Camel Shrimp ≈4-6cm

🦐 Camel Shrimp Care & Description

🔍 Description

• Common Names: Camel Shrimp, Camelback Shrimp, Dancing Shrimp

• Scientific Name: Rhynchocinetes durbanensis

• Origin: Indo-Pacific region

• Size: Up to 2 inches (5 cm)

• Color: Bright red body with white or cream V-shaped stripes and a distinctively arched "humpbacked" posture

• Lifespan: 1–2 years (with good care)

🧠 Behavior and Temperament

• Active and hardy

• Named for their "dancing" or jerky swimming movements

• Typically nocturnal, hiding in rock crevices during the day

• Can be semi-aggressive toward other shrimp, especially when food is limited

• Not reef-safe: known to nip at soft corals, polyps, and anemones

🧪 Tank Requirements

• Tank Size: Minimum 10 gallons (larger is better if kept in groups)

• Temperature: 72–78°F (22–25.5°C)

• Salinity: 1.023–1.025 specific gravity

• pH: 8.1–8.4

• Ammonia/Nitrite: 0 ppm

• Nitrate: < 20 ppm

• Live Rock: Provide caves and overhangs for hiding during the day

🍽️ Diet and Feeding

• Omnivorous scavenger

• Feeds on detritus, uneaten food, and sometimes algae

• Supplement with:

  • High-quality frozen or flake food

  • Mysis shrimp

  • Brine shrimp

  • Finely chopped seafood or pellet food

⚠️ Will sometimes nip at or eat soft corals and polyps if hungry, especially in nano tanks

⚠️ Special Care Notes

• Not reef-safe – avoid if keeping delicate corals or anemones

• Can co-exist with other camel shrimp, but keep an eye out for aggression in tight spaces

• Avoid aggressive tankmates like large wrasses, triggers, or puffers

• Be cautious with copper treatments (like all invertebrates, camel shrimp are sensitive)

✅ Good Tankmates

• Peaceful reef fish (without corals)

• Gobies, blennies, clownfish (non-aggressive species)

• Other shrimp (e.g., cleaner shrimp), if space allows

• Snails, hermit crabs (with monitoring)

❌ Avoid With

• Soft corals, polyps, zoanthids, and fleshy LPS corals

• Aggressive crustaceans or large predatory fish

• Small nano reef tanks with delicate inverts