Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Hi, I'm new here so please forgive my ignorance. I have two shrimp that I got at the local mom and pop pet store (in Oregon, U.S.A.), I think they called them ghost shrimp, but who knows. I put them in my turtle tank with my hatchling map turtle. That was 6 months ago, or longer. Now, one shrimp is very large 3" or more not counting the very long redish claws. The other shrimp is about half that, but pretty much pushes the other one around. Their all in a large 65 gallon tank with some snails and feeder fish. I just noticed tonight that Godzilla, the big one, has a big egg clutch under it that he/she is fanning with it's legs. The eggs are sort of pink/reddish. The shrimp are normally opaque with some brown specaling and their claws are orange/red. Tonight however, Godzilla, is blueish and the claws are still red/orange. What are they and will the fry require brackish water. If you have any ideas on species, please let me know. I didn't see any species in the shrim varieties that were completely on point. Thank you for your time.

Sounds like a Macrobrachium species. Check the shrimp variety pages & read over the Rules again. There was also a recent post on Macrobrachium lanchesteri which has shown up on the scene. Try using the search feature to find it.

BTW- Welcome to the forum.

It would be helpful if you could post an image. Approximately how large is each individual egg?

Here is some pictures of my shrimp, but the eggs are gone.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/551 ... 3843hXnOGP

http://community.webshots.com/photo/551 ... 3843ECDBlv

That's a Macrobrachium rosenbergii female. It's one of the largest shrimp (if not the largest) species in the world. At 3 inches they are still juveniles.

I keep this species, and have several that have booodies of 7". arms as long. These need a 40 gallon tank to do well. Looks like you have 2 females, or a female and a runt male. The fact that she dropped the eggs could mean no male, or just stress.

thanks for the i.d. ! It's so nice to talk to people who know what their talking about. What are the signs of male and female? I tried a search, but didn't find anything specific. If I do have a runt male how will I know?
Thanks again.

The eggs are a give-away for females and about the only way I know of to be sure of the girls. Runt males mimic females for survival as the males kill each other if they are both Blue Claws.

Mature males are also obvious as they have midnight blue arms as long as their bodies and get to be up to a foot long. If you have one over 5" you can be pretty sure itis a male. Juvies are really tough to sex even by holding them and looking. They don't cooperate and you end up with a face full of water and a really upset shrimp. There is supposed to be a spike you can feel on the males on the first segment, but I've not been able to find it.