Skunk cleaner shrimp with eggs and a Peppermint Shrimp

[demonstrius3]

nice, what camera where you using :) ??

[Fishman655]

Can u help me? i just got a cleaner shrimp and all its doing is hiding in a cave. is this normal?

[DiamondBitsUSA]

@Fishman655 It is normal for them to hide. Some will spend 95% of their time hanging out in a cave. I have found that if you hand-feed them they will come out much more when people are around.

[Elton4ever21]

@Fishman655 Yes probably. It is scared because you are moving into a new home. You will need to give it some time. If you can't make it like is original living place then it would hide. Luckily for me it didn't hide. It was straight active good luck!

[KU4MG]

EXCELLENT CLOSE-UP, LOVELY COLORS~!!!

[ReptiCon725]

wait just to be clear. i have 4 peppermints in my 90 gallon, and i have not seen aiptasia in over 3 months! so i love them, but can i put a couple of scarlet cleaning shrimp in there? i really want some shrimp that will take care of my fish and the rest of the tank too. please your advice would be very much appreciated.

[DiamondBitsUSA]

In a 90 that should be fine. As long as you have plenty of rock for them to each claim a separate territory they should get along well.

[ReptiCon725]

thank you so much, i just don't want a shrimp war going down in my tank.

[nenedepr]

i have one peppermint shrimp. Can one peppermint shrimp reproduce? i have a 12 gallon nano and i dont want to end up with a whole mess of shrimp. They are hard to catch

[DiamondBitsUSA]

They are hermphroditic but are not able to self-fertilize so you should be safe. Even when they do hatch, the larvae likely won't survive in a typical reef aquarium since everything will eat them up.

[ilovehasna]

@nenedepr

Nope shrimp do not reprocude asexually unless you happened to buy a specimen that was already carrying fertilised eggs.

What will happen is your shrimp will carry eggs, but as there is no male present the eggs will just dissappear after time, with my female skunk cleaner before I got a male normally withing a day or two, with my peppermint female around 2 days.

So you need a male in order for them to reproduce.

[DiamondBitsUSA]

@ilovehasna They do not reproduce asexually, but they are functionally hermaphroditic and can cross-fertilize with another member of the same species.

It is common for mine to carry the eggs for 12 to 14 days before release.

[zzoraxx]

peppermint shrimp are nocturnal so it is normal for them to spend there time hiding.

[DiamondBitsUSA]

I'm not sure that is 100% correct. Mine are out all day, every day.

[BuckandJake]

my peppermint shrimp isint very active during the day at all he only pops his head out during feeding time, should i get him a mate so he is more confident? i also have a goby who doesnt like any other fish but himself and opens his mouth at him

[DiamondBitsUSA]

That is odd behavior for a peppermint. Mine will usually come out every time somebody walks by the aquarium. Whenever I stick my hand in the tank they immediately jump on me and thoroughly clean my nails. If yours is hiding it must have been chased by another tankmate. I had a yellow watchman goby that would often chase away other fish but loved to be cleaned by the shrimp.

[cutietwo22]

Beautiful. I have been having trouble with these. My longest one that lived was a few months. I thought it had died due to copper in the water so i started using ro water and tried again, it died in less than two days. Do you have any advice?.what could i be doing wrong? Also do you add iodine for the shrimp? Any info would be so helpful!

[catfishhunter2009]

that happend to my first 2 goldfish not shrimp what i did was i baught a squeegy washed it when i got home drained the tank and cleaned it with a squeegy and a sponge then my filters and pumpsfilled it up again and my fish are still alive to this day

[DiamondBitsUSA]

@cutietwo22 Once copper has been in an aquarium it is nearly impossible to remove all of it. It is absorbed by your rocks, sand, and even the silicone can hold a small amount. Generally, a death within a couple of days of introduction to the tank indicates the shrimp experienced a high level of stress. If possible, purchase one from a local fish shop that has been there for at least a week. Many will let you pay for one and they will hold it for a while to make sure it is OK.

[cutietwo22]

@DiamondBitsUSA When I dosed with coper this was before my tank was a reef. I had no sand or rocks..just fake decor. so I am assuming there is some in my silicone but I am hoping it's gone by now. I am thinking of purchasing one soon again one last time before I give up again for a year lol

[DiamondBitsUSA]

@cutietwo22 OK. My only advice would be to do some large water changes (maybe 30-40% if possible) at least twice a week for a couple weeks. That should dilute any remaining toxins to a low enough point they won't be a problem. If you are worried about it, commercial copper test kits are pretty cheap. When you are ready, do a nice, slow acclimation. I like to let all inverts drip acclimate for about three hours and then introduce them to the tank right after the light goes out at night.

[jillianmarquett]

Awesome! How long do skunk cleaners shrimps usually live in aquaria?

[DiamondBitsUSA]

Generally 3 to 5 years. This one is about 2.