Peppermint Shrimp

[scuba_steveo]

I was have been trying to find the best price on peppermint shrimp for days now. The best I could come up with was buying them in a large bulk. So I called Fin Addict and they will sell them to us at $2.80 per shrimp (that already has the MAAST discount in it) if we order at least 125. $2.80 per shrimp is far lower than any other place that I could find. So who wants what and how many? You will pay for them at Fin Addict when you pick them up. If we get to 125 in the next few hours they will order them today (Thursday) for delivery tomorrow (Friday). Otherwise they will place the order next Monday for Tuesday arrival. I will start off by ordering 20. So we need 105 more.

Orders:
Scuba Steve – 20
mathias - 4
Mikey Boy - 10
Purplesprite - 4

Just 87 more!!!

[::pete::]

Steve

Thats a great price is that today only?

[scuba_steveo]

It is for this order only. Hopefully we can get enough to get the order in today.

[mathias]

Ill take 4

[purplesprite]

what do peppermint shrimps eat?do they mate in captivity?i just dont want to get a few, and then have a few hundred the next month.im intrested though!

[MikeyBoy]

Id take 10 for the team

[hammondegge]

they frequently carry eggs and they will hatch 50-100 every few weeks, but it is very difficult to successfully raise any of the fry, your fish will eat them. they are sexually bimorphic :unsure each shrimp being both male and female at the same time so any two may produce fry. one cannot produce on its on. they are also kind of territorial, if they are overcrowded they eat eat other. they also control aiptasia. they eat anything.

[Pacman]

I will second that eat anything. They ate ALL my feather duster worms. And if they are hungry I have seen them tear blue legged hermits right out of their shells, and unfortunately go after the mantle on one of my clams. I had 3 in my tank and just yesterday took the most aggressive one out... I'm still trying to hunt down the other 2.

I'm not trying to scare anyone too bad, because they are beneficial and did eat all the aiptaisia in my tank. Especially when they are small they can't do too much damage. However, my 3 got quite a bit bigger and now they are annoying little *&%@'s, and killed off other life in my tank. They will soon be gone, some way or another!

Matt

[scuba_steveo]

Where did you get yours?
I have been doing some reading online and found that there are many different types of Peppermints. The ones you can collect at the coast will eat anything. The Lysmata wurdemanni should not. I have had then for a while and I have never had any bad experience. When I treated for red mites the shrimp died and yesterday I saw the first small aptasia in my tank. So I am going back to what worked for me in the past.


This is from the link below:
"Reef Suitability: There are several different types of shrimp sold as "Peppermint" shrimp. The ones illustrated here are the true Lysmata wurdenmanni which are completely reef safe. Other shrimp sold under the same name may not be completely safe in the reef tank."

http://www.reefcorner.com/SpecimenSheets/peppermint_shrimp.htm

[purplesprite]

that sounds cool killer peppermint shrimps.i say bring it on i got some pretty tuff hermits.jj that unfortunate pacman.you can put me down for 4 of em scuba steve.

[hammondegge]

mine have not caused any damage to anything but each other. i think they are very beneficial and they are good dancers. i am down from 4 to 1 in a 40g. so maybe thats a good place to start with stocking density. 1/40g.

[Pacman]

Mine look like that, but I know there are other shrimp that look like Lysmata wurdemanni. I don't think I could make a positive ID one way or the other.

I'm guessing that mine are the kind you get from the gulf though. I got them from TBS when I ordered the live rock, so they are probably the more aggressive variety. If you are getting true Lysmata wurdemanni, it sounds like they would hopefully be a little bit less aggressive...

[Darth-Tater]

I could use 5 if they are still available.


DT

[90OcReef]

Does anyone want to ship a few to MD?? Those little buggers are expensive here...

[deast7]

I could use 4. Thanks.

Cheers,

Dave

[deast7]

Steve

Where are we on this? Thanks.

Cheers,

Dave

[Instar]

I'll guarentee you whoever sells you Lysmata wurdemanni as reef safe is lying to you. They eat what Matt sites from earlier. There are around 12 different species and only a couple of them are reef safe. Those are the true cleaners. The shy younger peppermint Lysmata just sit but as they get adjusted, they are active in mid afternoon on your coral polyps (they especially like to pull tentacles from montipora as they walk) and at night on everything soft. If you have lots of the monti's and like that behavior, maybe it will go unnoticed? If you have tubastreas, anemones and soft animals to spare, go for it. Maybe those large BTAs will be able to grow back fast enough that you won't notice the damage for a while, or did you sell them?
Lysmata adults make good plankton producers for a special refugium that feeds into the main tank. They can have from 800 to 1200 larval shrimp every 14 days if fed well. They will also eat all the feather caulerpa in there if you have any. Its actually kinda surprising to me every time reefers want to add these shrimp to their tanks these days with all the documentation that says they are not reef safe. Since I had the benefit of being home 24/7 to observe and to breed several varieties of shrimp, I got to see the ____ in action. I stripped my reef to bare bottom to get them out after high losses as sited by Matt. Lots of luck to all who go the same path. Ask Jenn, she posted her sad story of them eating all kinds of stuff on here some time ago too. It must still be in the messages somewhere as have others.
The price is your clue that they come from jetties in masses. Just cause you don't catch them yourself doens't mean thats not where they come from. You get what you pay for and cheep can spell disaster. Ask GaryP, he posted that exact same statement a while back as well.

[scuba_steveo]

not enough people got together....it died

[deast7]

Thanks......