Need help Can't find an ID

[FishKeeperJim]

Hi guys I am new here. But not new to the fish keeping hobby. I purchased 3 shrimp a few weeks ago and I can't figure out what they are. I was hoping you guys would help out.

Here is a pic of one of them all are the same specie.

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w299 ... c01906.jpg

They are in a 55 Gallon, heavily Planted, with 4 clown loaches, a Chinese Algae eater and 17 Rainbows. good growth eating well, and all around doing great. This is my first attempt at shrimp and I want to do a good job of it. BTW I have about 20 years off and on in the hobby. So If there is something I can do to help them thrive feel free to let me know.

[Cableguy]

well, it's a macro

[FishKeeperJim]

Macro what? I don't know anything bout shrimp so Any more info on it?

[Cableguy]

macrobrachium, it's a family of shrimp that have elongated pincer type arms and they get larger than the dwarf shrimp and some readily eat fish and snails

[Newjohn]

Hi Cableguy

It may be M. lanchaster or closely related. The shrimp you have pictured has Reddish claws and a little different markings than the ones I have pictured below.

Here are a few pictures of mine







1 important thing to know about the Shrimp Hobby, it is still very young and there are not a large number of hobbyist that have kept alot of the Shrimp species on the market, so identifications are hard to make for most of us.
And there are only a very small handful of hobbyist that can make most of the Identifications and I am not one of them.

I hope this helps
John

[pixl8r]

Welcome! It's a beautiful shrimp you've got, whichever species it is. Your loaches are not the best of companions for any shrimp. And you should be made aware that many Macrobrachium species are known for much more aggression than dwarf shrimp. Some are voracious hunters and can take out fish much larger than they are.

[badflash]

I am certain that is a young M. Rosenbergii. They can be quite aggressive with their tank mates eating all but the fastest or best armored. Once they reach sexual maturity there can be only 1 blue claw male in the tank. In a 40 gallon tank you could keep 1 male and 3 females. The males can get up to about 1 foot in body length.

Here is one about the same age as yours:


Here is an adult male:

and an adult female:

[FishKeeperJim]

Thanks alot. That is the shrimp all right. So the Clear is the Juvenile version and the other two pics are the adult? About how long do you think will it take to reach the adult size? Also how do you tell the Male from Females? I currently have 3 of these guys, in the 55, and don't know which is which.

[badflash]

Yes, the clear is the juvie.

It takes about 3 months from where yours are to be adults. I never figured out how to tell juvies apart. Once you get your first blue claw you'll see a pretty clear difference. The females look very similar but don't get as large and have smaller claws. The females get to be about 5", no larger.

The males come in 3 types. Blue claw, orange claw, and runt. The runts remain small until all the blues and oranges are gone. The oranges are sub-dominant and the blue claws allow them to live as they have no breeding intentions. If they morph to a blue claw it will be when they are larger than the blue claw. Once this happens the blue claw will try to kill him while he is soft. If he doesn't the new larger blue claw will kill him.

If the blue claw gets ready to molt he will go through the tank and either kill or remove the claws of any orange claws in the tank. He's no fool.

These are very intelligent shrimp and will learn to know you. They will eat from your fingers with a little training.

Your current tank mates should be moved to a safer dwelling.

[FishKeeperJim]

I'm puzzeled here a friend of mine has the same one in a tank for over a year and it still looks the same. And is still about 3 inches.

Here is his shrimp isn't this the same?
Or am I just crazy?
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a245/ ... G_3908.jpg

[badflash]

Looks like the runt males that I had to me. I've never seen one morph to blue claw or orange claw. I just read it in a paper about them.

http://www.biolbull.org/cgi/reprint/181/3/379

Still, this could be another species.