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Robbo85

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HELP!
 
i have just got a couple of small pieces of coral and have found two things on it that i cant identify.
 
first is a brown little shell or pod that is attached to the piece of live rock that the coral came on. its egg shapped and has a seam running down its middle.
 
DSCF3986.jpg

 
second is a shrimp that i can only get a photo of its molting but i saw it running round the bag, it was about a cm long clear and thin.
 
DSCF3983.jpg
 
Hi :) Sorry, I know nothing about saltwater.  After a bit of searching around the internet, do you think the shrimp could be a "glass shrimp"? http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+525+2858&pcatid=2858
 
It's really tricky though bc he could be very colorful, but being transported will make them pale, and you said also he's molting, so that too makes it even harder. So he could maybe be a peppermint shrimp too. http://www.aquacon.com/shrimp.html
 
I have no idea about that weird little barnacle thing lol sorry! Hopefully one of the sw ppl comes along and sheds some light on this for you! It's saturday so that's probably why it's taking a bit :)
 
I'm having a hard time telling what's going on in both photos, particularly the second. Usually true shrimp are rare hithhikers on LR. Regardless of the exact ID, as long as it is not a mantis shrimp (google image search if you're unfamiliar with them - they are pretty uniquely bizarre looking) it is likely to be fine in the tank. The most common things I've seen shrimp-wise as hitchiikers besides mantis, pistol, and mysis shrimp (the first and third of which are "shrimp" by name only) are very similar-looking to the fresh and brackish Palaemonetes (the exact IDs on what I've seen before are escaping me right now).
 
For the first animal, is it embedded in the rock or just on top of it? Can you get a pic from a different angle?
 
Donya said:
I'm having a hard time telling what's going on in both photos, particularly the second. Usually true shrimp are rare hithhikers on LR. Regardless of the exact ID, as long as it is not a mantis shrimp (google image search if you're unfamiliar with them - they are pretty uniquely bizarre looking) it is likely to be fine in the tank. The most common things I've seen shrimp-wise as hitchiikers besides mantis, pistol, and mysis shrimp (the first and third of which are "shrimp" by name only) are very similar-looking to the fresh and brackish Palaemonetes (the exact IDs on what I've seen before are escaping me right now).
 
For the first animal, is it embedded in the rock or just on top of it? Can you get a pic from a different angle?
Not too worried about the shrimp, as you said unless its a mantis I'm sure it's fine.

It's the other thing I'm worried about, can't find anything it looks like on the Internet.

No more photos until tomorrow as I'm out now.

It's stuck on the rock, I can wiggle it with tweezers and could pull it off if I forced it. It's hard like a shell. And about a cm wide. Could it be a crab tucked in? Don't know anything about them really.
 
It doesn't look very crab-like to me. Looks very Bivalve-like (like viewing a clam from the side) and there are plenty of clam-like things that bore into rocks and grow like that, but the break in texture and color is rather odd for that - makes me wonder if I'm interpreting the shape right. On the other hand, I can't think of very many other things that would match the description. I guess an unusual type of barnacle is another possibility but I'm not seeing the shell shape for that.
 
Donya said:
It doesn't look very crab-like to me. Looks very Bivalve-like (like viewing a clam from the side) and there are plenty of clam-like things that bore into rocks and grow like that, but the break in texture and color is rather odd for that - makes me wonder if I'm interpreting the shape right. On the other hand, I can't think of very many other things that would match the description. I guess an unusual type of barnacle is another possibility but I'm not seeing the shell shape for that.
It is kind of clam shaped but a orange brown colour , it's a puzzler
 
I have about 5 of those varying in size in my tank. They open up like a mussel and have filter type fan that comes partially out of the two halves. They also close when disturbed. They actually moved around my tank until they found a spot that they liked. They are also two different colors. The one that is the same color as yours and the rest are darker. The darker ones have all gathered together in a small cave. The lighter one is on it's own. Seems that they have no desire to be together.
I'm not sure if this helps because you still don't know what it is. All I know is that they have not harmed my tank in any way.

Regards,
Duncan
 
theoilartist said:
I have about 5 of those varying in size in my tank. They open up like a mussel and have filter type fan that comes partially out of the two halves. They also close when disturbed. They actually moved around my tank until they found a spot that they liked. They are also two different colors. The one that is the same color as yours and the rest are darker. The darker ones have all gathered together in a small cave. The lighter one is on it's own. Seems that they have no desire to be together.
I'm not sure if this helps because you still don't know what it is. All I know is that they have not harmed my tank in any way.
Regards,
Duncan
Thanks Duncan, that really does help, they are very muscle like, I almost described them as muscle like as my only muscle reference to muscle is eating them. Hopefully I will see him filter feeding soon. If not I dont know what I have.
 
They open up like a mussel and have filter type fan that comes partially out of the two halves.
 
That sounds like some type of barnacle, although the mobile nature is a bit odd. Do you have a picture?
 
That may a bit difficult because of their location. They have settled in places with an overhang of rock. The light colored one came in with some zoos that I bought. I didn't notice it at first but then I saw that it was changing position so thinking it was a dead shell getting dislodged by the flow I took it out the tank. It had fibers like a mussel on the hinge side. It's fatter and shorter than the mussels we have along our coast. I put it back into the water when I realised that it was some kind of mussel. Then I sat and watched with great amuzment as it moved along the rocks until it found it's spot. The darker ones have formed a group in a small cave, also hard to photograph. I accidentally got some aiptasiaX on one of them during my reacent aiptasia war at which point it forcefully blew the white paste out.
Regards,
Duncan
 
image.jpg
Sorry for the bad quality.
image.jpg
Here you can see the whole family together. Lol.
 

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