Amazon Prawns Macrobrachium amazonicum

[badflash]

Anyone here have any experience with these guys? I just aquired a few. They seem to look like giant ghost shrimp with big claws. They have no fear of open spaces and are happy to be displayed all the time.

All the literature I have seems to indicate they like soft acidic water, way down around pH 5.5. Mine are doing OK right now at pH 6.8.

They breed in fesh water just like ghosts do. They also seem to breed just as often.

I'll try to post some pics.

[badflash]

Here is what they look like:




Very similar to M. Rosenbergii but the coloration and claws are different, and the head is not as spikey. Really just Monster ghost shrimp.

[fishcrazee]

looks really good. Though I wish my ghost shrimp would breed as much as you make it sound like they do

[badflash]

Breeding is one thing, getting post-larvals is another. I keep my ghost in alkaline hard water and feed them well. Mostly sinking goldfish food. The females are always with eggs on the swimmerlets.

To get post larvals you need lots of plants, no fish, and microfoods for them like copepods, moina, and rotifers. This takes a bit of effort as you need green water to culture these critters separately.

I'm hoping the same process will work for my amazons when the time comes.

[fishcrazee]

I guess then raising ghost shrimp is pretty much out of the question for me. Unless.... I can always put the female in the outside daphnia, monia, rotifer cultures outside. Well if I see eggs I'll try different things. Maybe I'll get post-larva one day and start raising them from there

[badflash]

If your outside temps are >65 degrees there is no reason you can do them outside. Outdoor ponds with no fish are one of the best places to raise them. Get a little green water going, add moina and shrimp and let nature take its course.