Peppermint shrimp

[ickmagnet]

I have an apitasia outbreak in my tank and it will be too hard to inject all of them so i bought 6 peppermint shrimp a few days ago hoping that they would take care of the problem. Since I dropped them in my tank, they have completely vanished. Either they are all dead/eaten or very good at hiding. I've looked all over the tank and can't find them. Is this normal?

here are the suspects:
powder Blue (unlikely)
blue legged crab (too slow)
green wrasse (maybe, but has never touched any other invert)
yellow tang (way too friendly)
purple tang (unlikely)
three clowns (probably not)
couple of damsels (doubt it)
carpet anemone or bubble tip (maybe one but all 6 would not be stupid enough to jump into their mouths)
long spiked sea urchin (possibly but too slow)
Blue regal (again, probably not any of my tangs)

Any ideas?

[burrows14]

I always find mine burrowed under a rock or in the dark area of an over hang

[Fishward]

personally, i have had a very hard time keeping peppermint shrimp.. its possible that my tank was just too young but they have never made it. they are normally pretty shy, so have a peek around at night and if its only been a day or two i wouldnt worry yet. if its a week, maybe worry.

[bkelly]

Yea when I put mine in my dottyback went after them he or something got the small one but a week later the other two showed up. They hid lots at first but now come out to eat when I feed the fish. they do their thing at night - check then. They do need to acclimatize slowly when introducing them. dont worry their good at hiding.

[Murminator]

I put 3 in my 90 a year and half ago never seen then after day 2 wrote them off. Last month my wife said what is that? 1 of them came out between the rocks and he was huge 1st time i seen him in 1.5 years.....and they still did nothing for the aptasia.....but I did have some luck with them before

[monocus]

i never had any success with pepperment shrimp-and if you have a wrasse he's probably having a good feed.i just brought another 25 berghia down to j&l and we're selling them for 14.95 right now-they take time but they get rid of the aptasia

[Jan]

I would blame it on the green wrasse. I have tried peppermints several times...never saw them again. I have had 2 cleaners for about a year.They are a good size.Recently my big green wrasse was cruising around the tank with one in his mouth..It took him awhile to swallow it.Now I can't see the other one either.

[Albertan22]

I only see my peppermint shrimp once every 2 or 3 weeks, and only if I come down and look in the tank in the middle of the night. They're extremely good at hiding, and only seem to come out if the entire room (not just the tank) has been dark for awhile. They have kept control of my aiptasia, but they won't eliminate it.

How long did you acclimate them? I was having trouble keeping them, then my LFS told me you need to drip them for at least 45 minutes, preferably 90 minutes, for them to stand any chance of survival. Once successfully aclimated they seem pretty hardy though.

[naesco]

I have an apitasia outbreak in my tank and it will be too hard to inject all of them so i bought 6 peppermint shrimp a few days ago hoping that they would take care of the problem. Since I dropped them in my tank, they have completely vanished. Either they are all dead/eaten or very good at hiding. I've looked all over the tank and can't find them. Is this normal?

here are the suspects:
powder Blue (unlikely)
blue legged crab (too slow)
green wrasse (maybe, but has never touched any other invert)
yellow tang (way too friendly)
purple tang (unlikely)
three clowns (probably not)
couple of damsels (doubt it)
carpet anemone or bubble tip (maybe one but all 6 would not be stupid enough to jump into their mouths)
long spiked sea urchin (possibly but too slow)
Blue regal (again, probably not any of my tangs)

Any ideas?

How did you acclimatize them?

[ILIKECOUGARS]

I had added 4 peppermint shrimps to get rid of the apitasia, which I had hundreds of them. Once in the tank they disapeared. I would see one the odd time, but never all 4. About 3 weeks later all the apitasia was gone, the odd apitasia would be back and a few days later it would be gone. I haven't seen a peppermint in over a year, but this morning one was sitting on nori seaweed that a place in there for the tangs. Make me wonder if the other 3 are still in there.

[Doug]

Guess mine is the opposite. Been in my various tanks for at least 4 yrs. now. Cleaned up the few apitasia I had. See him at feeding time but otherwise usually hiding. Pretty big now.