Peppermint Shrimp, with scientific name (Lysmata wurdemanni) is a small marine invertebrate that has a transparent body with stripes and grows to a size of 5cm. The Peppermint shrimp is a common invertebrate for a marine reef aquarium and can be bought from any good aquarium shop. Other names for the Peppermint Shrimp are ‘Candy Shrimp’ and the ‘Caribbean Cleaner Shrimp’.
Peppermint Shrimp
Peppermint shrimp are known to eat glass anemone (Aiptasia). This anemone is considered a pest in the marine reef aquarium as it reproduces at a high rate and has the ability to sting coral and fish. To control and get rid of this pest, many reef keepers use the Peppermint Shrimp.
Even though the peppermint shrimp is regarded as a “cleaner shrimp”, the Peppermint shrimp may not clean as regularly as other shrimps such as the skunk cleaner shrimp.
Peppermint shrimp can coexist with many other of its own species but may fight with other species of shrimp in the tank. Reef hobbyists have had mixed reactions in regards to keeping these inverts in a tank. Some report that they bite into corals, and some are quite shy, very rarely appearing from the rocks for many days in a stretch. Personally I have never had these problems with my peppermint shrimp but I will say that they are more comfortable in groups.
It is a known fact that Peppermint shrimp do not get along with Coral Banded Shrimp of the same sex, so do not put them in the same tank.
Peppermint shrimp can be a shy creature and are nocturnal, which means you will see most of their action at night when they go out in search of food, while all the other fish in the tank are sleeping.
As for nutrients and health, Peppermint shrimp, like other shrimps need Iodine supplements on a periodic basis to assist them in shedding their exoskeleton. This is known as “molting”. When shrimp molt, they will be quite vulnerable and will usually hide under the live rock until the molt is complete. Some marine reef aquarium owns insist on dosing iodine to help cleaner shrimp and other inverts molt. You must ensure that you use an iodine test kit to ensure that you give the correct of dosage into the water. If you overdose on Iodine, you can get side effects such as too much brown algae within the aquarium or harming and staining corals. If you are doing water changes frequently then there may be no reason to dose iodine.
Do not worry about feeding the shrimp on regular basis, as they will most likely scavenge and eat any leftover fish food, detritus and algae from the tank. They will sift through the sand at the bottom of the tank, so ensure that you put find sand in the aquarium, not coral sand or gravel. From time to time you can supplement their diet with with meaty foods such as scallops, mysis shrimp or other meaty seafoods.
Out of all the difficult choices a reef aquarist has to endure when setting up a Reef Aquarium is deciding on what their aquarium will look like. Reef aquarium aquascaping is a pleasure to some and a pain to others, for me its a little bit of both. I have changed the look of my aquarium several (dozen?) times over the last five years and endured the pleasure and pain of the aquascaping experience.
If I had to tell a new reef aquarium hobbyist how to plan and change there reef aquascaping I probably couldn’t, after all beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I could, however, give some pointers on what should be done to provide a safe living environment for the new owners livestock.
First, Consider your coral and fish’s water flow needs, so that you can get a better understanding on how your live rock placement will effect your reef tank’s water movement. Live rock comes in all different shapes and sizes and if you are fortunate enough to live near a good fish store then you can usually hand pick the pieces that you want. But before you do all the live rock picking, you should come up with a plan for your rock placement. Live Rock should not be obtrusive in that it will block water movement but should be placed so that it will assist it, creating canyons, slopes, valleys and pillars will help assist this. To assist holding your live rock in place it is recommended that you superglue, putty (aquarium safe) or drill in PVC or plastic dowels into your rock work. While this is recommended by many reefers it is somewhat permanent and not necessary in most cases.
Keep in mind that certain corals have specific requirements that have to be met for the welfare of the coral, this usually include height and substrate placement. Also if you are going to have corals with sweeping tentacles then its important that they can not reach other corals. Always research your corals and make sure that they will fit your reef environment.
Here are a few examples of reef aquarium aquascaping.
Notice how on the above picture the rock work is not entirely laying on the sand.
The above picture I like to refer to as the Valley, this is an actual hobbyists reef aquarium and not an imaged picture.
Having proper water flow in your reef aquarium is extremely important to your reef’s health, especially when dealing with corals. It is so important that I would rate it up there with feeding, lighting and skimming. After all, proper water flow delivers food and removes waste from sessile organisms in the reef aquarium. Proper water flow also exchanges oxygen and keeps detritus suspended in the water column.
Getting the right type of water flow is often difficult to achieve in the reef aquarium because of all the options that are presented to us. On top of all the pumps, wave boxes and diy closed loop systems that you can utilize there is still the matter of placing this equipment in your reef aquarium so that you can reap the full benefit from it. Keep in mind that live rock and other obstacles in the aquarium can prevent proper flow throughout the reef aquarium if not set up correctly.
So what are the different types of water flow and how do us reef keepers use them?
Pretty simply there are two types of water flow for the reef aquarium that you should be concerned with. They are Laminar and Random. If you search on any online reef aquarium forum you may be able to find more in depth but not as practical ways of creating water movement. I say “not as practical” because most reef keepers will not be able to recreate these different water flow options as easy as the two mentioned above.
Laminar water flow is generally the easiest flow to create in the reef aquarium. laminar simply means one direction movement of water, as you probably guessed by now most submersible pumps and powerheads will produce laminar water movement. Laminar can get tricky, since it is a constant jet of water in one direction you will not be able to place corals directly in front of this stream. Most corals will not be able to last the powerful water jet and there flesh will eventually erode off there skeletons if exposed for long periods of time. Many reef keepers utilize powerheads and submersible pumps but do it in a fashion where it is less abrasive on corals, which brings me to Random flow.
Random water flow in the reef aquarium is hands down the best easily obtainable way of re-creating water movement similar to that of the natural reef. It is simply obtained by using laminar flow (powerheads, pumps etc..) against either obstacles such as the glass of the aquarium or against other laminar flow. Since there is no right way to create random flow in the reef aquarium because all reef aquariums are different, it is up to the reef keeper to try and test different ways to see which one is right for the aquarium. I personally like to direct two powerheads against one another (one on each side of the tank opposite of each other) to create this type of flow. I will then take another one and point it at the front pane of glass. The possibilities are endless with this type of water flow since there is no right way of doing it. Instead of using powerheads you may want to try a closed loop system which involves a large external pump and some diy (do it yourself) plumbing to avoid unsightly powerheads.
Which ever way you decide it is best to make sure that you don’t have any “dead spots” in the reef aquarium, dead spots are simply just spots in the aquarium with little to no water movement. These dead spots are where detritus will accumulate and if not removed can cause some problems with your reef aquarium’s water parameters.
So how do I know if my water flow is adequate?
Make sure that you have a good amount of movement in your aquarium, furthermore you should be able to create flow that will make your coral polyps extend and move around randomly.
