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Fuzzy claw macro female with eggs. The orange is just the color of the food in its stomach.

Male and female inhabiting a cave together. The males are tolerant of all females in their territory.

Common Name:	Fuzzy claw macro
Scientific Name:	Macrobrachium eriocheirum (belongs to the Macrobrachium pilimanus species complex)
Size:	6-7cm (excluding claws) for males, up to 5 cm for females
Temperature:	best kept at 72°F-82°F
Water Parameters:	Needs medium hard, alkaline water over the long run. Should not be kept in acidic water at all.
Food:	fish food (flake, pellets etc), hair and string algae, "anything edible"
Origin:	Thailand (However, the M. pilimanus species complex, which this species is part of, is more widely spread in Southeast Asia)
Larval Development Type:	Abbreviated: Young hatch as larvae, but don't float in the water column unless disturbed. They sit on the ground or on objects in the aquarium until they metamorphose into postlarvae (mini shrimp). Their larval stage only lasts a day or two at the most. The larvae don't seem to need any special feeding. For all practical breeding purposes this shrimp can be treated like other completely suppressed larval type shrimp.

The fuzzy claw macro is an exciting new addition to the American shrimp hobby. Despite their very large claws, these macros stay even smaller than the red claws and are much less aggressive among each other (and the red claws are already pretty peaceful macros). These are the most peaceful large-clawed macros I have encountered so far. Just like the red claw macros they are omnivores and eat pretty much anything they can get a hold off. My fuzzy claw macros accept all kinds of flake and pellet foods, and also eat hair and string algae that my dwarf shrimp cannot eat. They can even be kept in planted tanks, since they leave the plants alone. The males of this shrimp have very large claws, with one claw much larger than the other. Although there is usually an alpha male in the tank, all the males seem to develop the large claws, in contrast to the red claw shrimp, where there is usually only one male with enlarged claws in a tank, no matter how many other males are around. The females are smaller in size, have smaller claws and are generally much less aggressive. But even the females have one claw that is larger than the other. With age these shrimp develop a beautiful reddish-brown coloration.

Just like the red claw macro, the fuzzy claw macro can be kept in small harems with one male and several females. Although there can be some fights among the females in such a group, this does not happen very often and most of the time the shrimp live peacefully together. The male shrimp literally creates "law and order" among the females. In contrast to the red claw macro, the fuzzy claw alpha males are much more tolerant of other males in the tank, so that two or three males could be kept in aquaria that are large enough. These shrimp will eat any small algae eating shrimp or small fish they can get a hold off and even clip off parts of the fins of fish when they are asleep at night. They are not predatory by nature (i.e. they don't hunt down fish or shrimp), taking only advantage of opportune situations. The fuzzy claw macro, like all macros, loves to eat snails and will take care of any ramshorn or pond snail infestation. They simply fish the snail out of its shell and consume it.

The fuzzy claw macro should be given at least a 10 gallon tank for a pair, and larger tanks for small groups. The tank should have many hiding spaces in which the shrimp can retreat. This species is extremely prolific and the females are pretty much constantly ovigerous. The young start out much smaller and grow somewhat slower than other macro young, which *might* be an indication of a longer life-span. Also, the young don't have the "fuzz" on their claws right away but develop it later on as they mature.