Vampire shrimp (Atyopsis gabonensis)

[alexv1n]

I just got a nice vampire shrimp. I love it. Looks very unusual. The thing special about it is that it is filter-feeder, i.e. it has a fan-like "hands" it uses to filter the water and pick anything that might be floating. These things grow quite big (up to 15 cm) but harmless to other inhabitants and rather shy.

For anyone interested, see the attached image of the vampire shrimp I found on the internet (still have to get my digital camera).

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else got this shrimp and willing to share any experiences at keeping and feeding it. The information on the internet is pretty scarce. My guess is that this shrimp is rather rare (and I must admit, pretty expensive - I got it from Big Al's for almost CDN$50 with taxes).

Does anyone know if they are solitary creatures or appreciate a company. I'd get another one while the LFS still has them, just not sure how they behave.

Any tips would be appreciated.

Just a thought for the webmaster(s): Why not have a separate board/forum for shrimp/snail/crayfish/other invertibrates discussion?

[OrionGirl]

Looks like a color morph on a wood shrimp. I had a pair for a while. They are difficult to feed. I would use infusoria or vinegar eels if I were going to try them again--the average tank does not have a population of micro-fauna capable of supporting these guys. I wouldn't keep one in an unplanted tank that was less than a year old. Make sure you provide them with some hiding places, as they will need a secure place to hang out following a molt.

[ryan]

i had 2 "fan shrimp" for about 6 months, looked a lot like that. they did fine and made an interesting tank addition. for the longest time the firemouths didnt pay them any attention either. Then one morning i find an exoskeleton stuck to the intake, and later that day i witnessed the other one get ripped into by the biggest firemouth. so be careful what you put them in with

ryan

[RENEGADE]

hey i think a board for this kinda stuff would be awsome

[Roland]

agreed

[GDominy]

The Shrimp Pictured there appears to be an Atyopsis Gabonensis (Cameroon Armored Shrimp). These are very attractive shrimp but can become predatory towards very small fish such as young tetra's or fry. Feeding these shrimp is extremely easy, they will eat anything that hits their "fans". I feed mine a combination of flake, fry food, shrimp pellets, bloodworm, and they scour the tank for leftover food and plant matter.

The common Wood shrimp is also from the Atyopsis group, but don't grow to the same large sizes as the Gabonensis. Here is a video I took of one of my fan shrimp.

http://aquafiend.plantedtank.net/videos/Atyopsis.wmv

Oh, and for anyone who is interested, here is a nice little invert page I stumbled across a while back.

http://www.shrimpcrabsandcrayfish.co.uk

[soojeong]

oh, this is a african version of fan shrimp.(also called bamboo,wood, asian filter) African giant Filter Shrimp, to be exact. it grows BIG, up to 15cm.
it can be white, gray, brown, black, even blue. sometimes it seems they change color as they age. by the way, they're ENTIRELY wild caught. so it might be cool to try and breed them.
put them in a species tank or plant tank and feed them floating micro-food items. they they will also display their best colors and their various techniques of filtering food out of the water, and please don't house it with fish that could hurt it, such as most cichlids, even if the fish is smaller than the shrimp or the same size,as is true to bamboo shrimps. As the Bamboo Shrimp, they are a long lived species and live at least 5 years when kept correctly. Also like their cousins, they will survive for a long time in a community tank, however they will never thrive there and probably starve to death slowly since there won't ever be enough food for them to filter or pick up from the ground (fish are always faster).The African Filter Shrimp itself is totally harmless and is not even capable of hurting the smallest fry or other, smaller shrimp. Thus, it can be housed with all of the algae eating shrimp, regardless of size. but don't keep the water too clean- it will slowly starve to death.
p.s. lucky you! these are really hard to get!!!!

[Veneer]

These are very attractive shrimp but can become predatory towards very small fish such as young tetra's or fry.

Any sources?

[OrionGirl]

Not from 2 years ago...