Shrimp Thief

I've been really hesitant to make this public, but on Wednesday, April 11th 2012, I had a shrimp buyer come to my home.
I made a post of this on a local club that I am.  So I will simply copy and paste my story here.  The purpose of this post is to warn people that yes, thieves in this hobby DO exist.  It's strange and bizarre to me but I guess it does happen.

My post on the local forum, dated 4/12/12:
Post #1
Yes, a shrimp thief.

I was selling some of my S+ CRS yesterday to some guy named Marvin, who lives in San Francisco. He goes by the email m_tea@yahoo.com. 
He came over to my house, I had the shrimp packed already but he asked to see my tanks. I said sure and let him come into the house and took a look at my shrimp. He was eyeing my Pandas and asked if I was selling any. I said no and because they were really expensive, so I didn't have any to spare for sale. 
He asked for change and I didn't have any on me at the time, so I went upstairs to look for change. Took me at least 5 minutes upstairs and my stupid self left him alone downstairs. I come back down, told him I had no change and asked if he'd like to pick up something else (more shrimp). He tried lowballing me a lot the entire time but I said whatever, I don't have change anyway. So for 14 S+ shrimp, I sold it for $50. It was done, he was gone, whatever. He was incredibly annoying and rude the entire time. "Can you just give me this one? *Points at SSS* Can you give me extras?" etc etc.

I notice after, that I was MISSING one of my panda shrimp. I have three in total and I can only find two now. My tank isn't exactly heavily planted and it's only a 20 gallon long tank. I lifted the driftwood, every piece of SS mesh of moss I had, nothing. Only had TWO pandas. 


Post#2
It was one of the two larger pandas too...  
Lesson definitely learned. There's honestly no other way it could have disappeared. I ALWAYS check for all 3 PD and 1 WR before I leave the house and whenever I'm at the tank, absolutely always. I still feel dumb and scat but life goes on and I can only wish for the best for it at this point. iwillslaughterhimwheniseehiminhell.


Post#3
 I actually pre-scooped the shrimp being sold already but he insisted on seeing my tanks. I made it way too easy to steal, I guess. Leaving him alone, let bags and the net right in front of the tank... I let my dog outside because she's incredibly protective, I was afraid leaving her alone with him. I checked my adult CRS to make sure they're all still there. Thankfully, they are (Unless I miscounted, which happens when the number is above 15). 

I am moving forward from this, not even gonna bother but hope for the best for the little girl. 
----- end.


Since then, I have repurchased another Panda shrimp from my original source.  Unfortunately, he only had males left so I had to pick up a male.  It was to help fill the empty void I had inside me.  I always counted three pandas when I looked into the tank, seeing only two made me feel ashamed for being so careless.  I felt uneasy.  Buying a new panda is like a small band-aid to me.  It still doesn't fix the void completely but I feel a little better.  Call it my OCD-ness.