Hi all, I put a small tub together a few months ago from coastal rockpools (South West UK). The mini things in there, including two "snails", quickly ate all the seaweeds. I went back and took some more to add for them. I noticed a lot more of these "shrimp" things in there in the weeks following. They seem to be hovering around the "snails" and both appear to be getting irritated by it. I quite like the snails so don't want them to be harmed and wanted to know if it was worth removing the "shrimps" with a pipette (I'd return them to the rockpool).
I'm using a lot of quotations because I have no idea what any of these creatures are so if anyone could help me there too that'd be great!
by ContentMidnight9
2 Comments
They are most likely amphipods aka scuds. They are detritus eaters, probably will clean the snails :).
The only real danger for snails I can think of are certain leeches. But this is not freshwater, correct? If so, there’s a whole other world of critters I’m not very familiar with.
Btw scuds live in salt and freshwater.
If they are scuds, which is the closest thing I can think of, the snails should be fine. I quite like mine since they’re very active and do a lot of cleanup.