Little shrimp in clam?

[vetteguy53081]

DSC is correct- food thief.

 

[BloopFish]

The thread kind of made me curious, so when I shucked a dozen oysters yesterday and found a couple pea crabs/oyster crabs I decided to throw them in a container in the tank to see what would happen. They've been in the tank for almost a day now. I'm assuming they will die after a while.

 

[DSC reef]

I believe their survivability would increase with a host.

 

[BloopFish]

I believe their survivability would increase with a host.

Yeah, that I would assume also... but thats not happening - not going to give something a parasite intentionally lol, I'm just curious to see how it behaves outside of a host and what I might manage to make it eat.

 

[DSC reef]

Yeah, that I would assume also... but thats not happening - not going to give something a parasite intentionally lol, I'm just curious to see how it behaves outside of a host and what I might manage to make it eat.

Very cool, I'm interested in seeing how long they live too. Keep us updated.

 

[BloopFish]

Very cool, I'm interested in seeing how long they live too. Keep us updated.

Yes, will definitely try to. I tried to feed it a chopped seafood blend, but I'm not sure if they ate any of it. Will try again and with perhaps other foods.

 

[BloopFish]

Its been a few days since I added the pea crabs into a plastic container floating in the tank (theoretically they shouldn't care about space since they live in an oyster for their entire life lol). I have yet to visually see a feeding response from them - but they are indeed still alive. They are also VERY bad at walking, they also look very creepy and spider like when they do try to.

 

[jda]

If it is clearish with some spots, then it is a symbiotic shrimp. These used to come in all the time on wild clams, but not so much with smaller AQ ones.

I had a trio of larger (8 ish inches) T. Noae that had pairs in them that you could easily see when they were open.

 

[Blknovass]

That is awesome!

 

[Terri Caton]

When I see these kinds of posts I always think they’re like, “I have a “friend “...lol

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Its been a few days since I added the pea crabs into a plastic container floating in the tank (theoretically they shouldn't care about space since they live in an oyster for their entire life lol). I have yet to visually see a feeding response from them - but they are indeed still alive. They are also VERY bad at walking, they also look very creepy and spider like when they do try to.

Haven't seen these guys before.

 

[BloopFish]

Haven't seen these guys before.

They're found in oysters, mostly from oysters grown near wild ones and in slightly warmer waters (compared to the very cold waters of some of the east coast). Sometimes you'll even find them in mussels and other bivalves.

Speaking of which, these two died today. It seems like they weren't eating any of the food I was giving it. Since they last so long, I don't think temperature was the main issue, more likely the food source. However, the temperature could have been a component to speed up their death. Since they steal food from their host oyster, I have no clue what you could feed these.

 

[West1]

Any scientific name on the shrimp?
I'm not finding any info on "clam shrimp"

 

[BloopFish]

Any scientific name on the shrimp?
I'm not finding any info on "clam shrimp"

Two species I've heard of are Conchodytes tridacnae and Anchistus miersi.

Cheers