Peppermint shrimp

[ATinPGH]

I put a pair of peppermint shrimp in my tank a couple of months ago (Thanks Dave) and they have been great. About a week ago one of my Acans had a deep gash and looked terrible. Nothing was bothering it during the day but every morning it looked worse. I started looking in on the tank during the night and I saw a small white bug looking creature crawling over the Acan. I got him out with a turkey baster and disposed of him. Last night I saw another, slightly bigger, white creature on the Acan. When I got him out you could tell it was a baby shrimp.

I put him in my spare rock tank so we'll see how he does. My questions are is it normal for Peppermint Shrimp to breed in our tanks and how many babies can they have at one time?

Aaron

 

[Stray32]

To answer your questions, "Is it normal?" It probably happens quite often, but the offspring usually end up being fish food, so I am surprised you actually spotted one of them. As far as number... I am imagine it's quite a few, though as I said before, most of them have become fish food by now.

Good luck trying to raise the little guy. The tough part if going to be feeding him.

 

[Python73]

Chances are very strong that those were amphipods and not baby shrimp. Amphipods are in every tank and they are quite often blamed for killing/hurting/eating corals. They are scavengers and will be drawn to dying things in your tank.