Peppermint Shrimp Are Aggressive?!

My boyfriends has a tank with two clown fish and some snails. The Algae had been getting super bad so we figured what the harm in adding some shrimp to clean. He got two peppermint Shrimp and so far they seem territorial and unafraid of anything but the light. He had some Turbo snails and some little black snails and the shrimp clean the turbo snail but literally pounce on the black snails, kill and eat them.
I don't know anything about salt water but is this normal shrimp behavior?! Kinda worried about the tank right now cuz one shrimp is pregnant.

 

stella1979 Culprit Nart

Lemme call some help

 

I don't have experience with peps, but they are carnivorous, and well... you've seen the aggression in action! Many aquarists love their braveness, and they might even clean your hand, but it all depends on what you're looking for and it doesn't appear that these guys are going to peacefully coexist for you. Also, again, a carnivore, so they will do nothing to help with algae. So uhhh, perhaps you should trade them in for a good algae eater like an emerald and/or some hermit crabs. Be careful with hermits though! Not all are reef safe, meaning that some eat corals, so best stick with reef safe species if that's a concern. Also, they will kill snails for their shells, but this behavior can be limited by offering them empty shells that they don't have to kill anyone for.

Speaking of snails, banded trochus snails are absolute beasts on fuzzy algae types, like diatoms and the green stuff that grows on the glass, while the crabs are what you want for hair algae. Emerald crabs, in particular, will eat GHA as well as varieties that other critters won't touch, so they are what you're looking for when dealing with things like bryopsis and/or bubble algae.

 

Yes, peppermint shrimp can be pests under certain circumstances (hence why I stick with a cleaner shrimp). Most people get them to help control aiptasia, but algae control isn't really their strong suit. Snails are far more effective (particularly Trochus or Turbo snails).

 

Yes, peppermint shrimp can be pests under certain circumstances (hence why I stick with a cleaner shrimp). Most people get them to help control aiptasia, but algae control isn't really their strong suit. Snails are far more effective (particularly Trochus or Turbo snails).

I am really confused... I get they eat meat but they've actually been doing a fantastic job cleaning the algae. The live rock was almost totally green and they sit on it for hours picking on it and it's looking much better. I mean boyfriend didn't really care about those black snails cuz they weren't doing much anyways was just a shock to see it attack a snail. ( I am use to docile freshwater shrimp). He likes the shrimp and they are pretty cool this was just more for my curiosity as I have no saltwater experience.
Does anyone have any recommendations about what to do with the babies? The female has a ton of eggs on her swimmeret, the tank isn't big enough to keep all of them.
I also have some beef heart (Chunks of actual meat, not the flakes) that I feed my Lobster, the Shrimp will be fine eating that?

 

Fed some a little bit of Beef Heart and they attacked it so fast. It was pretty cool and fun feeding them actually. These shrimp are pretty cool.

 

In general marine life tend to be more aggressive since there is more competition. Even my cleaner shrimp tried making a snack out of my Mexican Turbo (Turbo was too big for it to do much though):

 

So you might want to address the underlying issue for the algae problem. Test the Nitrates and Phosphates.
Generally, banded trochus snails, emerald crabs, and blue rock/scarlett hermit crabs should be all you need to clean up the algae.

Peppermint shrimps are good for aiptasia pest, I would give them back to the store if you don't have a need for the shrimp.

 

So you might want to address the underlying issue for the algae problem. Test the Nitrates and Phosphates.
Generally, banded trochus snails, emerald crabs, and blue rock/scarlett hermit crabs should be all you need to clean up the algae.

Peppermint shrimps are good for aiptasia pest, I would give them back to the store if you don't have a need for the shrimp.

They look cool and are doing nicely in the tank and they are cleaning the algae despite that people say they aren't cleaners. They pick the algae off the turbo snails and clean off tuffs of algae. They pick at the rock and have cleaned it up so it looks 100x better now. There was an algae bloom issue a awhile back and this is all left over from that. We also discovered that when we keep the blue light on the algae grows faster for some reason so we don't turn it on any more. Since then the algae issue has been better under control. This tank will also have coral in it at some point just need to get the thing a bit more coral ready.
As for the shrimp, they aren't causing any problems and have already molted and seem healthy. Probably look at other options further down the road but until then they can call this home.

 

Never kept the peppermints, but I had a skunk cleaner and he was a perfect model citizen, he never hurt anything. But one story that's kinda cool is I had a bug infestation of boxelder bugs and they kept getting into my tank, and one night I looked and the shrimp was eating one. It was pretty cool