Peppermint shrimp addition to a new tank

[spanko]

Hello all, I am new to reefing and enjoy this site very much. I have a 29 gallon Oceanic Bio Cube in stock condition, no modiifications with the exception of the addition of a small (250 gph) powerhead for movement. 20 lbs. of live aragonit sand, 9 lbs of Tofa rock and 9 lbs of cured live rock. tank was put up on Monday Jan and filled with water and rock on Tuesday, 2 crabs and 2 snails on Wednesday, 3 crabs, 3 snails and a small black and whit clownfish. Today is Friday, all tests are normal (ph 8.3, Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate nonexistant) I was told by the LFS owner whom I have known for years that he would not expect any big spikes or even a cyclying with all of the lives sand and rock added.
My question is when should I add a peppermint shrimp? I am really on the defense about keeping out aiptasia and want to be in a first strike mode.

 

[trido]

:welcome:

Personally, I wouldnt put a peppermint shrimp in a 29G tank. You will be limited on the number of inhabitants you can put in there for one reason. Another is that they are reclusive and more nocturnal. Third, there is no guarantee that they even will eat your aptasia.
With a tank your size You can easily use some joes juice and tackle the problem before it get out of hand.

For example, I have a 120G tank. I had a peppermint shrimp and I left the aptasia for it to eat. It did a great job of eating all the aptasia in the display tank. It died. I put two small peppermint shrimp in and they dont touch the aptasia. I have to use joes juice on the ones I can reach.

If you stare at your new tank alot. And trust me you will. You should easily be able to nuke all of the aptasia before you have any problems.

Of course this is JMO.

 

[spanko]

Thanx Trido, I had just heard to expect aiptasia and that the peppermint was the fist line biological defense. if i see any i will try some Joes Juice.