Which would you trust ?

[petpoor]

I am bordering on an apitasia revolution,they are starting to increase their strength to mass an attack. Would you send in the Copperband sniper or a platoon of Peppermints to rid the enemy? Which will pose a greater risk in your experience to the SPS and polyp population? And will either bother the Bubbletip Anemones, since after all the only good anemone is the one they eat for dinner? Since my tank is 400 gallons either would be there till death since there would be little chance to Medvac them out should problems arise,have had no luck with Kalkwasser artillery strikes so must possibly resort to sending in infantry ground troops.

 

[Sardaukar]

Haha! Nice way of stating your question...Personaly, i would send in the peppermints. Bum rush those dirty apitasia's! I would think that with the peppermints, you could prolly remove them if you had to. It would take awhile, but you could prolly snag em if you needed to. IMHO, there is less risk with peppermints than copper butterflys.
You will need ALOT of peppermints to cover that 400 gal tank. Not sure exactly how many. Since you have a huge tank, you would be hard pressed to kill ever single apistasia with chemical weapons. If you have a clown fish(s) in your anemone, i would think that they could hold off the shrimp if they did for some reason attack your anemone. Dont think you would have a problem there as i dont belevie i have ever heard of them bothering large anemones. Anyone have any idea how many peppermints it would take? Exactly how many apistasia's are we talking here?

[ July 21, 2001: Message edited by: Sardaukar ]

 

[Anonymous]

Peppermints should do the job. You will need a good platoon or two to cover that size aquarium i.e roughly 15-30. They are likely to cause the least amount of damage in fact the only real complaint is that some have a tendency to rob corals or anemones of food which basically tells me you aren't feeding your aquarium enough if that is happening. They will only munch aiptasia, I've found that certain anemones that look like aips but don't spread tend to be left unmolested.

Often you will see them take a few out then as they satiate themselves they won't be so fast to wipe out the rest, so you may just want to add squad sized groups and rotate in fresh troops on occasion. They should be able to take care of the problem in short order but not overnight because they are about as efficient as a regular infantry unit not a Seal Team or Combat Applications Group (Formerly SFOD-Delta or Delta Force).

Tom

 

[bigtank]

It would be cheaper to go nuclear. Take a syringe, 5cc is nice, and fill it with HOT water. Aim it at the center of the aiptasia, get as close as possible, and fire away. This method works great if you can reach them. IMO use peppermint shrimp too, as previously mentioned.

 

[esmithiii]

I have had good success with the peppermints, and, unlike butterflys, they will eat prepared foods once the aptasia are gone. The only downside, however, is that you will rarely see them except at feeding time and after the lights to the tank have gone off and also they will eat yellow polyps (a type of colonial anemone)

Ernie

 

[JennM]

Peppermints HO!!

I'd follow that advice, but as mentioned, do not expect the aips to disappear overnight!

In a 400 you could put 10 or so. You didn't mention if you have any fish that might find the PEPPS as a good meal? Some hawkfish and wrasses will make a meal out of any ornamental shrimp, so make sure you've got suitable tankmates first, or it's an expensive lesson.

I had a pepp that would eat bits of food right out of my hand (once he'd eaten all the aiptasia in my tank).

One side benefit not previously mentioned, is that you might have the pepps spawn, and create some nice coral and fish food all on their own!

Jenn

 

[H@rry]

I have about 3 or 4 aiptasia in one tank that don't seem to be multiplying at all. Several months ago I put 2 peppermint shrimp in. I've never seen the shrimp after the first day and the aiptasia are still there. I wonder if my strawberry basslet ate the shrimp for supper. I've heard that copperbands will clean out your feather worms though.
For me, the aiptasia have not been a problem. The biggest problem I have is Xenia. I flush some every weekend.

 

[JennM]

ACK!! You're flushing it??? Send it here...I'll find homes for it!!!

It is possible that your shrimps wound up as a meal..basslets can eat ornamental shrimps, if the shrimps are small enough, and the basslet big enough!

I'm serious about the Xenia.....

Jenn

 

[Minh Nguyen]

I added 12 pepermint shrimps into my 400 g tank. They took care of the aptasia in a few months. I did not have alot to start with. I have being trying to remove them. I got 8 out. The other four are too smart and will not fall into any trap. I think I have to wait until they died of old age in a few years. I think they are the reason that my baby snails cannot growth to reach adulthood in the display tank. I got lots of baby snails in the refugium. I have seen them attached and kill snails sometime. Overall, they cause alot less damage than aptasia or a Copper Banded butterfly, I think.

 

[mattf0124]

I'd go with 10 or so berghias if the aptasia is really getting out of control.

 

[naesco]

Go with peppermints but make sure you are sold the right ones.
Start with say 5 and add if and when you need them.
Thanks

 

[Plato1]

I put one peppermint shrimp in my 110 and it wiped out one anemone the first night. It was only a matter of days (10-12) until the soldier took out the rest. I ,too, was not expecting anything to happen that soon, but I rather enjoyed the quick clearing of those nusiances. In fact, I watched the shrimp actually chase one around the tank for a few days of general harassment before devouring it in front of my eyes. I would put about 4 shrimp in, and double check with pictures that you don't get a camel shrimp. The camel and peppermint look similar unless they are side by side for comparison. If they don't start cleaning up the situation after a couple of weeks, I'd send in reinforcements of 2 at a time. Hope my experience helps your current state of affairs.

Plato

 

[petpoor]

Well it looks like I might have to send in ground troops (peppermints) but I am worried about the civilian populace ( yellow polyps)have a really nice city of them and would hate to cause their extinction as the rock they built upon is way too large to airlift out. Will have to ponder this a little longer to avoid rash decisions,all this Executive power is a bummer!!

Bigtank,
Tried a small Nuclear attack but failed due to the little devils retreating to the rocks before the detonation could occur(sensitive radar warning systems I guess)

Thanks to all for the info and help,now will ponder if the lives of many(corals) outweigh the lives of a few(yellow Polyps)
Tom

 

[Anonymous]

I have had peppermints for many years and I have had only one bad apple. I caught him (Did not look like it had molted recently.. so he) grabbing at the polyps of an acro. In all fairness this was during one of my “Don’t feed the reef stages.” If you feed on a regular basis the will get enough food as a scavenger (once all apitasia are gone.) Never once have I seen them go after my LTA or BTA.

As a bonus I have a few hundred little (less than a ¼ ) babies in all three tanks Including the refug that has no adults! I have yet to see any bigger than the ¼ inch mark. I think they may have another metamorphosis at this size that they are not surviving.