another ID needed lol

The black one is probably Haptosquilla glyptocerus. It won't get much bigger and isn't a threat to anything you're likely to keep in a reef or fish-only tank. It will hide in a little cavity and just yank mysis and other meaty bits from the water column. It might take out tiny snails, but anything that you're likely to keep for "cleanup duty" (astraea, turbo, cerith snails; blue- or scarlet-leg hermits) will be "safe enough".

The brown one is one I can't recognize definitively from the pics that you provide, although I suspect Gonodactylellus viridis from the color, and that it shares it's range with H. glyptocerus. Do you know where it came from? Also, if you could get pics of the tail (straight down from the back), and the inside of the smashers (look for colored spots), they would help greatly with identification. In any case, it's not any of the "tear the tank apart" species (peacock, etc).

Dan
 
they aren't mine - I want to have one though lol - we thought the black one was actually viridis and unfortunately the LR was sourced from 'all over'. I'll see about pics.

thanks
 
The brown one would appear to be G. viridis. The black one is definitely a gonodactylid, not a haptosquillid. It could be another viridis, but my gut tells me that it will have purple meral spots.

Roy
 
I'm not sure what you mean. The animal appears to be looking for a cavity. They will often explore depressions and try to use the maxillipeds to dig out material that might be blocking entrance to a cavity.

Roy
 
Gosh, I guess I still have lots to learn about IDs. Dr. Roy, what morphology makes you certain it's a gonodacylid? I'd love to learn.
 
Back
Top