A recognizable shrimp in the saltwater aquarium trade, the sexy shrimp is one of the tiniest shrimps available to hobbyists. It is so called because of the way its hind area is in a continuous twirling motion. Sexy shrimp are a sort of anemone shrimp habitually found around anemones in the wild.
They can be housed in the tiniest aquariums owing to their size. Half an inch seems to the maximum length of this shrimp. Sexy shrimp are regularly found throughout the Indo-Pacific where they are collected in large numbers for the trade. They are also relatively inexpensive as a result, making them incredibly reachable to all marine tank enthusiasts.
Tank mate selection is key. Due to their small size, they are easily harassed and eaten by bigger fish. Large carnivore tank mates are a bad combination]. Dwarf angelfish on the other hand rarely pose a threat. Bigger angelfish that can easily consume them are to be watched for.
They are not expensive to feed because they are so small. Sinking pellets seem be the staple diet for most hobbyists. It is up to you as to the kind or brand of pellet to feed. High quality pellets include New Life Spectrum sinking pellets. Mixing things up with some frozen food once in a while is recommended.
Sexy Shrimp are not completely reef safe. Zoanthid corals are to be observed carefully as these shrimp can consume them. In the wild, sexy shrimp have also been seen consuming their own anemone host. Feeding them at least once a day will decrease the odds of them becoming coralivores.
Hobbyists have effectively bred the sexy shrimp in captivity. However, bigger commercial breeders tend to ignore this shrimp because of profit margins. The male shrimp is slimmer as well as being smaller than the female. It is thought that males have a single white stripe on their abdomen. As well as being bigger than the male, females also appear rounder in the vicinity of the abdomen area. Females do not have a unbroken white stripe but two separate stripes next to each other.
Further reading along with Read more for two of several articles written by the author on Seachem purigen and aquarium live rock. Gabriela Desouyez is an proficient marine hobbyist that has written several hubpages on all forms of saltwater life from fishes to corals to equipment.
