Yes, I identified those shrimp for Mike who sells them now on Aquabid. They are a palaemonid shrimp, i.e. in the same group as Macrobrachium and Palaemonetes but a different branch from both. I will probably put up a species description soon for those guys. They have only been around for a year or so worldwide...so they are relatively new to the hobby. Whoever gets them should try to breed and distribute them instead of just having them as "strange" additions to their community tanks.
They have large eggs and reproduce in freshwater. They should either produce very advanced larvae that turn into postlarvae (i.e. mini shrimp) within a day or so or they produce already fully developed young. Either way it won't make a difference to the hobbyist since very advanced stage larvae are "sitting larvae" (as opposed to floating) and don't need to be fed.
Any recommendation on water parameters? Soft, hard, alkaline, acidic? Temperature? I should have asked in my prior post, but just thought of it now. Thanks.
Newjohn wrote:
Mike said they were from Peru and most likely were softer water.
Yes, they are most likely coming from soft, acidid waters although there are also some rivers that have slightly alkaline water in the amazon basin. So, a good way to start with them would be to keep them at around neutral ph first and go from there. The temeperature should probably be in the upper 70s to lower 80s.