Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Ill introduce myself later...

I have a giant african filter shrimp here, an adult, bought yesterday from an aquatics store who did not know what it was (its a giant shrimp, its £10).

Anyway, i bought him as he only had three legs (in fact 2 and a bit) and got a massive discount (i paid £1 per leg!).

Is he going to make it though, is there anything i can do to help him out.
He is VERY clumsy, spending more time on his side or back than upright.
The legs he has left are big front leg, one next to it, and one small leg on the other side, which is missing a 'foot'.

Im feeding a lot of mushed up jelly food (brine shrimp i think) and powered up flake as well as usual fish feeds.

He is in with three small angels, 7 black widow tetras and one small gibbiceps catfish.

The only thing i can think of to help him are:

1 put in some rocks (its supposedly an amazon tank, sand substrate, bogwood and plants) for him to climb on/prop himself up on.

2/ hoick him out, dry off his shell and superglue some sort of stabiliser wheels to him (well not wheels but yswim)

He does seem to be feeding, but does also seem to be pretty pissed at spending most of his time on his back with his legs in the 'air'.

Em

Hi Em, did the store tell you how long he's been like that? Did they know if the injury happened due to an attacking fish?

Can you tell if he has any filter arms? There should be two sets of filter arms, meaning four arms total in front of the largest leg nearer the front of the body. There's a chance he has them folded up; please look at the last pic here that says, "Female Asian Filter Shrimp with eggs:" http://www.petshrimp.com/bambooshrimp.html Her filter arms are folded up right under her rostrum (nose). They tend to look like asparagus spears when folded.

Now the problem is, they need to use those filters to feed, either by spreading them open and filtering the water, or by sweeping up food and taking it to their mouth. Also, with the other fish present, it's more likely that they are the ones being fed, since they are able to take a more active approach to feeding. You mentioned "he seems to be feeding..." Could you tell us how is he feeding? Is he using the filters?

To answer your numbered questions:

1.) Those items you mention are good - rock, sand, plants, etc.

2.) I personally wouldn't do any supergluing of parts.

*If he's able to feed, there's a small chance that over time he *might be able to slowly regenerate some of the missing limbs with each successive molts.

Hopefully someone else can give you some feedback too.

-GB

Hi

Ok, he has all his filter arms intact and does seem to be extending the filters, then folding them up and shoving them roughly where id guess his mouth is.

This morning he is sitting on a piece of bogwood (whereas yesterday he was upside down next to the filter).

Im over feeding the tank slightly, and dropping in this daphnia/brineshrimp mush in jelly stuff near him (all squished up) -- the angels in the tank wont eat that, and the blackwidows arent really bothered either -- the plec was kept happy last night by a piece of courgette (nothing gets this guy off a piece of that!).

The shop gave me no idea how this happened, but i suspect he has been housed with something aggressive - they stock a large selection of cichlids and also oddball fish.

Hopefully he will make it,

Em

Hi,
It sounds like you're doing well. If there is an area in the tank he seems to prefer, it may mean there's a good current there to catch fine food particles in (or course, make sure there is a decent current in the tank). If there is nothing there, move a rock or something around there for him to hold onto. Keep him as well fed as you can without polluting the water.

It may be a long while til he moults. But no real way to tell, since you don't know how long it's been since his last moult. When he does moult, I believe all his legs will be regenerated at once, but at a smaller size.

Two more things I'd suggest is on temperature and lighting. I would have the water in the 27-29 C (80-84 F) range as they can appreciate warmer waters and it will encourage faster growth. They are nocturnal, so I would dim (or shut off) the lighting if there are bright lights and/or cover the tank with a dark sheet or towel when possible (eg, if you have the lights on in the room, but aren't looking at the tank). Trying to give him a quiet, secure, and cozy feeling.
Ideally he'd have a tank all to himself (save for a very few small tankmates to clean up any food he can't finish) where all his needs can be accomodated. But if that's not available, just do the best you can.

Thanks for adopting the poor guy. Keep us posted

Hi Em, phew, glad to hear he has his filter arms; I was almost afraid to ask in case they were missing too; that wouldn't have boded well.

Since he's eating, very hopefully he'll recover. Surprisingly in many cases, animals adapt well; especially with the extra attention and accommodation we're able to give them. Good work!

Hope he'll hang in there and even get his missing limbs back one day soon. Yes, please keep up posted.

-GB

He has found a pieace of bog wood he likes to cling to -- adjusting position is somewhat humiliating for him, involving various face first landings in teh sand... poor guy.

Ill turn the temp up a couple of degrees, as i think all the fish in there wont mind.

Its a pretty dark tank anyway with all the planting and also i dont soak bogwood first so thats still leaching out a lot of dark stuff, colour of dark tea at the moment!

Em

Ive just come back here to find out more about shrimp.

The shrimp i posted about above did in the end, moult, regenerate his legs, but then he sadly died the day after. I guess it took too much out of him.

I now have a pair of smaller atya gabonensis who are waiting for a bigger tank to cycle - these guys are doing well, one of them has shed and i am fairly sure that one is female, however since i got them i havent seen them together to compare.

Fingers x!

Em,

Sorry hear that your shrimp died, but do wish you the best with your new mates. When doing searches on this site for more information on this species, besides using the scientific name make sure and try the common names also such as Vampire shrimp and Giant African. Of course if you can't find what you're looking for, post the question(s). Cheers.

Cheers, have been mooching about here most of teh afternoon picking up more info.

My LFS here (uk, manchester) appears to have captive bred gabonensis's, not 100% sure, but given everything thats wild caught is normally labelled as such, and these guys werent (adn they had LOADS), im guessing they arent wild.

I am hoping that means someone out there has cracked it with these guys and info about them will become more widespread and useful.

Em

Emmabeth wrote:My LFS here (uk, manchester) appears to have captive bred gabonensis's, not 100% sure, but given everything thats wild caught is normally labelled as such, and these guys werent (adn they had LOADS), im guessing they arent wild.

None of them are captive-bred. Trust me. Fish stores usually do not have the slightest clue about where their animals actually come from so relying on their labeling is not the best idea.

Nuts.

Guess it was a bit of wishful thinking on my part - store in question make a point though, of labelling things as wild caught, as they appaer to be able to charge MORE (and these guys were several £ cheaper than the previous one i bought frmo them).

Ho hum!

Em