few days ago and wish I would have snapped a pic of the aiptasia!
Sorry for the delay in responding. If they have color and flesh they are alive. The skeleton under the coral is white and looks nothing like the living coral so generally it should be obvious when they die. Generally I find that acan's that don't eat have a lower degree of success than those who do. This is pretty variable though so don't panic. Offer a small amount of TINY foods (powder like Reef Roids) once or twice a week and make sure your water parameters are perfect. Hopefully with time they will bounce back. I wish you luck, you've got this! ...oh and get that aiptasia off the coral.
Blastomussa and Micromussa are actually completely different families. If you look at the underlying skeleton the structure is quite different and the corallites of Blastomussa merleti(most common in the hobby) are much smaller than that of M. lord. Polyp shape is quite different if you compare side by side. In practical terms for the reefing hobbyist, they both have similar care requirements although M. lord can be a bit more aggressive and their sting is more powerful. Micromussa also seem to come in a much broader range of colors, at least in my experience.
Love how you laid out this video and info!!!
Thanks, glad it was helpful!
Great video!! Very informative! You got yourself a new subscriber!
Thanks glad I could help!
You really have no idea how helpful this was for me. A was wondering why my Peppermint shrimp was always on my acans
Glad I could help! I have a serious love/hate relationship with Peppermint shrimp.
I've found that my peppermint shrimp only bother my Micros/Acans/Brains, etc at feeding time. They will seriously "violate" corals to dig food right out of their mouths if you let them. Be prepared to play a little defense and shoo them away until the coral can fully consume the food. Other than that, I've never heard of a peppermint shrimp "attacking" corals just to eat them. They are a great way to control aiptasia, however.
One note, while it may sound silly to more knowledgeable reef keepers, some people do confuse Peppermint Shrimp with Camel Shrimp -- especially when the shrimp are small. The latter isn't necessarily reef safe.
Oh, almost all shrimp and crabs are opportunists and can "learn" to eat corals, especially if they go hungry.... or just become interested in taste testing. There are actually several species that are commonly referred to, and sold, as "peppermint shrimp" (not camel shrimp, you are right they are often confused with each other) and each has a varying proclivity for going after LPS. I, and fellow reefers, have had enough Lysmata wurdemanni who have absolutely destroyed Acans (not at feeding time) that I don't keep them in the same tanks anymore and felt it was worth mentioning it in this video. I am glad your shrimp are behaving though!
thank you for the helpful video
You're welcome.
Is there something wrong with an acan that shows no feeding responce like this? I question whether one of them is alive even. No tentacles coming out and no feeding response,movement or opening or closing. I did find an aptaisia growing out of it the other day after I had it for a few weeks and got rid of it and will be giving a dip tomorrow when my dip arives. My one acan is alive, I do see feeding tentacles come out when lights go out but dosnt appear to try to eat. These are wild cultured and have lost lots of color. I didnt realize local florida shops are more than likely all wild caught! It sucks because good prices but may need to start ordering online. My blasto is bright as ever though and shows no signs of life either and had an aiptasia as well. I am going to bring this up to the LFS but it didn't dawn on me that they may be dead until a few days ago and wish I would have snapped a pic of the aiptasia!
Sorry for the delay in responding. If they have color and flesh they are alive. The skeleton under the coral is white and looks nothing like the living coral so generally it should be obvious when they die. Generally I find that acan's that don't eat have a lower degree of success than those who do. This is pretty variable though so don't panic. Offer a small amount of TINY foods (powder like Reef Roids) once or twice a week and make sure your water parameters are perfect. Hopefully with time they will bounce back. I wish you luck, you've got this! ...oh and get that aiptasia off the coral.
I use to have a pretty micromusa blasto, how are these different?
Blastomussa and Micromussa are actually completely different families. If you look at the underlying skeleton the structure is quite different and the corallites of Blastomussa merleti(most common in the hobby) are much smaller than that of M. lord. Polyp shape is quite different if you compare side by side. In practical terms for the reefing hobbyist, they both have similar care requirements although M. lord can be a bit more aggressive and their sting is more powerful. Micromussa also seem to come in a much broader range of colors, at least in my experience.
Btw I cant get the image of chester V from the movie cloudy with a chance of meatball out of my mind everytime I see your face
ha ha ha! /facepalm I usually get compared to Heisenburg from Breaking Bad.... it's a bald/goatee thing I guess, we all look alike.
First