[Gorilla Stoo]

Hey, I'm new to the hobby and just wondered if anyone else had experienced this. I've got a 29 gallon which has been up and running for little over a month and yesterday I added a torch coral. About a minute after I got it all situated, one of my two peppermint shrimp came up and started tearing through it. I don't know if it was eating it, or looking for food, or what, but it was ripping out pieces of the tentacles. They seemed pretty hungry so I covered up the coral and tried feeding the shrimp a whole bunch. After I pumped them full of brine shrimp, I uncovered the coral to see if they'd attack it again and sure enough, after like 10 minutes they were trying to eat it again. Anyone ever heard of this?

[Fishhead Junkie]

i have had many peppermint shrimp and they have never touched a piece of my coral. they mostly hide in the rocks, stick their heads out every now and then and bob back and forth like they are dancing.

steve

ps...maybe you have some mutant breed of shrimp from 5 mile island

[pogodzib]

Are you sure you have peppermint shrimp and not camelback shrimp? Stores commonly get the two mixed up.

[Gorilla Stoo]

I'm pretty sure they are peppermint shrimp, I'll try and snap a picture of one. They are also pregnant, but I don't know if that makes a difference. Maybe they are like humans and they have a "craving" for coral. Although they don't touch my other coral, which is a green star polyp, but that was already in the tank when I introduced the shrimp.

[MKM]

I purchased 10 peppermint shrimp to remove aptisia. It works quite well. Some sites state that they eat star polyps in a mistaken identity issue with aptisia.

[msbdiving]

My guess is that you have a different species. There are two that look very much alike that is different from the camel shrimp. You might have to catch the little guy and examine him a little more closely. Here is a link: Reefs.org: Where Reefkeeping Begins on the Internet - Peppermint Shrimp

[pogodzib]

Nice link msbdiving

[marciemp]

I got a new piece of coral (yellow star polyps) and when I put it in one of my peppermint shrimp went right up and spent a whole day poking at it, looked like it was eating it. This shrimp was also "pregnant". The next day she left it alone but when I sneak up at night with my flashlight it is on the new coral again. The coral seems fine, looks even better than it did at the store. Maybe there is something else on the rock that the shrimp likes.

[Gorilla Stoo]

Everyone is getting along fine now. I think that I just wasn't feeding the shrimp enough and that's why they went after the coral. It's funny, everyone talks about how shy peppermint shrimp are but mine are like remorseless eating machines. Whenever I get ready to feed them, they start climbing up the side of the tank and swim along the top of the water. Anyway, thanks for all the help!