help ??praying mantis??? in my tank

[fishhaven]

O.K. they are not Praying Mantis. But what are they and how do I get rid of them. I have hundreds and climbing.

They are 1/4" - 1/2" and crawl around like an inch worm then grasp on with their back pincher like legs and stand up in the water. Very UGLY!!!!!!

 

[Sk8r]

Those are a new one. Do you know the origin of your rock?

 

[fishhaven]

SHAME. I collected some out of Tampa Bay, beacause it had some nice Algaes and sponges.

 

[Sk8r]

Hmmm. A brief walk through saltcorner.com's invert section (and the fact it has legs) suggests it's a shrimp, maybe a hydroid shrimp. If so, it shouldn't hurt anything. Visit the site and see if anything in the crustacean listings looks like it. Some shrimp come in unbelieveable shapes.

 

[fishhaven]

I have an angel and a Copper Butterfly they won't even look at them. How can I get rid of them.
???

 

[Sk8r]

ohho!. You can certainly pick up some 'rarely seen in the trade' types that way. Take a look at saltcorner. You can id almost anything with enough patience. The sense of it all says that stray tiny shrimp usually end up being eaten, but these certainly are a curiosity.

 

[Sk8r]

Mmmm. I'd ask the Invert forum, which has just been reconstituted. I'd say they may die out due to lack of food source, unless they adapt to flake or the like. These random hitchhikers usually fade out due to want of what they eat...

On the other hand, you usually find them riding in on what they like to eat. Fortunately these came with rock.

Maybe you could breed them? (sorry---couldn't resist that.)

What does do in shrimp, if that's what it is, is a sudden change in salinity. But resist the impulse until you have an id.

 

[fishhaven]

sk8r, You were right. I found it under amphipods, on Saltcorner.com. Caprellid linearis, common name ghost shrimp. But I thought Ghost Shrimp was just another name for grass Shrimp. Anyways, I swear now I have three times as many as before. These things multiply like Gremlins, kind of look like the evil ones too. Guess I'll just try to syphon off as many as I can.

 

[Paul79936]

I would think a hawkfish would make short work of them. They are more commonly known as skeleton shrimp.

http://www.mbayaq.org/efc/living_species/default.asp?hOri=1&inhab=521