Gulf rock and a bizzarre hitcher as yet un-ID'd

[Venom]

Well, I had taken all the rock from my 20L reef and added it to my 55, left the tank running till I could move the live sand. Well of course I managed to find some awesome gulf rock, so the 20 is filled again. However this new rock had a good amount of macro on it and in the macro were some critters the likes of which I have NEVER seen!
They look like a cross between a stick insect, a praying mantis and a freshwater waterscorpion.
I have a post in the "Ask Dr Ron" forum, just thought I'd see if anyone here rcognized them?

Here's the tank- check the color of that rock!
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/507/27655new20.jpg

and here's one of the critters - check my album under "alien things" for more pics - the gray thing standing up out of the green macro is what I'm talking about.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/3339/27655alien7.jpg

they have a segmented stick like body, base segment is short and has 3 pairs of legs, longer segments each appear to have a pair of legs. They seem to hold on with the base and stand upright, looking very alert like a possible predator hunting. I have yet to see them eat anything yet tho.
There are 100s of them and they are from about 5mm to 50mm in length.

Just freakin weird!
If you've ever been out to the southwest, then you know what a kokopelli is, thse guys look like one, so for now, we're calling them kokopods ;)

-V

[Venom]

Just got an ID on the hitchers
they're Skeleton Shrimp!
never heard of them before

[stevemc]

Venom, are you still interested in the 180 tank that guy is selling? He still has it and will talk price. He goes by sandman12 on this forum. Steve. PS I have never seen those in all my days diving and collecting in these waters. But I have seen pictures. Nice rock, where did you get it? Hope it stays the same.

[sandman12]

Hey! iam the guy with the tanks and iam willing to talk. LMK

milkmanf12@aol.com

[Venom]

steve, I , uhhh found the rock, not sureof the legalities so I won't say on here if I found it in a pet store or in the gulf ;)
The skeleton shrimp are really bizzarre little things and the macro on the rocks is full of them. Dr Ron says they usually don't make it in home aquaria so wel'll see what happens.
Here are better pics of the shrimp I found online -
http://www.divebums.com/FishID/Pages/skeleton_shrimp.html

I'd love to be able to pick up another big tank, but I'm pretty much useless in the financial department for awhile, so unless you want to talk REALLY cheap I gotta pass :(

[stevemc]

Thanks for PM ing me that stores name. Try feeding the shrimp some brine shrimp and see if they eat it. Steve.

[Venom]

If you want to check the store out, I'll go with you and help you find some nice pieces- they had a huge selection.

The tank the sherimp are in is loaded with pods, I'll try some brine too.
Supposedly there are several different species- some are carnivore, some herbivore and some detritivore.

[gregt]

I , uhhh found the rock, not sureof the legalities so I won't say on here if I found it in a pet store or in the gulf

Reef Central highly discourages any illegal collection practices. The laws exist for the protection of the environment this site exists in honor of. Violation of these laws is not only detrimental to the environment and our hobby it is also a felony.

Any collection of LR from the gulf without an aquaculture permit is illegal.

As a fellow hobbyist I urge you to reconsider further violations of the collection laws whether deliberate or out of ignorance of the law.

-Thanks