Video: Prawn feeding

[demonte1997]

Awesome info pixl8r.

I didn't know there is a blue claw strain to M. Dayanum.

From what I read, there is also a well documented social hierarchy for M. Amazonicum (probably others I haven't been able to read about yet).

 

[pixl8r]

I didn't know there is a blue claw strain to M. Dayanum.

Here's a german vendor that has them for sale, but they don't ship to North America. The odd thing is that this species of shrimp is native to North America.
http://www.1a-wirbellose.de/invertebrate-shrimp.php
Here's a picture of what I assume is an Alpha male, the image is from the same site.

From what I read, there is also a well documented social hierarchy for M. Amazonicum (probably others I haven't been able to read about yet).

The only species Macrobrachium shrimp that does not have Alpha male hierarchy, that I'm aware of, is M. kulsiense.

Some species, such as M. rosenbergii have an alpha male (with large blue claws) and sub alphas, with orange claws. Sometimes, the orange claw male is able to get larger than the blue claw male, and subsequently kills him. His claws then turn blue.

 

[demonte1997]

Ah yes, that's what I meant about the Amazonicum. Not just in the idea of a hierarchy but that it is pretty complex w/ different sub-categories. Males are documented to start as translucent claw, grow to cinnamon claw, become green claw and finally strong green claw. I'm sure species like Tenellum, Lar, Acanthurus, etc have similar.

 

[pixl8r]

The interesting thing about M. rosenbergii is that there can only be one male with dark blue claws. If an orange claw is able to kill the dominate blue claw, his claws will change color from orange to blue. The problem I have with the Macrobrachium species like M. rosenbergii, is the incredible amount of work it takes to keep a colony going. For about six months I had a set up a hatchery/nursery for M. scabriculum. Now I stick with species that don't require brackish water to mature.

 

[demonte1997]

All the bigger prawn seem very aggressive and prone to cannibalism. Which is why I'm prepared to set up another sank or two so that I can keep one male and a couple females by themselves. Whatever ones I have in addition to this I hope to separate and give to friends before they get killed by the dominant males. We'll see how this pans out. Even if I can get a male in a tank by himself, that should be fun enough for me.

 

[demonte1997]

[video=youtube;-1FOYnTYfi8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1FOYnTYfi8[/video]

Here's another vid after he shed.

I'm almost positive these prawn are Amazonicum based on a few different websites and images I found scattered about. Funny thing is that most sites say the max size of Amazon prawn are 3", whereas the ones I have are about 5" now and don't seem to be slowing down. Now I'm just hoping their claws get silly looking soon.