Tiny Shrimp Terrorizes Aquarium

"Thumb Splitter" is no joke either. I've seen pictures of people's fingers hit by these guys and it's not pretty! They're beautiful creatures though...when kept in their own tank.

those things are so cool, ive been wanting to set up a tank for one of those for a while now.

This guy came in on my live rock last night. Sorry it's not a better pic. He is so cool, but will wreak havoc unless I get him out. Tonight I hope to get him out of his hole and into the sump. I have a spare 10 gallon that will be perfect (assuming the little bugger doesn't break it).

mogurnda said:

Tonight I hope to get him out of his hole and into the sump.

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Errmmm, mind your fingers....maybe on of those mesh shark gloves would be a wise invesment......

Fishsmurf said:

Errmmm, mind your fingers...

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I thought that's why I have 10 (so far).

mogurnda said:

This guy came in on my live rock last night. Sorry it's not a better pic. He is so cool, but will wreak havoc unless I get him out. Tonight I hope to get him out of his hole and into the sump. I have a spare 10 gallon that will be perfect (assuming the little bugger doesn't break it).

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Good luck. It took me almost 2 weeks to get mine out of my tank. That little guy was just reeking all kinds of havoc. He kept killing my snails and crabs. I just glad he is gone.

Good Luck,
Dave

it's pretty amazing at the destruction they can cause while looking so unusually cool..... my sister almost bought one on purpose a few months ago until I told her to hold off, do some homework on that guy first and THEN decide if he's cool enough to go in the tank.

mantis

I actually just read a very interesting article about the shrimp.

We have one in our live rock bin at the store. We always double check before selling the rock to make sure that it's not hitching a ride for some poor cunstomers tank.

The article talked about one fellow who had to catch one in his tank. The first couple of traps were destoryed by the little bugger. When he finally caught the thing it split his finger something fierce. The picture was unbelieveable.
After it was caught and the guy bandaged himself up it was placed in a ten gallon tank. One night about a week after it was put in his new home the guy got home from a late night dinner to find the shrimp on the floor dead and the tank smashed out on one side.

Needless to say after reading the article we now do a double check on the rock before it leaves the store.

Well, here it is, and my fingers are still intact. It's in the refugium right now, but will get its own tank when I get a little time to set it up. Note that it's a "smasher," with clubs on the ends of its appendages. Now it's time to figure out what species.