Pearl shrimp v Amano shrimp

JK · Post by JK » Wed Nov 14, 2007 12:10 pm

I've been looking at the shrimp varieties pages, and noticed that Pearl shrimps are noted for eating hair and string algae.

Does anyone have any experiences as to how efficient they are, especially when compared to Amanos.

Many thanks.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 12:37 pm

Unless you have huge numbers and feed them nothing but what they find in the tank, they will not control your hair algae at all. If you feed the tank anything, that is what they will eat, and not the string algae. I find that dwarf cajun crays are far better at that.

If you are looking at algae control, rather than the shrimp, get a pleco.

JK · Post by JK » Wed Nov 14, 2007 12:49 pm

I don't have any algae issues currently, but was thinking of it more as a guide to Pearl shrimp behaviour. They obviously like a sandy substrate, but do they hunt for food like Amanos? By this I mean do they climb everywhere frantically clawing everything in their path?.........or do they just hide away.

Post by **Mustafa** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 1:00 pm

They will hide, but if you feed them they will frantically look for the food once they smell it just like most other Palaemonid shrimp (i.e. Macrobrachium, Palaemonetes etc.).

JK · Post by JK » Wed Nov 14, 2007 1:21 pm

Thanks Mustafa,

They have not been available here for a few years, so I'll grab some while I can.

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 1:37 pm

Hi JK

The Pearl Shrimp that I have do not hide all of the time and like Mustafa said, when they smell the food they come-a-runnin .

I find that they act similar to my Fuzzy Claw Macros.
As both are not out and about a whole lot, but when there is food
First come, first served.

They are a nice addition to any Invert collection.
John

JK · Post by JK » Wed Nov 14, 2007 2:10 pm

Thanks John,

Have you had any success breeding them?...........and are they long lived?

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 3:13 pm

I have a few offspring now.

But they grow very very slow.

If they grow this slow you could say that they are long lived.

Only time will tell how long they live when they grow to adult hood and start breeding.

John

lampeye · Post by **lampeye** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 12:53 pm

Mustafa wrote:they will frantically look for the food once they smell it just like most other Palaemonid shrimp (i.e. Macrobrachium, Palaemonetes etc.).

...or, once they've worked it out, every time you go near the tank.

Opopanax · Post by **Opopanax** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 2:53 pm

These pearls are pretty cool. DO they come up for sale on this site often? I noticed the shrimp store currently doesn't list them at all.

Post by **Mustafa** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 5:34 pm

Commercial questions don't really belong to this forum. I try to keep the forum separate from the commercial part of this website. As a rule, these shrimp are extremely rare and even if offered are (so far) always wild-caught and mostly in pretty bad shape.

As with many other species, I (and hopefully others) am going to try to change that over time by breeding sufficient numbers of these shrimp to distribute to other hobbyists.