Bamboo Shrimp

[poopsydrew]

Hey guys,
I had been considering getting a ghost shrimp for awhile because they are good for the tank and i love how they look, then today i stumbled across a "bamboo shrimp" It looked really awesome and so much more color than ghost shrimp so i got if for my 10 gallon (cost me six bucks, geez i got ripped off) I know they eat microscopic waste and old food through their fans. but i just really havent been able to find much info on them...anyone ever kept them or have any good links of info on them?? thanks

drew

 

[mcdanielnc89]

lol.. ok here ya go...

they get up to 8-12cm

A common question about these shrimp is how to distinguish males and females. The answer is simple. With fully grown animals the males have a much larger first pair of walking legs (see pictures for comparison). Additionally, the females are plumper and their carapace extends further down at the pleopods to accommodate eggs.

These shrimp should never be housed with fish that could hurt it, such as most cichlids, even if the fish is smaller than the shrimp or the same size. The Asian Filter Shrimp itself is totally harmless and is not even capable of hurting the smallest fry or other, smaller shrimp. Thus, it can be housed with all dwarf shrimp, regardless of size.

they can be fed the algae wafers sold for plecos, which they eat after the wafer dissolves, or Daphnia, or newly hatched brine shrimp, or in a pinch some finely ground up flake food, once it softens and disintegrates.

Bamboo shrimp get along with Betta fish. A pair may occasionally fight, but conflicts should decrease after the first day the animals have lived together, so long as the animals have significant space, so as to avoid territorial clashes. Four gallons is sufficient for the two to live happily together.

if i find more info i will post it.lol..

 

[three-fingers]

One thing to note is that if your shrimp is using its fans to look for food of the ground instead of filtering in the water, it isnt getting enough food.

You can use the aforementioned methods to feed it, or it works really well if you break up the food in water and suck it up in a syringe or pipette before squirting it into the shrimps fans .

Personally, I think 4 gallons is way to small for these shrimp and unfortunately wikipedia is wrong, it should be fixed soon. I wouldn't keep them in anything smaller than 10 gallons. Apart from the fact that they can reach 12 cm, a 4 gallon is too small because of the way they feed. That volume of water is defiantly not going to contain enough micro-organisms for them to feed on, so they will starve unless your target feed them. In a tank as small as 4 gallons, target feeding would be tricky to do without affecting the water conditions.

Two other points:
a)Bettas don't like strong currents while bamboo shrimp need some form of relatively strong current to filter feed, this is why you usually find them hanging on the filter flow.
b ) In a tank as small as 4 gallons, the betta would rip the shrimp to bits when it sheds it's skin.

 

[poopsydrew]

Thanks all!
I think that about covers it, i have him in a 10 gallon with peaceful community fish so everything should be fine. He likes to hide so i havent seen him feeding but its only been a day I am just a lil nervous about him getting enough to eat but i will just have to get over that...i drop in algae wafers every other day for my corys so i am sure he will be fine! thanks everyone!

 

[mcdanielnc89]

no problem