Palaemon varians

Palaemon varians, known as the Atlantic ditch shrimp and variable shrimp, is a caridean shrimp found from the Baltic Sea and the British Isles to the western Mediterranean Sea. It reaches up to in length and is never found in fully marine conditions, instead living in brackish water.

In the aquarium

Sold by aquarium retailers as grass shrimp, they have a high tolerance of varying salinity and temperature levels ranging from 1 °C to 30 °C for prolonged periods of time. They will feed on any leftover fish food, algae or plant life and are generally peaceful by nature when mixed with similar sized aquarium life.