what do the babies look like?

[unbreakable]

i have a feeling i might have some type of mantis shrimp in the tank but not for sure. i woke up one morning last week and looked in my tank, turned the actinics on and i saw this white clear thing going crazy back and forth.

i was like "something must be stuck to my powerhead." then i noticed it and it went straight to the glass and stayed there. so i looked closer and it was small, like half an inch, clear white body, and it seemed like it almost had pinchers, but i couldnt confirm it since i was half asleep and without glasses

anyways, when it saw me it swam super fast back into one of my live rocks where its never been seen again. i have been missing a couple of nice frags of zoanthinds that were loose, i figured they fell somewhere because my hermit crabs had knocked them over. ive been missing some hermit crabs but i know one time i saw one walking without its shell and saw my ywg eat it, so.........


am i confusing it with some type of pistol shrimp? the tank has been setup since like april of this year, and longer from some guy. i cant imagine having something for that long without noticing it

 

[justinl]

probably just an amphipod. a mantis "baby" is planktonic in nature (swims in the water column) and would have a near zero chance of survival in a home aquarium.

 

[Guygettnby]

i agree with justin. i had a pair of mantis that hatched eggs and unless you are really trying to keep them alive it is next to impossible to do in the home aquarium. i managed to keep 2-3 alive for about a week or so.

 

[Mr Stomato]

Here you go!
Mantis Larva in planktonic form

 

[unbreakable]

thanks for the link, but i think it must have been some kind of shrimp type thing. it was way too big. i saw the eyes, the two arms that looked like pinchers, its tail, etc but it was for a few seconds

 

[Mr Stomato]

It's also possible to be confused with a skeleton shrimp. Perhaps a small one.

 

[unbreakable]

it was a chunky one. i was kind of thinking it may have come from one of my clams