Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

THE other day I went to my lfs and that day they had "algae eating shrimp" the man at the store told me that they would reproduce in freshwater so I bought some. I looked on the web to see what they were- they were amanos!! I am very mad- the man even told me about some man who brought them in by the bailfull in his freshwater tank. Now I am thinking of even raising some of their fry. should I?:evil:

They do reproduce in fresh water, it is just that the fry can't survive once they hatch. There is a lot involved in doing this, so unless you are really into this, just enjoy your shrimp.

If you want shrimp that are easy to reproduce, get the red cherry shrimp.

See viewtopic.php?t=1011 for the most recent amano breeding thread. I'll be posting more of my experience as time goes on. I have 3 females carrying eggs and one is about to hatch.

I think I might have the answer to this anomoly. while researching last night I found a site that talked about the breeding of amano shrimp. On the page the writer told of a what you might call "subspecies" of Cardinia Japoncia. this subspecies is from Thailand and totally reproduces in freshwater. the only seen difference is it lacks the two small blue spots C. japonica has on the uropods. coincidentally my shrimp are lacking these spots.http://www.mikes-machine.mine.nu/breeding_yamato.htm

Keep us posted if they breed for you. I'd love to get some if they do.

snakeskin wrote: I think I might have the answer to this anomoly. while researching last night I found a site that talked about the breeding of amano shrimp. On the page the writer told of a what you might call "subspecies" of Cardinia Japoncia. this subspecies is from Thailand and totally reproduces in freshwater. the only seen difference is it lacks the two small blue spots C. japonica has on the uropods. coincidentally my shrimp are lacking these spots.http://www.mikes-machine.mine.nu/breeding_yamato.htm

First of all, it's Taiwan and not Thailand. Second, he's is mentioning a source in which I was participating when the discussion was going on (german invertebrate mailing list). These reports of C. japonica breeding in freshwater have never been substantiated. Nobody in Germany (or anywhere for that matter) has a colony of them and nobody could provide pictures up to this point. So, it's highly debatable that any freshwater C. japonica exist. Mike is just reporting what he heard, not confirming it.

So, don't hold your breath for any freshwater-reproducing C. japonica.

Unfortunately, most fish stores have little in-depth knowledge of shrimp. Sometimes you're lucky if they know much about the fish!

Of course, the number of "brownish" shrimp doesn't help if you don't know much about them, and the number of common names like "algae eating shrimp" could mean anything.

Cherries are very easy to breed, if you want to try some other shrimp.