Pest Or Prize?

[Vestri]

So we're cleaning our tank, and have found a bunch of the below animal hanging out in the gravel.  Should we be excited about having some volunteer fresh water shrimp species or horrified because we have an infestation of something nasty?
Help please?!

 

[bigcheed]

1. mmmm. they dont look like shrimp. maybe some type of hitch hiker of live plants. if they live in your gravel maybe ther beneficial.im thinking if these were free swimming your fish would just eat them anyway. I found a may fly larvae stalking my cherry shrimp not long after putting some new plants in the tank.

 

[stanleo]

I had something similar hitchhiking in a bag I brought home from the LFS. Someone on here IDed it as an amphipod. Said it was harmless and quite tasty!
 
Here is the link they gave me for an article on them. http/www.reefkeepi...09/rs/index.php

 

[Vestri]

Yeah, we do have live plants in the tank--so it's definitely possible that's how they were introduced.  There' are tons of these things so I don't think the fish are interested.