love my bamboo shrimp!

[chilligirl]

So, this is the first invert I've intentionally purchased (I've got some MTS which were freebies/stowaways), and I am totally digging him. He was sold to me as a "flower shrimp", for $15 (pretty pricey for a shrimp!). When I looked him up, I found that they're more commonly called a "bamboo shrimp". Also, they're filter feeders, not bottom feeders as the lfs had told me.

He seems to be doing well. He colored up nicely in my tank, which is encouraging. He likes to climb the mast on the sunken ship decoration, to be near the filter output where the snackies are apparently best. I worry there's not enough for him to eat in there, because the tank is new (moved my 5g over to a 10), and I occasionally see him foraging on the substrate (I read that means they're hungry), but he's pooping (as you can see in the pic), so he must be eating. I'm giving him some brown algae from my goldfish tank with a pipette every couple of days, and he goes crazy for that.

Anybody else have one of these guys or exprience with them?

right now he's about 1 1/2" long.

 

[FtwayneFish]

not yet, but i will. great find and good luck!

 

[msjinkzd]

very very nice shrimp! I haven't had one, but www.planetinverts.com has some good info.

 

[AnnetteG]

I've had two and unfortunately they both died. I thought I had enough current, thought that they'd be able to find a spot to perch to get food, intentionally put in lots of veggie tabs and bottom feeder stuff to try to help him since I saw him foraging. I didn't think about trying to pipe some algae at him, that's a good idea, so maybe yours will do better than mine.

I'm not buying anymore. Now that I realize they really NEED to be in those fast moving rivers that they come from, I don't think they should be taken from the wild. If something can't/won't breed in captivity, you'd think that would clue them (the dealers who collect them) in that it shouldn't be in the hobby. Just have to vote with my money. :headshake2:

 

[vampie]

It can be bred in captivity, I doubt a lot of people have bothered though.

If you see it trying to feed off the ground, it's bad news. They can't feed properly that way.

 

[mellowvision]

I just read that they are commonly starved by the sterile enviornments at large pet stores, so they'll feed off the substrate when first introduced... my first two had issues, the first one was damaged by the shop employee who packed it, and died while moulting 3 days later, the other just started acting strange, swimming straight up and then passing out for 5 minutes on it's back... and died within 3 days of introduction into my healthiest tank. the third one, which I have now, fed off the bottom for 3 days and then found the filter return. it spent the first day actually holding on to it, eating, and then created a spot for itself in front of the return by sinking a leaf from the floater in front of it. that's been pretty much his home for the last week... cleaning 1 paw at a time, every 30 seconds. it's definately pooping, as leaves in the area are showing both droppings and brown algae growth, in about a 2" ring around him.

I'd like to be able to give him a treat, since he's so close to the surface and filter return all the time, he never gets anything, since food either floats away or sinks right past him. I'm thinking something calcium rich, powdered, and high in protien would be good to mix with water in a syringe, and I could feed it into the return stream.... I'm lucky in this instance to have used a sponge filter plastic part to cobble together my water return, so it acutally has a plugged splice in for a 1/4" tube. when unplugged, it acts as a venturi. I think I can feed him with a drip, into that. I'll post a pic in a second.

 

[mellowvision]

the first photo is the top of my filter return where the venturi input is located, about 4" above waterline, the others my bamboo shrimp, housed in my 15g paludarium.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

very nice

 

[RoseFishWatcher]

I have 3! I <3 these guys too. I've had 2 of them for a while (over a year, I think - but I'm bad with time so I'm not sure).

The shrimp on your sunken ship is a girl : ) The males' first pair of legs (not the feeder arms) are much thicker.

You'll find that when doing well, they poop a lot but hardly move (except for their fans). I think they are fascinating. I have a small greenwater culture I use to supplement their feeding (but I can't tell if it helps, and they don't seem to need it since my tank is well established). It was started with the water from my sister's oscar tank, which was THICK with green. I just keep them in some clean glass soda bottles, with an airline and window light.

I sometimes crush up flake food in to a fine-ish powder, as I think they eat that. I also feed the fish frozen brine shrimp, and add the melted water to the tank for the shrimp. I have seem them at least attempt to eat brine shrimp.

I recently added a powerhead to their tank, and they seem to be diggin' it, although they're still moving around in the tank trying to find the best feeding spot.

I hope to breed them, personally. I just recently added a male (the first try at a male failed, as he died from some strange disease and took out the 3rd female with him.)

 

[FtwayneFish]

i read they need brackish for the babies tho?