What Is This

[twofish]

I keep hearing the word "seed shrimp", is this a joke or is there a seed shrimp? My LFS, where I buy all my Bamboo, Cherry,CRS and Skunk Shrimp doesn't know what it is either. Is there such a creature? Thanks for anyone responding

 

[snazy]

Yep, the other name of seed shrimp is ostracods.
I got a small infestation of them just after the tank cycled

They were there for quite a while cohabiting with 3 red rili shrimp without the tank being fed anything at all so certainly it wasn't overfeeding but they are harmless and even beneficial. They disappeared when I got cory fry in the tank.

 

[twofish]

thanks snazy! It's comforting to know this isn't gonna hurt my Bamboos! They have such a short lifespan(Bamboos) in the tank I would of felt horrible to know these ostracods were harming them. Odd, is it, that I'm so attached to these Bamboo Shrimp, I guess the kids are off to college and the shrimp moved in

!

 

[snazy]

It's normally caused by some left overs, either food or decaying matter. Mine was probably the driftwood as the top layer kind of fell off and I wasn't putting any food at all for months. The shrimp went mad eating it too when I added them. From what I know, ostracods are good for cleaning the tank and they are not dangerous to absolutely any inverts we keep in tanks. They can't be killed too because they have a defense mechanism to lock themselves in the shell in bad conditions so don't even try chemicals, nothing will work. They are just ugly but good little things

 

[CezzaXV]

thanks snazy! It's comforting to know this isn't gonna hurt my Bamboos! They have such a short lifespan(Bamboos) in the tank I would of felt horrible to know these ostracods were harming them. Odd, is it, that I'm so attached to these Bamboo Shrimp, I guess the kids are off to college and the shrimp moved in

!

I dont know how long bamboo shrimp usually live for, but I've had mine for over a year, even after making the mistake of adding him to a freshly cycled tank. I don't know how long you mean by short, but if they're dying in your tank then something is up.

 

[twofish]

well from the research i have done, in a tank, Bamboos live 3 years tops, much longer in the wild. From what i understand it's quite difficult to breed them, the larvae need brackish conditions to survive. The longest one of mine that has survived, is 2 years. It got pretty big, 2 1/2 inches. He was slowing down, just sitting around fanning all day then he looked like about to molt and he died. He was a more stricking brown body with a very bright white stripe on his back, I don't think he was stressed but again he never told me why he died