Anyone have experience with the Galapagos Cleaner Shrimp: Lysmata galapagensis??

[SauceyReef]

One of my local stores has some Galapagos Cleaner Shrimp available: Lysmata galapagensis. Does anyone have any experience with them?

- Are they reef safe?
- Are they capable of living a decent life in captivity?
- Do they need special tank requirements? Or will a standard mix reef 78 temp and 1.026 salinity work?

Any stories of experience with these would be awesome!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

No personal experience with them, so hopefully someone with experience will chime in for you here. That said, they're related to (and could potentially be considered to be a species of) peppermint shrimp, so until someone confirms one way or another, I'd guess reef safe with caution (a lot of people report peppermint shrimp eating/irritating corals).

I'd assume they can live a decent life in captivity as long as they're well fed, and I would assume they'll do fine in standard reef tank conditions (their type locality - the Galapagos Islands - have water temp ranging from 64F-87F depending on the season with an annual average of 75F and salinity that I've found from 33-35.5; of note, these guys range from the Galapagos north to Baja California, so they're on the tropical side of the Galapagos).

 

[Lavey29]

So your LFS doesn't have any knowledge of the shrimp they are selling? I know this is more common then we would expect. That looks like a species similar to different species of peppermint shrimp.

 

[SauceyReef]

No personal experience with them, so hopefully someone with experience will chime in for you here. That said, they're related to (and could potentially be considered to be a species of) peppermint shrimp, so until someone confirms one way or another, I'd guess reef safe with caution (a lot of people report peppermint shrimp eating/irritating corals).

I'd assume they can live a decent life in captivity as long as they're well fed, and I would assume they'll do fine in standard reef tank conditions (their type locality - the Galapagos Islands - have water temp ranging from 64F-87F depending on the season with an annual average of 75F and salinity that I've found from 33-35.5; of note, these guys range from the Galapagos north to Baja California, so they're on the tropical side of the Galapagos).

Appreciate you replying. Hoping the same thing. Lysmata also includes Skunk Cleaners and Blood Fire Cleaners, so we can not instantly assume they are similar to peppermints. From what I am reading online from the very few sources with info on them - they act as normal cleaners and like to be kept in groups.

So your LFS doesn't have any knowledge of the shrimp they are selling? I know this is more common then we would expect. That looks like a species similar to different species of peppermint shrimp.

I don't think I ever said the LFS doesn't have any knowledge on the shrimp. They told me the same thing I posted above to IspeakfortheSeas that I have seen a few vendors online say: "they act as normal cleaners but like to be kept in groups." But you know how Vendors and LFS's can be in terms of getting info right. Everything I am seeing is saying "reef safe", but that is what most vendors say for peppermints and those things are demons.

 

[SauceyReef]

I am definitely not going to risk adding one. I am a big fan of ornamental shrimp in the hobby and thought I would ask about these as there is very little info online about them.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Appreciate you replying. Hoping the same thing. Lysmata also includes Skunk Cleaners and Blood Fire Cleaners, so we can not instantly assume they are similar to peppermints. From what I am reading online from the very few sources with info on them - they act as normal cleaners and like to be kept in groups.

True - looking at their phylogeny a little more, it seems they're considered separate from both the peppermint shrimp (referred to in the link* below as the Tropical-American clade, though it has been referred to by other names in different studies) species and the cleaner shrimp (referred to as the Cleaner clade) species in the Lysmata genus; L. galapagensis is considered to be in the Cosmopolitan clade.

L. galapagensis is thought to be more closely related to the Cleaner clade species than the Tropical-American species, and they are reported to demonstrate cleaning behavior (though they're not considered specialized cleaners, so they likely don't clean as frequently as those of the Cleaner clade),**/*** so that does bode relatively well for them being reef safe.

They also reportedly do live in groups ("dense aggregations"),*** and they seem to prefer rocky bottom substrates (though they have been found on soft bottom substrates too).

So, it sounds like the info from your sources is relatively well supported by current scientific observations.

*Source:

Molecular systematics of peppermint and cleaner shrimps: phylogeny and taxonomy of the genera Lysmata and Exhippolysmata (Crustacea: Caridea: Hippolytidae)

Abstract. Shrimps from the ecologically diverse genera Lysmata and Exhippolysmata are rare among marine invertebrates because they are protandric simultaneous h

academic.oup.com

**Source:

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sfi-cybium.fr

***Source:

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decapoda.nhm.org

 

[SauceyReef]

True - looking at their phylogeny a little more, it seems they're considered separate from both the peppermint shrimp (referred to in the link* below as the Tropical-American clade, though it has been referred to by other names in different studies) species and the cleaner shrimp (referred to as the Cleaner clade) species in the Lysmata genus; L. galapagensis is considered to be in the Cosmopolitan clade.

L. galapagensis is thought to be more closely related to the Cleaner clade species than the Tropical-American species, and they are reported to demonstrate cleaning behavior (though they're not considered specialized cleaners, so they likely don't clean as frequently as those of the Cleaner clade),**/*** so that does bode relatively well for them being reef safe.

They also reportedly do live in groups ("dense aggregations"),*** and they seem to prefer rocky bottom substrates (though they have been found on soft bottom substrates too).

So, it sounds like the info from your sources is relatively well supported by current scientific observations.

*Source:

Molecular systematics of peppermint and cleaner shrimps: phylogeny and taxonomy of the genera Lysmata and Exhippolysmata (Crustacea: Caridea: Hippolytidae)

Abstract. Shrimps from the ecologically diverse genera Lysmata and Exhippolysmata are rare among marine invertebrates because they are protandric simultaneous h

academic.oup.com

**Source:

Loading…

sfi-cybium.fr

***Source:

Loading…

decapoda.nhm.org

Oh wow, thank you! That is some great clarification.

I got to see them at the store today. I am not even sure if they had the shrimp I posted above. It looked very much different. Super-fast, had arms like a patched anemone shrimp (like the tiny arms of a pistol shrimp), see through with speckles, but definitely not something I have ever seen before.

 

[Stomatopods17]

Oh wow, thank you! That is some great clarification.

I got to see them at the store today. I am not even sure if they had the shrimp I posted above. It looked very much different. Super-fast, had arms like a patched anemone shrimp (like the tiny arms of a pistol shrimp), see through with speckles, but definitely not something I have ever seen before.

Camel shrimp?

 

[SauceyReef]

Camel shrimp?

View attachment 3103283

no definitely was not a camel shrimp, or a saron shrimp. Its body type was more like this but with a completely different design