They are also called sexy cleaner shrimp, dancing cleaner shrimp, squat anemone shrimp, squat cleaner shrimp, and the Ambon shrimp after the Indonesian island where it was first documented.

In appearance sexy shrimp are generally no larger than ¾ inch in length, standing about ½ inch tall. They have a translucent brown body. Sexy shrimp sport three large white spots on their carapace and body and 5-10 spots on their tail. Sometimes these spots are outlined in a violet ring and generally the tips of their tails are white. (Heydenreich and BÖing, 2005)  Unfortunately, they have a short life span, usually less that 3-4 years.

Sexy shrimp are found in tropical marine waters  from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean and all points north and south. They are generally located in less that sixty feet of water in bays, lagoons and backwater reefs.

The sexy shrimp's small size makes them a great choice for nano tanks, and with appropriate tank mates, they adapt to a wide variety of aquarium conditions. Sexy shrimp will hide when they feel threatened so they must be provided with rock crevices, caves, overhangs, micro algae, coral or an anemone in which to feel secure. They will thrive in a well kept reef aquarium, at normal reef parameters: pH: 8.1-8.3 calcium 380-450 ppm, alkalinity 2.5-4.0 meq/L, nitrites <10 ppm, temperature 76-82°F. Like all shrimp as they grow they will molt so it is important to keep your calcium, alkalinity and pH within range.

The sexy shrimp’s tank mates should be small, calm fish such as gobies, blennies and pygmy angels. Wrasses, seahorses, pipefish and butterfly fish should not be in the same tank since they will have a tendency to prey upon the shrimp.

Many people choose to place the sexy shrimp and other anemone shrimp, such as periclemenes, in a nano tank with an anemone. This symbiosis makes for a very entertaining tank. Sexy shrimp can be found in a variety of anemones including fire anemones (actinodendron spp.), adhesive anemone’s, (cryptodendrum adhaesivum) and especially beaded anemones (heteractis aurora). They will also favor coral such as acropora and pocillopora, or hydroids.

Most of the time a sexy shrimp that is hosting in an anemone will be just under the oral disk rarely venturing to the surface. It’s unsure if the shrimp is using the anemone for protection from predators or if this relationship is  of benefit to both species.

The sexy shrimp is often called the dancing shrimp due to its behavior when disturbed of raising its abdomen and swaying or dancing from side to side. This behavior may be to attract fish for cleaning. However, when it displays this gesture with the spines on the bottom of it’s abdomen erected it is clear that this is a defensive posture.

Sexy shrimp are easy to feed usually taking everything from flakes to mysid shrimp. They will also feed on ciliates and detritus. They are quite popular in Europe where they are used to control ciliates such as the ones that cause brown jelly infection in acropora coral.

Sexy Shrimp do breed in home aquariums. J. C. Delbeek: “I do not have any direct experience in rearing them but suspect that they are not all that different from rearing other shrimp such as Lysmata. This means you can start them off with rotifers or newly hatched brine shrimp that have been enriched with a supplement such as Algamac (available from Argent Albs) or SuperSelco. After a few molts, the shrimp may be large enough to take larger foods such as finely ground flake food. Other foods to try offering them include Cyclopeez and Golden Pearls.”
         
In January 2005, European hobbyists Iris Boing and Sylvio Hydenreich published describing successful breeding in their home aquarium2. They stated that the pair began breeding shortly after they were purchased and would produce 80-150 eggs per clutch. The eggs would hatch about an hour after the lights went out. The eggs would turn a dark brown before hatching. The larvae were attracted to a small light source held to the side of the tank where they would be siphoned off to be transfered to a breeding tank. The breeding setup was a 5 gallon tank with no filtration and a 60 watt lamp kept on for 14-16 hours per day. The larvae were fed newly hatched bring shrimp that were vitamin enriched. In the breeding tank they would continue to molt for 20- 30 days. After their final molt they would settle down to the bottom of the tank. They reported an average of 50% success in growing out the fry. If you would like to learn more about breeding sexy shrimp check out the ProjectDIBS breeders challenge at http://www.projectdibs.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=80

Sexy shrimp are readily available almost everywhere. You can find them at  online retailers and local fish stores. If your LFS doesn’t stock them they should be able to order them. Now that you know more about sexy shrimp maybe it it time to add one to your reef.

Suggested Further Reading, Websites and References:

http://www.reefreaders.com/www.wikipwdia.com