What Are 'river Shrimp'?

[fatboy]

I've read a few mentions of 'river shrimp' being used as feeders for large fish. As far as I know we don't have any true shrimp in british rivers but we do have gammarus pulex 'shrimp' and an american relative.

Are the river shrimp sold as feeders gammarus? Also, anyone here keep them as pets? I once received one with some plants and it was fantastic, a bright green little tank zooming round the tank all day.

 

[raptorrex]

I've read a few mentions of 'river shrimp' being used as feeders for large fish. As far as I know we don't have any true shrimp in british rivers but we do have gammarus pulex 'shrimp' and an american relative.

Are the river shrimp sold as feeders gammarus? Also, anyone here keep them as pets? I once received one with some plants and it was fantastic, a bright green little tank zooming round the tank all day.

well ghost shrimp are sometimes sold under that name.
but there are [size=-1]Macrobrachium ohione, river or freshwater shrimp[/size]

 

[three-fingers]

The last time I asked a store about 'river shrimp' it turned out they were actually a native brackish species of shrimp, I can only find one of the email replies I got from dartford aquatics' (who sell these shrimp online) but here it is:

Hi ya,

Rivershrimp come in various sizes depending on the time of year. A the
moment they are around 2cm long. They are brackish so theydo require salt.
They are not really a pet as they usually used for food only. There are
shrimps that you can buy that meant to be kept. If you look at images on
google and type in red crystal shrimp, tiger shrimp, bee shrimp, there are a
few example of shrimps you can keep.

Rivershrimp require coldwater and very little filtartion and little food.
You can store them in a tank to feed to your catfish.

Delivery to Scotland would be £9.95 as transporting water adds to weight and
also Scotland is the more expensive option.

Hope this helps

Regards
Mark

None of the shops up here sell these shrimp so once I have my temporary snail tank free again, I'm going to order some and see how it goes. Worst comes to worse and they die or something else goes wrong, I can just feed them to my fish (after all, I guess that's what they were meant for) .

 

[fatboy]

Thanks guys. I think it's the native brackish shrimp I keep hearing about. Pity it's not the nifty looking m. ohione, they're ace.

I might buy some too and have a go at keeping/breeding them.

Edit: Ooh, I've found them on dartfords site. They're sweet, and I'm buying when I have a spare tank.

 

[three-fingers]

I think I'm going to have a go at culturing them in a brackish half barrel in my garden...parents cant say no if it's ony 'temporary' and for 'live food' .