Macrobrachium australiense care

[Callatya]

I have the WORST luck with these creatures.

In 2003 I bought 10 while on a tour of brisbane fish shops. I had them bagged with O2 and in the largest fish bag they had. within 20 mins, 2 were dead and by the time I arrived back at the hotel4 hours later, there were 5 remaining. I was not expecting such a high mortality rate for things that were bagged with O2 and did not appear to be attacking one another.

When we got back to our hotel that day, the remaining shrimp were put in an esky with heavy airation and zeolite.

This worked slightly better, and after a 14hr trip to Sydney, I had 4 remaining.

These were put in a temperate tank (21-22*C) and within 6 days, all had succumbed to some sort of problem that appeared to 'cook' their flesh, starting at the long pincers. They didn't look distressed and were eating and grooming perfectly well.

Photograph of the last remaining creature:


Anyway, last week, I took another trip out of state and decided to try again, on the spur of the moment (always a bad thing with aquatics, but I did it anyway). I did not have an esky or pumps with me, so I was changing the water daily, and had the creatures in 1G bottles. As they were only the size of our common atyidae shrimp, I reasoned that this would be suitable. 3 to a bottle, twice daily water changes, surely that would be enough? nope.


So, long story short, I have a single shrimp remaining.

He (or she, didn't look) is perfectly content scuttling around on the bottom of my 2' planted tropical tank. Its an Asian region tank, and has some very large B. fusca and B. falx in there, as well has masses of MTS and some very large kuhli loaches.

I am holding my breath on this one, as he seems to be doing well.


I cannot keep him in this tank forever, I will need to move him, and I don't want to lose him because of it.

I need to know what these shrimp require for survival, as obviously I haven't been providing it prior to now.

I also need to know how to hold these shrimp for several days, and how to ship them via a courier. I intended to have a small group, not a lone scavenger, and i'll be buggered if I don't get it right the third time around. As it is, I'm close on giving up on the concept of ever being able to keep them


Here is the photo of him/her


Oh, and Hi, i'm new here. I've been keeping Charax species for about 15 years, and have dabbled in a few other inverts including atyidae shrimp, FW mussels and many species of snail.
I am an avid fishkeeper with my main focus on betta species, and I have a soft spot for all things aquatic and unusual
Nice to meet you all

[GunmetalBlue]

Hi Callatya and welcome to the forum, nice to meet you, too.

There's one other member with M. australiense - unfortunately, I haven't seen Raggamuffin around since their original post. I suppose it couldn't hurt to PM them and just maybe, they'll get your message and possibly be able to offer suggestions or advice. Here's their post: viewtopic.php?p=6405&highlight=#6405

Sorry I can't be of much help but the one thing that sort of stuck out in my mind is if 21-22C considered a good temp for them? It just struck me as the low end of their temperature range, but really, I have no idea what they would do best in. Did you know what temp the fishstores kept them in?

When you said: "In 2003 I bought 10 while on a tour of brisbane fish shops. I had them bagged with O2 and in the largest fish bag they had. within 20 mins, 2 were dead and by the time I arrived back at the hotel4 hours later, there were 5 remaining. I was not expecting such a high mortality rate for things that were bagged with O2 and did not appear to be attacking one another."

The only thing it seems would have killed them (providing they were originally healthy) is water temp fluctuations and/or stress. So again, just thinking out loud if the possible culprit might have temp related...

-GB

[Callatya]

I know ragamuffin from a few boards, and from the look of her posts, she seems to be after the same information as I am. When we get it figured out, we should write up a 'how to', save anyone else being in the same situation.

Some of the shops keep them heated, some do not, however i'd guess that the reason that I can only get them out-of-state is that the ambient temperature is far warmer than where I live.

So, stress.. Is it the same as fish? dark, minimal movement (ie. not on the floor of the car) bagged separately?

And heat, are heatpacks and an esky going to be acceptable? the same as shipping tropical fish?

How sensitive are they to temperature fluctuations? is it the speed of the fluctuation that is the main problem or the difference?

21-22*C was about as low as I thought they could go, and since I bought them from an unheated tank, I assumed it would be fine, but in hindsight, I think you are right and that it was too cold for them.

Thanks for replying, I was starting to feel unloved

[chlorophyll]

Hi,

I'm not familiar with what an esky is. Do you mean an Eskimo cooler?

Sudden/fast temperature changes are usually more destructive than the temperature simply travelling to a certain point. (unless it's an extreme point)

Breather bags which don't need air spce (thus reducing jostling and turbulence for the contents) would probably be best. If they have something floating in the bag with them to crawl on and hold onto, that might help. And then putting the bags in a box with ample newspaper or other padding inside. That's basically how people ship shrimp, and should work for a car trip as well.

If not, just a big bucket, again with plants or something for the shrimp to cling to, with a battery pump hooked up, and kept on soft padding or the car seat might be ok. Water changes may not be necessary.

To me, I think not enough oxygenation or not enough physical stability resulting in stress are causing problems for you.

By the way, welcome. And I'd love to see pics of your common Australian atyidae!