mud shrimp care

JAWS 32 · Feb 17, 2016

Hi,

I picked up this awesome shrimp from the LFS, which after much research, I think I ID'd him as a type of mud shrmp..(if I am wrong, please let me know!)(the LFS said he was a white snapping shrimp) Here is a quick video of him.. currently he is in my 20 gallon sump/fuge.. I am a very short time away from transferring my current 75 gallon tank to a 125 gallon w/ a 33 long sump/fuge... I (well actually hubby) am DIYing the fuge/sump and considering I do not need much space in there for equipment, I want to make the fuge the biggest part to accomondate this shrimp... he has made lots of tunnels as of now..
Unfortunately there is not a whole lot of info regarding these guys, especially in captivaty...
I am curious to know if anyone has any input/experience regarding him... I put some mysis/Larry's fish frenzy in there as well as some green seaweed for him(not sure exactly what he is actually eating though)..
I would love my new fufe to be ideal for him.. all I know I am going to do for sure so far is give him a little deeper sand bed.. he seems to enjoy tunneling and changing his openings every night..
Thanks!!

saltyfilmfolks · Feb 17, 2016

Thats very very cool. shrimp are opportunists. they hunt & scavenge. I probably wouldn't trust him in the DT, But I dont trust shrimp in general.

@Wiz
a man after our own heart.

Wiz · Feb 17, 2016

That thing is very cool! The way that claw looks it does appear to be some type of snapping shrimp. But who cares really it's definitely cool

JAWS 32 · Feb 18, 2016

Thx salty and wiz!
I am not going to put him in the DT..I currently have two pistol's in there right now ...I am going to make the new fuge his home.. I only need a section of it for a drain line w/ a filter sock ( I will also put my skimmer return line in there as well) and a small section for my return pump...the rest of it will be dedicated to him.. If I cannot find specific info on him, I will do my best at trying to figure him out..
He does appear similar to a pistol w/ the enlarged claw, but mud shrimp also have that too... Not to sure what my pistol's do under their rocks in the DT as far as tunnels, but this guy, makes tunnels every where..he has two that go along the front of the tank and it is so cool to see him when he scurries by... sometimes he is upside down..my kids get a big kick out of him

JAWS 32 · Aug 22, 2016

When I upgraded tanks, I decided to put my mud shrimp, Flurrie, in the DT. He has a whole labrynith in the sand on one side of the tank, Never bothering anyone in the DT. However I came across a rather peculiar situation. I noticed awhile ago, one of my pistol shrimps live with him in his tunnels. Now the weird part, I haven't seen my purple firefish for a couple of days and was kind of getting a little worried that he died. Low and behold, I was checking on my mud shrimp and I saw Brutus, my firefish , swimming by in the tunnels.. I was very relieved he was still alive, but I noticed that the pistol shrimp closed all the openings by the rock on the top of the sand, with my firefish in there..Should I intervene, and make a hole so my firefish can get out? Or give it another day or two and see if he comes out on his own.