I've Got This Prawn Thing...

[PlecMama]

Ok, I'm sorry, I have no idea what this thing is, the pet shop called it a shrimp and that's all they could tell me about it except for he'd be fine with all my existing trops. I'm ashamed to come here and give such a crap description of him but try to overlook that and help him since he's here now and I've committed to owning him, I need to do the best I can for him.

I bought him because he's cool and I liked him. He's a tropical shrimp and he's see-through. So that could be just about anything really....

The problem here is that someone seems to have been bullying him, he's certainly been in the wars anyway.

I just noticed he's shed his skin and I was looking for him to see how much bigger he is and when I found him, he's lost an eye, several legs and a claw

He has all his "walking" legs, the little short ones, but he used to have these long feely legs too, and he had a pair of tiny two pronged pincers and now he only has one and three legs.

Does anyone know if they'll grow back? I know this may be nigh-on impossible without knowing what he is, but as a rough idea, do some of them regenerate lost limbs or are they gone for good?

I have moved him to our delicate tank now, he only has 6 tetras, 4 cories, 2 baby snails and two little Snowball plecs in there so hopefully he will get a break now. I feel so bad for him, poor old thing, he's so delicate and pretty. Can anyone offer some advice?

 

[Bloo]

I can't really tell you what it is. But I can tell you that the lost limbs will grow back.

But I can also tell you that if it has "pincers" it's going to nab and harm your smaller fish (as soon as all the bits grow back and he's feeling better) in your "delicate" tank

 

[PlecMama]

Ok, thank you. I'm so glad that the body parts are not gone for ever how about the eye?

Will he bother the neons? they are the smallest things. The others, corie cats, plecs, are way to big to get eaten by him (at least for a long time anyway) will it catch and eat my tetras?

There are no babies in this tank, it's just for our pretty little spots (snowball plecs), they got lost in the big 6ft, we didn't see them from one week to the next so we moved them in here and shoved some cories and tetras in for company.

 

[soritan]

http/www.petshrimp.com/index.html

Great, single stop pet shrimp source.

I'm guessing you most likely have some type of Macrobrachium... I used to have nightmares I would accidently be sold these in place of Ghost Shrimp. Did he have little pinchy fingers, or actual claw looking things?

See-through could mean just about anything. If you're "lucky" (and he isn't), he'll just be a ghost shrimp.

This is my very ugly picture of what my ghost shrimps looked like:

And he's a far cry from this. Think of them as you would crabs or lobster, they eat what they can catch.


... on the bright side, shrimps are cool, aren't they? I miss having them around, but all 3 of my tanks have ruthless shrimp murderers in them (bettas), and I dare not add more lest they become cocktail fodder.

 

[ncjharris]

ha ha ha -- off topic, but great diagram!!

 

[soritan]

Thank you. That diagrahm has always had mixed results among my peers, even with myself. Even I find myself thinking, "It's hideous!.... O,O It's perfect!"

I should watermark it in case it becomes one of those internet things.

 

[PlecMama]

http/www.petshrimp.com/images/ghostfemale.jpg this one here (wont post the pic cos I didn't get his permission) is the closest I can find to mine. Except mine has jet black bobbly eyes (eye).

He has little skinny claws, like as if you made "scissors" with your fingers, not like if you used your whole hand including your thumb to make "crab claws" - kwim?

I love your picture. I think it has potential to become one of those "internet things" you should market it as a logo.

 

[CoolWater]

Thats a Ghost shrimp (sometimes called a glass or grass shrimp as well)

They are totally harmless to all fish and fry, but can be the subject to attacks from bigger fish.

 

[PlecMama]

Yes, poor thing, so he found out. So much for "he'll be fine with all your fish".

He's pretty quick, he darts about, I wonder who could catch him to be eating on him? probably the gouramis, they are pecky little buggers with everything including each other

 

[barbiedoll]

not able to help with ID except that anything with pinchers/claws is a predator and sooner or later will try to make a meal of something living in your tank - snail/fish/small child....

BTW: I noticed that my shrimp have mostly shed their skins the first night with me - like yours - could this be in response to change in water perameters? anyone? I have Crust the Cameroon armoured shrimp - giant fan shrimp - amazing guy/girl(how to tell?) and 6 Armani/algae/japonica shrimp named after Japanese motorbikes... who are busy clearing up my guppy fry tank of all algae. Saw them cleaning their own tails today by curling them under their bodies and giving them a good going over with loadsa legs! - again - no pinchers.

 

[PlecMama]

Oh no! Derrick's a girl! He's got a whole big bunch of eggs on him - ok, "her" - now what am I going to call her? I'll start a new thread....

 

[Bloo]

Darla ! Good luck

 

[soritan]

Are the eggs a nice, bright green color?

 

[marapets]

Are the eggs a nice, bright green color?

good luck darla

 

[PlecMama]

Yes, light green, is she ok? are they supposed to be green? now I'm worried.

What do you do with a sick shrimp anyway, damn they're all arms and legs at the best of times, you couldn't even really pick one up for fear of snapping something.

I'm not expecting shrimplets, since Derrick has been on her own since at least the begining of April, but I hope she's ok, you've got me worried now