Pearl Shrimp

[southerndesert]

Hello Mustafa,

Do you still keep Pearl Shrimp, Macrobrachium kulsiense? Just curious as to how they are doing....

Bill

[Mustafa]

Hello Mustafa,

Do you still keep Pearl Shrimp, Macrobrachium kulsiense? Just curious as to how they are doing....

Bill

Yeah, I am keeping them. They are doing great, but are on "hold" as many of my other species until I have more space in my future shrimp breeding facility. My females keep producing eggs and they eat the hatched young as I don't have an empty tank to separate them into. This shrimp will definitely get more attention from me in the future, though.

[southerndesert]

Thank you for the update...They are a very interesting shrimp.

Bill

[frugalfish]

My females keep producing eggs and they eat the hatched young as I don't have an empty tank to separate them into.

After reviewing the description page on these shrimp, I didn't read anything about them eating they're young. Is this info something that should be added to the description page? Or is this due to over crowding, etc.?

[Mustafa]

As with everything, it's probably due to overcrowding. The first time I bred them I had them in a 55 gallon and the young survived just fine. This time around they were in a ten gallon. I'm still not certain if the young actually got chased down and eaten or if the water parameters did them in due to the crowded conditions. I have never really observed them catch and eat young. Once I figure that out I will update their species description.

[pixl8r]

My M. kulsiense colony is in a 29g tank. They appear to be reproducing well, albeit slowly. They definitely don't reproduce as quickly as Red Claw shrimp.

From my observations, the young take about four+ months to become sexually mature, and I think that the mature females don't become fertile for some time after her eggs hatche.

[pixl8r]

Oh, and I forgot to say, the young are amazingly small, and difficult to spot. That makes it difficult to estimate population counts.

[Mustafa]

and I think that the mature females don't become fertile for some time after her eggs hatche.

If they find enough food during their ovigerous state they can become ovigerous again almost immediately or immediately. It all depends on the food supply as it takes lots of energy to produce eggs.

[pixl8r]

Interesting, because I base their food supply on how much they eat in a 30 minute period. They get fed every other day, and don't 'attack' their food, as other species do, they act satiated.

[Mustafa]

These guys are very sensitive to water pollution. They actually *do* attack the food in a frenzy once they start smelling it if water parameters are perfect. If water parameters are less than perfect (but not bad enough to kill them or make them sick yet) they will still eat but sluggishly so. These guys act exactly like ghost shrimp and red claw macros when they start smelling the food (i.e. they search the tank in a frenzy to find and drag away their share of the food).

[Newjohn]

These are my favorite Macro Shrimp,
My small colony was not as outgoing as the Red Claw or Fuzzy Claws except at feeding time.

And it was hard to fin the Offspring, very small.

Is anyone currently keeping these Shrimp ?

[Mustafa]

These are my favorite Macro Shrimp,
My small colony was not as outgoing as the Red Claw or Fuzzy Claws except at feeding time.

And it was hard to fin the Offspring, very small.

Is anyone currently keeping these Shrimp ?

I have them, but I don't think there are captive-bred colonies in the North American hobby...there don't seem to be many, if any, in Germany, either. They are on import lists all the time, though, but it seems like just a few selectively bred bee shrimp strains dominate the some hobbyists' minds out there. They may not be as daring as the red claw shrimp, but they are perfect companions to dwarf shrimp. My experience has been that they do not bother the adults at all and do not seem to bother the young, either, although I need to observe and experiment just a little more to fully confirm that.

[Newjohn]

but I don't think there are captive-bred colonies in the North American hobby...

That is a shame,
Their Behavior is interesting to observe and they have a different Body Shape compared to other Macros.