Palaemonetes vulgaris

[squall7733]

Palaemonetes vulgaris, Common Shore Shrimp...

This is just a behaviour im noticing with my bimac. My 125 Gal is teeming with these little shrimps. Each is about 1" long. My bimac is quite large now, about 3-4" Mantle. I'm just noticing that he doesnt seem to go after these guys,e ven tho they were a selected feeder food. They can litteraly crawl over his head and he wont eat them. Even when the Bimac is out LOOKING for food he wont touch them. The shrimp have even started a little colony on one of the powerheads, its where most of the stuff floating around the tank collects, and I guess they are eating it.

I have heard numerous reports of people introducing bimacs to tanks occupied by peppermint shrimp thinking they would be the first to go but the octo not eat them as well. The physical size and appearance of vulgaris shrimp and peppermints is very close.

Perhaps there is something about them that keeps them safe from the octo? Has anyone else noticed anything similar Just trying to make behavioural observations here. I wonder has anyone had a bimac that gobbled up pepperment shrimp? (I ask bimac because I have a feeling other species might not be as timid to eating them :P )

 

[corw314]

Most of my octopuses at first love to eat the locally caught shrimp. As they progress to larger crabs, etc., seems like the smarter shrimp stay on as the clean up crew. Right now Egor has about 15 shrimp residing with her. I think we spoil them with the larger more tastey food and this is why they cohabitate with them.

 

[Nancy]

Yes, my bimac Ollie ate a peppermint shrimp. I had run out of live food so I bought an adult peppermint shrimp and put it in the tank. Maybe if she had grown up with it, it would have been different. But the first thing she did when she arrived was to eat everything in sight!

I think sometimes bimacs won't eat the shrimp because they're a lot of work to catch. Finally Ollie develped a method of catching all I put in at a time (25), by hunting at night (turning black so as not to be seen) and hanging upside down at the water's surface. The shrimp tended to be near the top of the overflow. This was the only time I ever thought my bimac looked scarey.

Nancy

 

[squall7733]

Blows my theory out of the water

Ive noticed that the extra shrimp in the tank are starting to eat the red algea O_O... not as efficiently as other animals but a little bit at a time

Thats really neat that Ollie developed a hunting skill like that. My tank is really tall, so far Calamari hasnt been able to even scale up to the surface of the water yet, He's only got about halfway up the tank. Is there something about glass that they cant stick their suction cups to? I find it strange he can grab onto anything else and you wont be able to get it out of his grip but he cant crawl up to the surface of the water if he tried lol.

Maybe he's just playing me for a fool!