How long do Peppermint shrimp live for?

[robbyville]

Hi all,

As some might remember, I had purchased a couple of peppermint shrimp about 6-7 months ago, thought they had been eaten, and then found one still alive a couple of months back. He had grown by at least 100% and every now and again I would see him chomping down.

Yesterday, we found him dead on the sand bed, definitely not an empty shell from molting.

We have been battling hair algae for a few weeks now, but otherwise all parameters seem in order.

I'm just wondering if this might simply be the life span for these shrimp, or how temperamental they are to fluctuating parameters, heat, etc (Although my heat stays between 78 and 82 deg).

Thanks for any thoughts!

Rob

[sumpfinfishe]

Hi Rob,

My peppermint shrimp is just over two years old now, in my experience they seem to last about as long as cleaners which is between the 2-3 year span. Just before I moved last month I lost both of my 3 year old cleaner shrimps. That was during a really hot week of weather, my tank did go as high as 82 but I don't think that this was the problem as the tank rose slowly in temp allowing the creatures to acclimitize . Instead I think the salinity increase due to high evaporation was the likely cause, and also the age of the shrimp may have been another factor.

Other sudden swings such as PH and Ca could also cause these sudden deaths.

[robbyville]

Thanks Rich, much appreciated!

I had not thought about evaporation and salinity, although I doubt that I have had any major shifts. Still, my top off has gone dry and I lost about a gallon and a half before fixing the problem.

We are also having some algae problems and I'm sure that has affected things. The shrimp appeared to be a baby when we bought it.

Thanks again,

Rob