Cute tiny guy making a home out of sand!!

[Maebh]

Hes so cute, stripy, tiny (mabye 2mm), and is picking up big pieces of sand for his home! What is he? I'm thinking a shrimp of some kind?

 

[Sharkbait19]

I can’t see the video, but the description sounds like an amphipod.

 

[Maebh]

I can’t see the video, but the description sounds like an amphipod.

I was thinking mabye, but when I looked at amphipods their lines are usually vertical and they are more translucent and longer. He is pretty short and has a thick band, horizontal around his middle, and he is pretty white! Its night now and he 's put a grain of sand at the enterance of his hidey hole. I could be hoping against hope, as I would like a mantis

 

[Maebh]

@ISpeakForTheSeas Do you think you could ID? Sorry to bug ya! Hope you dont mind.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

@ISpeakForTheSeas Do you think you could ID? Sorry to bug ya! Hope you dont mind.

I don't mind at all - the video is a bit too zoomed out for a proper ID, but my first thought would be an amphipod; other possibilities include isopods, tanaids, shrimp, and juvenile mantis shrimp.

 

[twentyleagues]

Can you get a longer video that shows it more clear?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Can you get a longer video that shows it more clear?

The clearest is at 21 seconds in the video for anyone interested- you can tell it has a shrimp-like body to it, that it looks black and white (or similar colors), and that it's really fast, but that's about it.

 

[Maebh]

I don't mind at all - the video is a bit too zoomed out for a proper ID, but my first thought would be an amphipod; other possibilities include isopods, tanaids, shrimp, and juvenile mantis shrimp.

Thanks!

 

[Maebh]

Can you get a longer video that shows it more clear?

I would, but its night here and i think he closed his little hidy-hole with a grain of sand! I havent seen him for a bit but ill try in the morning

 

[Maebh]

I would, but its night here and i think he closed his little hidy-hole with a grain of sand! I havent seen him for a bit but ill try in the morning

actually I just saw him!! Unless there are multple I think his hole goes to another bit of the rock!

 

[twentyleagues]

I've never seen amphipods "close the door" but then again I dont usually stalk them.

 

[Maebh]

I've never seen amphipods "close the door" but then again I dont usually stalk them.

I stalk everything in my tank I'm probably the worst pest in there!

 

[Maebh]

went full on hacker mode. heres a slowed down vid and screenshots!

 

[Hadla]

Would love to help id but the screenshots are too blurry and the video won’t work on my iPhone 14…

 

[Maebh]

Would love to help id but the screenshots are too blurry and the video won’t work on my iPhone 14…

No worries, the photos are really blurry . Someone said to post the video as an embbeded youtube vid, so if you'd like it, heres that! <iframe width="560" height="315" src="" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[twentyleagues]

So what I see from the blurry pics and video is, It doesn't appear to be your standard amphipod. Its got a flat tail fan which most amphipods dont ( that i've seen anyway they typically tuck their tail in a curl). It looks like a mysid shrimp but it doesn't seem to be swimming again blurry and its so fast. Where did the rock come from?

 

[Maebh]

So what I see from the blurry pics and video is, It doesn't appear to be your standard amphipod. Its got a flat tail fan which most amphipods dont ( that i've seen anyway they typically tuck their tail in a curl). It looks like a mysid shrimp but it doesn't seem to be swimming again blurry and its so fast. Where did the rock come from?

I dont know where it came from, but I bought from a small fish shop in Ireland, they had a big tank with some of the remaining plugs from their last shipment. If it helps the plug I got has two small feather worms (one white-red, one really dark maroon), these odd tiny purple mushroom things, lots of copepods, coral skeletons and corals, aswell as little chunks of stuff I cant id.

 

[twentyleagues]

I dont know where it came from, but I bought from a small fish shop in Ireland, they had a big tank with some of the remaining plugs from their last shipment. If it helps the plug I got has two small feather worms (one white-red, one really dark maroon), these odd tiny purple mushroom things, lots of copepods, coral skeletons and corals, aswell as little chunks of stuff I cant id.

Those little mushroom things are macro algae. Leeds me to believe it may have been taken from the ocean maricultured. If so it may be a mantis (its probably not). If it came out of someones tank then probably not a mantis.

 

[Maebh]

Those little mushroom things are macro algae. Leeds me to believe it may have been taken from the ocean maricultured. If so it may be a mantis (its probably not). If it came out of someones tank then probably not a mantis.

Thanks! Do you know the macroalgaes name?

 

[twentyleagues]

I am not 100% but I think its red grape caulerpa.