Pep Shrimp Eating snails?

slaag · Feb 16, 2023

I am pretty sure my peppermint shrimp has attacked and killed at least both of my nessarius snails and one trochus.

I have caught him several times clawing at them in the past and reached in the tank and moved the snails away. Now I've noticed when they get close to the area where the pep shrimp is, the pep gets pretty defensive about his area. A couple of weeks ago one nessarius snail was flipped upside down with a bit of the snail hanging out, so i left it and it didnt move for a day or so, and pulled it out. It just happened again last night. I also haven't seen a trochus snail i have in a while, and I think he got killed in the rocks by the pep shrimp too as he was last near there the last time i saw him.

Any thoughts on why or what I may do about it? I've read different things, but some older posts and info and am wondering if there is any more modern thoughts?

Cheers

KING KONG · Feb 17, 2023

slaag said:
I am pretty sure my peppermint shrimp has attacked and killed at least both of my nessarius snails and one trochus.

I have caught him several times clawing at them in the past and reached in the tank and moved the snails away. Now I've noticed when they get close to the area where the pep shrimp is, the pep gets pretty defensive about his area. A couple of weeks ago one nessarius snail was flipped upside down with a bit of the snail hanging out, so i left it and it didnt move for a day or so, and pulled it out. It just happened again last night. I also haven't seen a trochus snail i have in a while, and I think he got killed in the rocks by the pep shrimp too as he was last near there the last time i saw him.

Any thoughts on why or what I may do about it? I've read different things, but some older posts and info and am wondering if there is any more modern thoughts?

Cheers

Peppermint shrimp and most shrimp will only kill snails if they are hungry and they are especially dangerous to stressed snails. U should Target fed them so,What u r feeding them? U should keep them full or remove them if u want to keep snails. Some shrimp can become evil sometimes

Reefscape20g · Feb 17, 2023

When a peppermint or cleaner shrimp attacks a snail, there is most of the time something wrong with the snail. It could be sick or dying causing it to attract scavengers like the shrimp... If not, you just got an evil shrimp with a taste for snailblood.

slaag · Feb 17, 2023

KING KONG said:
Peppermint shrimp and most shrimp will only kill snails if they are hungry and they are especially dangerous to stressed snails. U should Target fed them so,What u r feeding them? U should keep them full or remove them if u want to keep snails. Some shrimp can become evil sometimes

I feed pretty heavy flakes right now. I don't want to remove the pep shrimp as he has been an absolute Aptasia assassin. Could I target feed him reef roids when I feed my coral once a week? How often do I target feed?

Thx for the help

slaag · Feb 17, 2023

diwit said:
Has anyone ever heard of a peppermint shrimp catching and eating a live nassarius snail? One of my peppermints was eating a miniature nassarius this morning and I'm wondering if it was already dead or if it's possible he caught it and ate it.

Mine did the same thing, I watched him attack a live one and got in the tank and move the snail. Several weeks later he killed it over night (I sit beside the tank working from home every day, so keep an eye on things). He killed a second one a couple of nights ago. I think he went after one of my Trochus snails too. There should be plenty of food for him to clean up.

see snails in both bottom right and left corners.