I thought I bought Ghost Shrimp

[Guybrush]

A while back I bought four berried Ghost shrimp (and two non-berried) to see if I could raise the larvae. The larvae lasted a week until I tried direct feeding
I haven't been able to try again since the two non-berried shrimp died shortly after I bought them and I only have females left.

Yesterday, I bought some more Ghost shrimp in hopes to get a male and realized how big the original ones had gotten. I suspect that they might not be Palaemonetes paludosus, but Macrobrachium lanchesteri. They're at about 5 cm, which should be a little too large for paludosus. What do you guys think?

The larger, suspect shrimp seem to be much more aggressive towards the smaller ghost shrimp than with each other

Shrimp #1 (saddle):

Shrimp #2 (saddle), #3 (most eggs dropped):

Shrimp #4 (eggs):

Decent shot of the rostrum:

[Mustafa]

Yep, you got yourself some M. lanchesteri. Try breeding them...they have small/medium sized freshwater larvae that take a few weeks to develop into benthic shrimp, but it can be a rewarding experience.

[Guybrush]

Thanks for the confirmation, Mustafa! I remembered those black markings and the reddish back from the pictures on this forum. I'd love to breed them, but I don't have any males I guess I have to go around to all the LFS's and check their Ghost shrimp tanks for a male. I'll need see if I can set up a live food culture since the commercial food I tried before did not end well.

I love watching these girls dancing around with my cories (grabbing food during feeding) in my community tank. Lots of entertainment for about 17 cents per shrimp

How old do they get, by the way? I've had them for 6 months now and they weren't exactly small when I bought them.

[mikedmatthews]

i'm on the second try with mine. first drop of larvea didn't pan out. i have four loaded females now.

[Mustafa]

How old do they get, by the way? I've had them for 6 months now and they weren't exactly small when I bought them.

Can't say for sure since I have never kept this shrimp from larvae until the old-age death of the adult, but the should get to be about 2-3 years old (probably more around 2 years).

[Cactus Bastard]

Mustafa, do you plan on adding the Lanchesteri to the Shrimp Varieties page? I think they deserve a spot there personally, as they are my favourite macro. Their behavior is very interesting without being quite as aggressive as say red claw macros, and at least the ones I've kept tended to swim around more often too. When you can find them in stores they are usually rather cheap, especially since a lot of pet stores simply assume they are a Palaemonetes species.

[Cactus Bastard]

Also, a search reveals a lot of people asking for IDs on their M. Lanchesteri

[Mustafa]

I'll put it on my "to to" list. I have the pictures and experience with them (years of it) so it's just a matter of finding the time to put it all down.

[Guybrush]

For some reason, this guy/gal was in a swordtail tank...

I'm hoping it's a male lanchesteri. Looks like a male to me, but that might be wishful thinking.

[Mustafa]

I'm pretty sure it's a female. Sorry. Males are usually much more streamlined. There is a slim chance that I am wrong though.

[Guybrush]

Oh well, I guess I'll add her to the harem then. I guess I used up all my luck on finding her in a random tank. 5 females out of 5 shrimp

[Guybrush]

I guess she was a he
I have eyed eggs!

I'm going to try raising them in a floating breeding container in my 55 gallon tank. I've read that they need 24/7 lighting so I might have to get them a separate tank/container if this doesn't work out.

[Mustafa]

Congrats! I'm glad I was wrong. The floating container is mostly likely not going to work as usually not enough water exchange occurs between the container and the tank through the small holes. A separate tank would be most appropriate...but it must be thoroughly cycled for the young to survive. Metabolic waste is their biggest survival issue.

[Guybrush]

Thanks, Mustafa. Eggs just started hatching! I guess I won't have time to get a separate container this time. I'll try dripping tank water into the container to force water exchange and maybe some bio-filter rocks (or would those sharp edges be harmful?). It's amazing watching the little guys slowly appear (though scary when I see some bouncing near mom's claws). About a dozen so far and not even a dent in the unhatched eggs

[Guybrush]

Well they died after a few days, so I definitely need to get a separate tank to breed them. I'm not sure if I have the time to properly raise larvae, though.