Baby Pep Shrimp??

[Meggie2409]

So tonight after I got done feeding I decided to take a seat in front of my tank and started to see A TON of little creatures in my sand bed... So I started to really pay attention and they look to be baby shrimp. Now saying this I can not get a pic of them due to they are VERY fast but they have the segmented tail like a shrimp and have the fork at the end... I do have 3 adult peps in my system right now... It looks like they are eating new larvae and my pods are feasting too... So what should I look for to see if they are actually pep shrimp???

 

[acanlord2000]

its probably pep shrimp. I had it happen in my tank as well.. everything will eat good tonight

 

[BeanMachine]

I doubt you are seeing baby peppermint shrimp. Most likely some other type of isopod or copepod... Some look like little shrimps.

 

[Meggie2409]

Well now that I have been watching and took a magnify glass out they have the strips like my peps do too... Its fun to watch, I see 3 diff types of critters.. there are some tiny tiny specs that the "shrimps" and pods are feasting on... When I say there are a lot, I mean hundreds of "shrimps" to 5-6 pods in an area... They wont come out in the light stay behind rocks in the shade.... I am going to see if I can get a pic.

 

[neoalchemist74]

Look at your adults and see if you can see greenish egg cluster under any of thier tails. They are hemaphroditic (both male and female) and they alternately spawn and fertilize one another. So another will be preggo and when that one releases the eggs then another will be preggo so on and so forth. Sorry but there is not much hope in raising them , they have a very long planktonic phase and every thing loves them for dinner. I had a pair of scarlet cleaner shrimp cycle spawn for about a year and then all of the sudden stop. Don't know why.

 

[Meggie2409]

@neoal thanks for the info... Actually I dont really want them to live lol I hop my angel and other fish/corals enjoy the feast.. The adult peps hardly come out anymore so cant really see if they have eggs or not but I will keep an eye out

 

[BeanMachine]

Check this out.

http://www.melevsreef.com/get_those_shots.html

 

[Meggie2409]

OMG Bean thank you!!!! Looking at those I def have baby peps but mine are surviving in the rocks and like I said are feasting on pin head size dots in the water I have smaller ones as well that look exactly like those pics! Woohoo at least I know now no nasties