Got Bamboo Shrimp?

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 9:03 pm

OK, so I'm an impulse shrimp aflicted addict. I was picking up supplies at Petco, and what would they have but a fresh delivery of Bamboo shrimp.

I couldn't resist. Now I have 3 little ones. I got the smallest they had, about 2" each (2.5" max). Now I need info. I did a seach on bamboo and wood shrimp, but didn't come up with anything conclusive. Yes, i read the shrimp varieties page. If the info is there it is like the rest of the stuff in my life. It is right there but I don't see it. My wife just goes right to it and says "see, it was right here all the time". My position is that it fell into an alternate universe and came back due to her influence in the chronosynclastic infidibulum.

That being said, these guys are turing up the gravel and working over my foam filers like Mr. Clean on steroids. They are not fanning which I assume is due to not enough flow.

How big of a tank do these guys really need as a minimum? How much flow should they have to stay healthy? From what I've read they live n rice paddies. How much flow is there in there natural habitat?

Killfrenzy · Post by **Killfrenzy** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 10:29 am

*grabs your face*

*turns it thisaway*

TKD · Post by **TKD** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 11:53 am

He said he already looked there...

TKD

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 6:50 pm

Yes indeed I did read that. I also searched throughout the forum for bamboo. Searching for wood gave me way too much to sort out.

Anyway, so far so good. These guys are getting comfortable and exploring the aquarium. They are still brown, but a nice yellow stripe has appeared on their backs. At first they were in hiding on the foam filter. Now they are actively feeding & depositing nice little green pellets everywhere. The apple snails seem to enjoy this. Everyone to their own taste. I keep them supplied with soft algea every day. I've added a few hundred daphnia to the tank to see if this help clear the water faster after a feeding.

These guys have figured out that there are places where the water squirts up through the gravel fast than others and they filter with the nets pointing down over these spots. Mostly though they are walking and picking. I've never seen anything like this before. Umbrella snaps closed on some food. Arm shoots to the mouth and the umbrella snaps open, then back for more.

So who has these and what is the smallest tank that can be used to house 3 of these guys around 2" long?

Post by **Mustafa** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 7:58 pm

I'd go for something like a 20 gallon or larger with a small powerhead in it for water movement. Although they can pick things up from the ground, they prefer sitting somewhere and filtering the water. When the tank is aged with a nice bacteria filled filter, these guys don't even need to be fed. I had two of them in a 55 gallon that never ate anything else but what was coming out of my canister filter outflow, which I am sure was full of microorganisms. They molted and grew just normally.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 8:05 am

I'm using a pair of Peguin 550 power heads with a reverse flow adapter to suck through the sponge fileter. These guys have completely removed everything off of the filters in two days. This is in a 10 gallon aquarium. I'll probably buy a 20L soon.

There seems to be enough flow comming up through the gravel for them to filter, but they like to pick at everything that doesn't move. These guys are something else.

Have you bred any of these yet? Looks like the Amano method is what to use with them?