I ordered Amano shrimp, and I am pretty sure I got Ghost shrimp instead.
They appear very transparent.

Most shrimp are transparent when you get them. They color up in your tank, and
may end up looking quite different from how they looked when you first got
them.

Amano shrimp vary a lot in color, but when I first got mine, they were
transparent, and some of them have remained so. You can't tell them from ghost
shrimp by the color. Amano shrimp have slightly thicker bodies, and don't have
as sharp a bend at the "waist" as ghost shrimp. They have dotted brown lines
running longitudinally down their bodies, but these aren't always visible.

And it's perfectly normal for you not to see them. Especially if the tank is
planted. They like to hide, especially if there are large fish in the tank.
Once they are used to your tank, they may come out at meal time. Or maybe not.
A lot of people don't even realize they still have shrimp until they break
down the tank.

Two of the five Cory Cats are dead, they were
supposed to be 1", but they are tiny, maybe slightly over 1/2". I wonder if
they are more susceptible to problems being so young.

Sorry to hear that. The pandas I ordered from AquariumFish.net were also very,
very tiny. But they were all alive.

I guess my main question is, are shrimp usually
visible in a heavily planted tank? I saw one the night I put them in, and
one the next morning, which was eating. Haven't seen any since.

That is perfectly normal with Amano shrimp.

I think it's normal to see a lot of Amano shrimp out in the open only when
there are no large fish in the tank, or when you've got a lot of shrimp. You
always see them in Amano's photos, but he puts a lot of shrimp in his tank.
Ten per gallon, or something ridiculous like that.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/