odd bamboo shrimp behavior

[RoseFishWatcher]

amaing you got hold of a book for that one Rose

University libraries FTW.


Up until today, the 2 remaining females were behaving normally. Right now, they are both sitting in the normal spot with their fans closed up. Only change was the tank lighting (it was on a timer, and I turned it off as there are no plants in that tank and I'm trying to save on my power bill where I can). So instead of the tank light turning on and being on for about 12 hours, they are living in semi-darkness with me flipping on the light to look at them. I think I might need to go back to timered light, or something, because they seem slightly stressed over it. I'm just hoping this isn't the first sign of these 2 getting sick. I'm trying to decide how long to wait before getting more.

 

[pixl8r]

I wish I had a way to guess at age, but I really can't. It could have died of old age - if I hadn't lost 2 shrimp to the same symptoms a day apart. The male came from a LFS, and all the shrimp from this shipment were larger than I normally see in stores - I'd guess around 3 inches, but am poor at estimating sizes. I think that he actually lost size when he molted, but I never measured, and it could be that my perception is off because I keep my shrimp in a larger tank than the LFS.

Interestingly, both shrimp that died displayed a very red/orange coloration, much brighter than their counterparts. I have seen them display this kind of color, but not on a regular / long term basis. Mine tend to be more brown or yellow colored. More interestingly, I read on petshrimp of someone who had the same tendency (bright red and they died shortly after, although their shrimp never sounded sick if I remember correctly).

That's interesting that the shrimp molted and lost weight. It would seem to me that it would have to be diseased for some time to molt and shrink, not just a few days. But if the bamboo shrimp were competing for food and there wasn't enough to go around, it could suffer such a thing.

My female bamboo shrimp have been red since a day or two after I got them. The males are more tan than red. I have not noticed any significant fluctuations in any of their coloration since they became accustomed to my tank.

I also wish there was more documentation about this type of shrimp. Filter feeders are ignored by most. But it just so happens that I am very interested in Macrobrachium shrimp. However, I hope that Mustafa includes filter feeding shrimp in the shrimp book that he is working on.

 

[Cyp_Lover]

When I finished reading this post I went over to my tank to look at my newly acquired bamboo shrimp and I noticed that she had her fans closed. I watched for a while and she never opened her fans. I then walked away from the tank and when I came back she had her fans open. It might be possible that when you turn your lights on you actually scare them so they close their fans, just a hunch as I am sure that I scared mine and that is why she had her fans closed.

 

[RoseFishWatcher]

I have to agree that I might have scared them. The 2 remaining females seem to be fine - both are eating and happy. If they stay that way I'll consider getting some more in a few weeks.