Peppermint Shrimp Eating Acans

[wpeterson]

I have three peppermint shrimp in our nano reef who have otherwise been well behaved (no eating of corals so far).

I added a small three headed Acan Lord frag two months which had been thriving and has budded 4 small new heads.

The tissue on the Acan has been receding the last few days and I staked out the tank last night and caught one of the peppermints eating the Acan in the middle of the night. I scared him off but have no way to guard against this long term.

I fed the Acans yesterday, but before noon and lights out in the tank is 10pm, I wouldn't think there was any food left on the Acans. Any ideas how to prevent this? Do I need to get rid of the Peppermints? Should I reduce the number of them or make sure they're better fed?

 

[higorc]

This is not the first time I have heard this. I personally never had this issue in the past, and both Peppermint shrimp I had died in the past 6 months when I raised my Mag.

If it was me, I would remove what ever is eating/destroying any of my corals. $6 Peppermint shrimp is not worth some of my $300+ Acans and/or corals I have in the tank.


Good luck man
Higor

 

[ReefGeek79]

I've had the exact same issue. The shrimp pick at the acans to get any food they've trapped and learn it's an easy meal. I got rid of the peppermints and have not had an issue since.

 

[Overlook reef]

Get rid of the peppermint shrimps. It is not worth the headache and the loss of your Acans. IMO there is not way to stop him/them now that they have discovered a easy food source. Spare yourself the headache.

 

[22engine]

Wondering if I had the same issue. I have about ten at one point and any acan I had would look good for a couple days and them be dead. Nothing else looked bad and saw them on the frags. Love acans but have been nervous trying them again. Think I will now that my peppermints are gone.

 

[wpeterson]

Thanks for the advice, guys.

I'm going to try to build an Acan shark cage today.

Any advice for capturing peppermints without taking apart the entire rock work?

 

[mrjantzen]

My peppermints come out when I feed the tank live brine shrimp. Put nets in tank a while before you feed, less of a scare factor.

 

[wpeterson]

I broke the Acan colony off where I had mounted it on a live rock and moved it into a small acryllic isolate tank (shark tank!) within the aquarium.

The three adult heads have all been picked on and remain recessed :-/ However, there are three juvenile heads (~ 3-4mm) that look puffy and healthy and two juvenile heads (~ 1mm). I'm holding out hope the un-eaten heads will grow into a healthy colony and maybe the others will recover.