Baby shrimp? Aiptasia?

WateryWorld

WateryWorld

Girl out of water
Oct 27, 2008
150
0
0
Louisville KY
I have a small tank that's been sitting a while. Mostly just rock and sand, no light.

Now I am thinking of adding a large damsel to the tank, temporarily. But the tank has tiny clear shrimp and I don't want the fish to eat them all. They can hide under the rock, but will the fish eat as many as he can? Maybe I need to put him in a different tank instead.

Also can I do something to make the shrimp breed faster? It would be cool if I had many and could feed them to fish in my main tank.

Also there's aiptasia that's colorless. Or is that something else? I thought they may be colorless due to almost no light.
 
If they are ghost shrimp then there is a good chance they will be eaten by the damsel. Can't offer much help on the breeding.

Aptasia are typically a brown color but some are a bit transparent. Likely what you have but could also be a feather duster. Might want to google a pic just to be sure before you kill it/them.
 
Well, Aptasia are called "Glass" Nems, so it may well be one. Does it look like this? DSCF0402.jpg

If so, then it is indeed an Aptasia.

As for the shrimp critters, are you sure they are shrimp? If they are glass shrimp, as greech believes, they will breed on their own, but not as quickly as a fish will eat them. If you want something that will not be eaten, but will eat Aptasia, try peppermint shrimp, they do eat Aptasia, in general.

DSCF0402.jpg
 
I have aiptasia in my other tank, and I shared some water between them, so aiptasia makes sense. They look exactly like aiptasia, and are sticking to the glass in the same way, but they're clear. I wonder if they will gain color when I add light back. I'm thinking of adding light now.

No, not sure they are shrimp... they are probably some kind of thing that stays small. The shape, legs, and how they crawl around looks like shrimp. The water in there is somewhat cold, so it's something that will breed without light and heat. I bet they would hide if there's light.
 
you have an interesting riddle... what's clear, lives in SW, doesn't need light or heat, and looks like shrimp but may not be shrimp... hmm... it would really help to get pics of these "shrimp" of yours.

As for the aiptasia, I agree, they will likely gain coloration when they get lighting. BTW, I have never seen aiptasia to stick to the glass of my tank.
 
The "shrimp" might gain color with light too. Hm, they are so small but maybe I will try for a pic.

Some of my normal colored aiptasia have lived on the glass.

I went ahead and squirted the clear aiptasia with Joe's Juice.
 
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