Any dwarf shrimp from South America?

madfox

madfox

Mad as in angry or just plain NUTS?
Nov 28, 2008
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Just west of Saratoga Springs, NY
I love having shrimp in my tanks. But I'm biotoping with an Amazon tank, and I'd like to keep all my flora and fauna from that region. So, are there any South America dwarf shrimp in the hobby? Or will I just have to step out of my biotope just a little if I want shrimp in it?
 
I was mostly going by the name of the shrimp more than anything. Food for thought. Madfox may be able to learn more about the breed from somewhere else.
 
There are some small Palaemonetes (see Petshrimp link for the most common in the hobby), Pseudopalaemon (never imported, so far as I know), and Macrobrachium (rather large M. amazonicum and M. brasiliense being the only ones I've seen aquarists obtain), as well as the uniformly small Euryrhynchus spp. (which I've kept).

There are no Neocaridina, Caridina, or the like native to the Americas, but South America does have some Potimirim (dwarf fan shrimp). I've collected these in Puerto Rico, but haven't seen them imported.
 
Thanks, guys. I think I'll either give the Brazilian Yellow Leg Shrimp a try, or just cheat and go with one of the neocaridina shrimps. Probably wild type.
 
If a peaceful but rather large shrimp is acceptable, you might want to look into giant wood shrimp (Atya gabonensis). Most of the ones in the hobby are imported from West Africa, but this species does also occur in eastern South America.

A caveat: I have no personal experience with AZ Gardens, but I've known others to have had bad experiences as purchasers of shrimp ... you may wish to look through some more reviews before ordering.

While we're on the matter, I've found Frank's Aquarium to be excellent; his South American stocklists have included shrimp in the past, and Frank does a great job with honoring special orders, so his online store should not be overlooked.
 
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