29g Low Tech Lps/softies

[gregswimm]

Well my one of my so called 'peppermint' so called 'shirmp' tried to eat a tongan nassarius while my had was not even 10" away. This is the same shrimp that used to dive for cover anytime something moved.... And my nems still stand

 

[Donya]

Staurocladia are only a visual nuisance (unless you are perhaps a seahorse breeder or have other tiny fish fry). I've never heard of them inflicting actual harm on anything and have had them in quite a few tanks with no effects except that they make it hard to see through. They bloom and then vanish mysteriously, sometimes blooming iteratively every few months, but they're actually quite hard to keep going that way.

Do you have a picture of the specific offending shrimp? Sometimes non-peps do get sold as peps.

 

[gregswimm]

Ok, they must not be true pepers. Just caught one picking on my O. patagonica. That's the last straw, they are going back.

 

[gregswimm]

Here are the 2 of them.

 

[Aquascaper]

Well they don't have the 'hump' of a camel shrimp which is normally the one mistakenly sold as peppermints

 

[Donya]

Arg....server ate my post. Trying again...

These are Lysmata. They are also not L. californica, which was going to be my other guess in addition to what Aquascaper mentioned. I think they are actually the same as the ones I have in all my tamks, but haven't checked to make sure. At any rate, since they are Lysmata, if they are picking at corals then there are three possibilities really: the coral was fed and the shrimp wasn't, the shrimp has some kind of other dietary deficiency, or the coral is actually on the way out and you just can't see it yet (but it will smell of it to animals in the tank). The last case is quite common with a lot of Crustaceans.

 

[gregswimm]

I had a feeling they weren't true peppermints as they stripes are different. They have calmed down a lot. And some of my aiptasia is missing but my majanos still stand. They are quite attractive so I don't mind too much.

 

[gregswimm]

Ok, maybe the third times the charm. Keeps deleting my post/my wrist hits the touchpad and I either highlight+delete the text or go back a page......

New crab appeared

Also, I tested my KH(after dripping kalk for a week at such a rate that I counteract evap) and it was at 7.3 dkh, my lfs tested it and it was at 5

Bought/dosed some Mg, I have no test kit, they are expensive. But I plan on getting one next week.

I do have growth in my un-molested NPS

And look how pretty :3. And it's not dead

 

[Donya]

I had a feeling they weren't true peppermints as they stripes are different.

No the stripes look right to me from the pics - that's what is confusing me. There is a range of variation in the stripes in the species, but those really do look to be what I have in my tanks decimating my aips and certainly not picking at things. From those pics they would be what gets called L. wurdemanni, but I hesitate to use that name because I've read some things questioning it's correctness. Taxonomic jiggery pokery aside, they would be "true" peps.

 

[gregswimm]

Maybe it's a regional variety?

Also, I have a pistol/mantis in my tank. Found this molt. Explains the clicking

 

[Donya]

Maybe it's a regional variety?

Not impossible but still unlikely. Behaviors like coral picking from any Lysmata shrimp usually means either the coral is on its way out or there are diet issues or some other thing that is specific to the individual that is causing it to act weird. Not eating Aips is pretty common but usually down to there not being enough shrimp. This is assuming too that the Aips are actually in a gettable location; shrimp tend to struggle with ones that are in a deep crevice or where they can zip back under a zoa mat or something.

Gonna guess pistol on the shed skin or at least some shrimp even if not a pistol proper. I'm not seeing claws which would make it the easiest but the proportions and last joint on the tail don't really look mantis-ish to me.

 

[gregswimm]

Well I don;t know if they ate some aptasia or it moved but I am missing some. The only nem that stands (as far as I can see) are the 2 majano. They are also quite defensive, went to pull a stuck shell out from the rock roughly half an inch from the shrimp and it came at me....

I also pulled 2 hermits apart that were shell to shell. I went in when one of them jumped out of his shell and sat atop his opponent's.

I also pulled 2 dead hermits (or one carcass and one carapace, but they were both quite 'meaty') and that crab that is pictured in the previous post. I found it curious that the crab was in the same spot for several days lol.

'People' reccomend 1 hermit per gallon, no way.


Would it be a good idea to replace the HOBs with powerheads and just let the debris settle in the tank. I feel like I am filtering out all the food....

 

[Donya]

The only nem that stands (as far as I can see) are the 2 majano.

Those are tough. I've never heard of a pep going at those unfortunately; never heard of anything else going at them either. If they need to be removed it's probably a matter of joes juice/kalk paste or a soldering iron.

They are also quite defensive, went to pull a stuck shell out from the rock roughly half an inch from the shrimp and it came at me....

Probably wants to clean your hand! Mine clean my hands all the time. Under the nails is not cool though when the shrimp are big and get overenthusiastic about it.

I also pulled 2 hermits apart that were shell to shell.

If the apertures are pulled together and it's the same species, it could have been courtship going on. If one is flipped upside down and the other is looming over it and reaching in with an arm constantly then it's more likely just aggression in most species, in which case it's time for more shells or giving existing ones a clean so that they look like appealing homes again. If spares get partially buried and/or filled with sand, they may as well not exist to many hermits.

'People' reccomend 1 hermit per gallon, no way.

Clearly people who have never had hermits or at least not counted the ones that were left after the war!

Would it be a good idea to replace the HOBs with powerheads and just let the debris settle in the tank. I feel like I am filtering out all the food....

Is there visible food gunk accumulation inside? It might just be a matter of a pre-filter. You can also swap them for powerheads if you like, but you might find they run cleaner and the flow doesn't decrease too much when the gunk is kept inside the tank, since critters will eat it off the covers. It's a bit ugly, but on my canisters I use the blue and white cut-to-fit filter pads, cut to size, and then separate the layers with my finger in the middle to make it sleeve shaped (I used to fold it over and hot glue it together, then I got lazy lol). I stick a rubber band around the top to keep it in place. If nothing else, it would be a cheap and fast way to see how much stuff is actually being collected before making a decision on powerheads.

 

[gregswimm]

Got up at 5am to do a nitrate test. It has gone down around and was around 5ppm .

Maybe I won't be getting a skimmer after all lol

 

[gregswimm]

Ughh, my Mushroom anemones are killing my zoa. I am forced to keep them on the same side of the tank as the zoos as the other side of the tank has little to no light and is where my NPS are. The NPS appear to be taking a hit as well. One of my previously issue free coral has been closed for the past 3 days >_>. My parameters are perfect....

The zoos were actually growing when I had them and the mushrooms in individual float boxes. Now they are within 4" of each other and the zoos are receding. No sign of pox or other parasites, so my best guess is allopathy because the mushrooms are growing better than ever. To the LFS they go.... Unless someone on here wants them, I can 2 day them; they should be good for 2 days.