What the heck are these shrimp?

Kakashi said:
Redfronted shrimp, Caridina gracilirostris. Usually those lines are a slightly more reddish hue, although I've seen ones with orange hues too in pictures......hmmm but they look very much like the Redfronted shrimp to me, rare find. They usually run like 25 bucks for 4 or 5. I have never seen them at any LFS, and only 2 or 3 times in the last 5 years I've been checking out aquabid.com. Maybe they are more pinkish under your lighting?
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This is the answer I was wanting to hear!! Are you serious!? And I saw a couple babies floating around the tank after some of them hatched. They are so very interesting! I throw in some shrimp pellets and they run around the tank as fast as they can and pick up as many as they can and bring the pellets to their own corner. I should get some new photos and updated pics!!

And they are a little more bright than in the pictures for sure! Except the female is more of a deeper brownish red and super cool black stripes going this way and that way.. Will keep you all updated!
 
Ive seen them called many things, but they are definitely in the macrobrachium genus, as others have stated. I've seen them called "Rudolph the red nosed reindeer shrimp", "Redfronted shrimp" , "Pink striped shrimp", and other names. With that kind of coloration im not sure they can really be any other type of shrimp.......maybe the "red spotted shrimp" from the same genus? But usually those have very noticeable red/pink spots over their body and they look actually slightly raised from the shrimp body.
 
Unknown shrimp

Hi, I think I have the same shrimp as you. I purchased it a year ago and was told it was an amano shrimp...which I went on believing until I recently purchased another 'amano' shrimp as a friend and noted significant differences. Heads up, mine appears to be growing still. It's about 2.5 inches long and it is an MTS destroyer. Mine was never pink... I think that is an artificial dye... but it does have beautiful markings. I also don't know what it is.... I just know it loves to eat snails and can bully my discus fish away from brine shrimp. It often swims to the top of the tank to feed with my fish... crazy bugger has grown on me. Here is a pic of a snail masacre....
shrimp1.jpgshrimp2.jpg

shrimp1.jpg shrimp2.jpg
 
What first came to mind was the Red Cherry Shrimp, but at a better look... i agree it looks like a poorly dyed ghost shrimp
 
It isn't my intent to be condescending, I just want to help others recognize shrimp, and eliminate as much confusion as I can.

daphilster08,

I'm sorry to disappoint you, your shrimp are not any Caridina or Neocaridina shrimp species. All shrimp of those genera are considered dwarf shrimp. Dwarf shrimp are so named because of the length of their legs and claws, when compared to their body size. Your shrimp are not dwarf shrimp.

Here are examples of what I mean.

image1.jpg

This is an image of Caridina gracilirostris, a dwarf shrimp species. I've edited the picture to make it easy to see the length of its' legs and body.

shrimp2.jpg

Here's a picture of your shrimp. Note how much longer the legs are, and the more pronounced hump on it's tail. Those traits are common to Macrobrachium and Palaemonetes species.

Alpha_Male.jpg

This is a picture of one of my shrimp, a Macrobrachium dayanum (Red Claw shrimp). This kind of shrimp has long legs, and longer claws. These are commonly referred to as 'freshwater prawn' or 'long arm shrimp'. I'm not sure if your shrimp are Macrobrachium or Palaemonetes. They both have similar body shapes, but Macro's tend to have larger claws. Your shrimp appear to be fully developed, but they still lack the long claws common to Macro shrimp. That makes me lean more towards classifying your shrimp as Palaemonetes sp.

There are exceptions to the long claw rule, such as Macrobrachium kulsiense, but it still has legs and claws that are larger than Neocaridina or Caridina species, when compared to their body.
mkulsiense_male2.jpg



I still think that the color of your shrimp is from an external dye. There are many examples of this in nature (Pink flamingos).


I'll be happy to answer any questions you have.
 
This has been one of the most fascinating threads. Every time I think someone's figured out the species ... Wait. WHAT? Flamingoes are DYED???

Just kidding with the hysteria, but your final statement was unexpected, plxl8r. I take it the flamingo's color comes from something in its diet? Shrimp?? That would be a bit ironic, considering this thread. ;)
 
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