Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Hi everyone,
I was thinking of buying some Macrobrachium assamensis (at least I think thats what it is, picture from seller below)



but wondered if they eat alot of fish? I read Mustafa's arcticle on them which says that "These shrimp will, however, eat any small algae eating shrimp or small fish they can get a hold off and even clip off parts of the fins of fish when they are asleep at night. They are not predatory by nature, taking only advantage of opportune situations"

....Yet the seller assures me that these ones (if they are the same) wont/dont eat any fish at all. I was hoping to put them in with some neon tetras and minnow, so wanted to be sure before I went and bought some.
Thanks in advance

I need a better picture. How big is he? A big red claw is only 3" and has (need I say it) Red Claws. The big fellow you show looks to have the big blue claws of an M. Rosenbergii.

They are fish eaters if they are hungry. Mine don't bother my endlers much, but they do grab one now & then. Others have ones that eat every fish they put in the tank. I think it is what they are used to eating that matter. Mine were raised from post-larvals of 1/4" on fish food and food scraps. This is a lot easier than catching fish.

Thanks for your help,

Unfortunately that is the only picture the seller has provided.
Info from seller:-
"Adult shrimp are between 8 and 10cm. The pic is a young adult, when fully grown colour may vary between reddish brown to chocolate brown. Good in a tropical comunity aquarium. Do not put with large fish as they may become lunch. I have kept these shrimp for a few years and have never seen one eat a fish. They will eat just about anything including flake, catfish pellets and bloodworm. These shrimp also breed freely in a comunity tank where they will protect their young."

I emailed the seller asking if they definately wouldnt eat fish, and if they knew their scientific name and they said:-
"Hi, not sure of latin name as there are loads of shrimp that look pretty much the same. I have my shrimp in a comunity aquarium with loads of neons guppy baby`s and other small fish and never seen them eat one, They are scavengers and will feed on just about anything that falls to the bottom. Hope this helps"

I looked through Mustafas shrimp varieties page and the only one that looked close was Macrobrachium assamensis

I hope you can see why I was so unsure!

Check viewtopic.php?t=1077&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15 for pics of mine. Really neat shrimp, but they get HUGE. My biggest has a 6" body and arms as long.

raptor83 wrote:

I think it looks a lot like the Red Claw shrimps I had.
The dark markings on the head/front body looks different than those on rosenbergii.
There's some pictures of my Red Claws here: http://www.aquabo.dk/index.php?id=7&pid=2
Mine could catch and eat live Daphnia, mosqitou larvae, RCS and Guppys.
I can only recommend the shrimps. They are very interesting to watch.

They can catch and eat small fish and shrimp. However, it all seems to depend on food supply and individual personality. Currently, my red claw shrimp are living together with a wild type Neocaridina dwarf shrimp and there are juvenile shrimp running around the claws of the red claws. The red claws don't seem to care. However, that can change in a heartbeat if food is in short supply.

Of course a seller will "assure" you that they don't eat anything as he/she wants to sell you the shrimp unless he/she is actually convinced that these shrimp don't eat any other animals.

Red Claw CAN hunt for other small shrimp if really hungry - at least mine did. I fed my Red Claws with algae-eating shrimp. However, as Mustafa mentioned, they never attacked the babies. Maybe they don't hunt for anything too small to fill up their bellies?
They can eat their own babies, probably because they are larger and easier to catch. They also must be quite hungry before they become cannibals. Plenty of hideouts protect the baby Red Claws from getting caught, at least some of them.