LanglandJoshua June 27, 2011 Share June 27, 2011 I have a successfully breeding pair of peppermint shrimp. Well, trio two males and one female. I will be letting them take over my 75 gallon tank. While I move my coral and main fish to a 120. I am hoping to be able to get fish to eat the babies in the 120, and control the population. Without a tank crash or stopping the shrimp from breeding. When I shine a flashlight at night, its almost a sea of shiny little baby shrimp eyeballs running around in the frag tank. They are everywhere, and for my plan to work and keep the populations under control I need something to EAT the peppermint shrimp in the 120. I am thinking of mandarin gobies. Maybe 1-3. I would prefer to avoid lionfish, and have a large amphipod population. So even though the 14 day cycle of my one peppermint shrimp female(assuming no more make it to adulthood) wont be fast enough to feed one mandarin goby. I know I have enough pods to cover at least one. From some reading I have done I learned that mandarins should eat peppermint babies since they are most definitely smaller than the mandarins mouth. My concern/joy is that the babies seem to be doing well at surviving. Many are past the stages where I can see their organs, and eyes are coming out with color. Some I expect the body to get color soon. But with that, I also expect some of the females to breed. That would make the rotation of larva released/reach adulthood move much faster than my fish I have now can cope with. As it is the shrimp have to hide to survive the chromis, damsels, foxface, hawkfish, and others in the main tank. My refugium and frag tanks are crawling with them. How many mandarins will it take? Are there any other fish I could add to increase diversity, and keep the shrimp from controlling the 120? That will be the only buffer I have between a healthy tank, and getting that sea of little eyes possibly causing a tank crash. Short of one LFS offering to buy any that get over 1". I made a couple other posts to this effect, but I guess I didnt post them in the correct forum or ask the right questions. I also understand that it will be a touch and go affair. Any ideas would be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Grenier June 27, 2011 Share June 27, 2011 (edited) A 6-Line wrass would think he's in heaven. Or, if you have that many, get a fine-mesh net & scoop a bunch out and I'll buy them from you. Edited June 27, 2011 by Larry Grenier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LCDRDATA June 27, 2011 Share June 27, 2011 A 6-Line wrass would think he's in heaven. Or, if you have that many, get a fine-mesh net & scoop a bunch out and I'll buy them from you. I was going to make the same suggestion (both the wrasse and the net). Any number of other small-mouthed wrasses would probably be happy, too, as would a long-nosed butterfly fish (either flassisimus or longiroster), or, as they say in Hawai'i, lau wili-wili nuku-nuku oi oi ("the fish that shakes like the 'wili-wili' leaf). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Lazar June 27, 2011 Share June 27, 2011 It sounds like you're worried that all the shrimp could die, causing a tank crash, and you're thinking of adding a fish to help control the shrimp population and reduce that danger. I don't think there's any real danger here. The combined mass off all those shrimp is probably still less than a medium sized fish. So even if all the shrimp died at once, it would be no more decomposig material than if a single fish died. One fish death is not usually enough to cause a tank crash. I would just let the shrimp population find it's natural equilibrium. Add another fish if you want to, not because you feel you have to add a shrimp predator. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trockafella June 27, 2011 Share June 27, 2011 Ive got a melanarus wrasse that eats any invert, it will pick crabs out of the shell, pull worms out of rocks. Its peaceful and pretty.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunWyrm June 27, 2011 Share June 27, 2011 I would think your hawkeye would be in heaven lol, but unless they're 'pod size tiny I don't think a mandarin would chow down. A peaceful sixline is the way to go imo, but a peaceful one is hard to find or so I hear (I really miss my happy lil guy). Next time I come by though I'd love a net-scoopful of the little buggers. My aptaisia problem is not even slowing down with aptaisia x :( and they'd have plenty of stuff to eat while they grow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanglandJoshua June 27, 2011 Author Share June 27, 2011 (edited) Wow, lots of responses. If it does reach a balance, that would be great. But I still do want to sell them, so I will have to balance what I take out with the cycle. The Wrasse sounds great. I hate the stray bristle worm barb in my arms occasionally. So, that could work well. I also like mandarins which is why I wanted to get several of them. There