Ostracods

[twofish]

Hi fish friends,
I feel dumb, however, what are "Ostracods' OR "Seed Shrimp"? I have Bamboo Shrimp, CRS, Cherry Shrimp and Skunk Shrimp all living happily together with Assassin snails. Proudly to report no deaths in months! I have noticed in the past few months these little tiny bluish/grey kinda circular, good swimmers, many legs, looks like a tiny crayfish. They mold, they are found swimming or buried in the sand, found them in the filter also. Found about 5-6 so far. Sorry no photo, will try to get a camera and submit. About a year ago, I had purchased some "blue shrimp" from the LFS, but they either died or are hiding. Did not look like these fellas. I saw in a Forum the words I'm asking about. What do you think these creatures are? None of the other shrimps look or act sick, in fact they are growing like a teenager, fast. Eat, molt,poop,play,fight,sleep and swim. Thanks for any advice

 

[Donya]

I have moved this thread from the species index section.

what are "Ostracods' OR "Seed Shrimp"?

Ostracods are small, roundish Crustaceans. They are not actually shrimp. Just go to google images and type in "ostracod" and you'll get lots of pictures.

 

[Mikaila31]

Yeah they are very tiny. They look kinda similar to daphnia, not very shrimp like at all. They have a clam like shell and its really hard to see what they look like with out some strong magnification. I had some in a bare fishless tank for over a month, they just kinda appeared. They were a bit interesting, but I eventually added fish and they all got eatten

 

[twofish]

Hey! I did google this creature & to my suprize I learned a lot, it was on the ask site. Videos, pics. So relieved they won't harm my Bamboo Shrimp! I thought I was dealing with a chromosome issue. I guess that's why they call me a newbie, Ha!

So much to learn, it's a great hobby? or way of life!