will a 1.5 in. emerald crab eat peppermint shrimp?

[odie]

I suspect my emerald crab (recent hitch hiker on some live rock) is eating my peppermint shrimp. Is this possible and should I keep the crab or shrimp?
thanks

 

[bowfront]

I believe thats what reduced my peppermint shrimp population to zero a while back. Never really caught an emereral in the act but they are highly suspect.

 

[Deep Sixx]

Peppermint shrimp are completely reef safe... you're probably thinking of Camel-back shrimp. They look similar and are often referred (incorrectly) to as peppermint shrimp.

A crab will probably "try" to catch a pep if it's hungry enough, but shrimp can move pretty darn fast when they want to, so I doubt it. If the shrimp was sick or already hurt however, that's another story.

D6

 

[odie]

thanks everyone

 

[cgbexec]

Hi All!!

I have 2 Pepermint shrimp, 2 coral banded shrimp, and 3 orange spiny looking crabs. The only thing I have caught the pep's doing wrong is picking at the Zenia which I don't mind, as it grows like a weed. The Coral Banded shrimp seem to mind there own buisness other than swinging a claw at a fish passing to close. They are two slow to catch anything. The orange spiny looking crabs were hitch hikers on the live rock. They are terrors. They have declawed the coral banded shrimp more than once. They un-plant my Macro and move rocks. I killed one yesterday and cut it up and fed it to the tank. Wait till I catch the other 2!!!!!!

Chris

 

[pathos]

yeah saying they're not reef-safe is a bit much. they are reef-safe, but I know they munch on aptasias, and suspect them of eating xenia. deep sixx you may be right, what I have in my tank could be camelbacks, they sure look like peps with no hump on their back, but i'm no expert either. all I know is they are aggressive eaters and scavengers and need to be fed heavily to prevent them from eating things you do not wnt them to. IMHO my tank will be none the worse off with them absent, probably better for my desires which is more of a full softie underwater garden than rocky coral reef.

 

[pathos]

not really sure. i have an emerald and a strawberry crab in my tank - both about 1" and they never seem to touch the peps. wish they would as i can't catch the suckers to banish them to the sump. as you can see i'm not a big fan of peps. IMO they are not reef safe, but i'm sure others will tell you different.

 

[salefen]

Why is a peppermint shrimp not reef safe?

A crab is a crab and they will try to crab anything they can at anytime and if they happen to catch it look out. But they won't hunt it down and kill it but if it comes to close to them they will.