are a couple types of shrimp I would love to keep in the main, which is why am not too keen towards lion fish and fish that eat ALL inverts. I want adults to be safe, and larva to be food. Maybe that makes it a bit complicated, but that is why I was thinking of multiple mandarins. I have also had a rather big bully of a six line, so I'm not entirely interested in going that route again. As for the shrimp and selling, they are still a bit too small to move to another system(unless they are just food, mmmm protein). I have no idea how many babies will survive swapping tanks. I dont want to promise a "net full" any time soon. But fingers crossed, that would be nice! Edited June 27, 2011 by LanglandJoshua Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trockafella June 27, 2011 Share June 27, 2011 Sounds like you want your cake and to eat it too.. You may just have to make a sacrifice somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunWyrm June 28, 2011 Share June 28, 2011 Even a tiny baby lion would be terrorized in your tank. There are tons of small, very peaceful wrasse that would be a good fit, but your tank has some semi aggressive fish that you should consider when looking at those. And remember that all fish have different personalities. Your six line may have been a real terror, but for instance, mine was introduced far ahead of any other fish in my tank and was incredibly docile (I realize he was one in a million). +1 to Jon Lazar's comment also Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanglandJoshua June 28, 2011 Author Share June 28, 2011 Even a tiny baby lion would be terrorized in your tank. There are tons of small, very peaceful wrasse that would be a good fit, but your tank has some semi aggressive fish that you should consider when looking at those. And remember that all fish have different personalities. Your six line may have been a real terror, but for instance, mine was introduced far ahead of any other fish in my tank and was incredibly docile (I realize he was one in a million). +1 to Jon Lazar's comment also That does make sense. We will see how it goes. Worst case scenario I pull out some rock and sell a bunch. I was really thinking of getting a leopard or mystery wrasse anyways. But I'm not the most familiar with them, I guess the best time to learn is NOW! haha, with the tank swap I will have to move all my fish anyways. I think I will just put my falco hawkfish up for sale, and the damsels will be free. One damsel has become a terror, I'll be happy with a school of chromis and my goby and wrasse. Speaking of fish behavior, oddly enough my clownfish wont touch the baby shrimp. The shrimp stay clear of the anemone's, and the fish dont bother them. In fact the clowns are in the frag tank. Which is where the largest swarm of shrimp has formed. I'm curious why they(fish/predator) wouldn't even touch the fry. Could it resemble what their babies would look like when they are tiny? I'm not saying they look similar to us, but through a fishes eyes. Just a first draft kinda thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F&Fmgr June 28, 2011 Share June 28, 2011 Sounds like you want your cake and to eat it too.. You may just have to make a sacrifice somewhere. did you say cake?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanglandJoshua June 28, 2011 Author Share June 28, 2011 did you say cake?! OM NOM NOM NOM, that would be an odd cake...a peppermint shrimp cake...I like it. Maybe pipe-cleaner legs covered in Twizzlers. That would be neat to have at a meeting. If it all works out, I may have to try it! Only at WAMAS would such an idea fly, and over 80% of the people would know what it was! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FearTheTerps June 28, 2011 Share June 28, 2011 Someone said cake????? A shrimp cake would be fun to make. I'd have a hard time deciding on the flavor tho, peppermint or shrimp flavor? Anyone ever had a cake with old bay? Im starting soon on my nieces cake this year. I'm shooting for a 4 ft tall cake, should be lots of fun. Maybe I'll have enough supplies left over and I can make a cake for fragfest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunWyrm June 28, 2011 Share June 28, 2011 Old bay and peppermint seasoned shrimp cake...might be delicious if it was made like a crab cake sooo hungry for seafood now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanglandJoshua June 29, 2011 Author Share June 29, 2011 I was starting to think of a Twizzler shell, with cake on the inside. But for you seafood lovers that could be fun! Maybe have it stand on a platter of shrimp....mmmmmmm I think this is becoming a topic of its own, I'll start a topic for food/cake at meetings. In the general forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanglandJoshua June 29, 2011 Author Share June 29, 2011 Here is the link, 0.0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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