Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Hi all.. new here.
I purchased some fresh water shrimp from a local pet store about 4 months ago. They were sold to me as Fresh Water Shrimp and wouldnt get too big. They were about 4cms at the time. Gets them homes and adds them to my 95ukg community tank.
Well to cut a long story short in 4 months they have eaten all my tetras and grown into 20cm monsters



Vids of Boris and his pals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcPSqigAKhY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B26iHZV-_Bg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvxBJK0XYKE
I would like a confirmation on what variety these guys are. I'm comming up with lots of slightly different ideas, and have not managed to get a positive ID .
What conditions are best for these guys? I'm currently feeding them defrosted shrimp twice a week as a treat, and the rest of the time they get pellet food, bloodworm, green lipid muscel, shrimp, veggie. Is this diet suitable for them in the long term.
They have now been moved into their own aquarium with lots of hiding places and seem to be tolerating each other well. No missings limbs etc s0 far . But I have heard these guys will tear each other to pieces given the chance.
Would just like general info etc, the more the better please. [/img]

I'd pretty much bet the farm these are juvenile M. Rosenbergii. In a very short period of time they will be making sushi of the fish in that tank. They will also be munching down any live plants you have. The makes can attain a body length of over a foot. A 40 gallon tank with some good caves can support 1 male and 3 females. If there are two males over 6", who ever molts first loses.

The diet you are giving them is perfect. They like steamed eggs too. A good mix of plant and animal foods is needed. They really seem to like hornwort.

littleme1969, thank you for that great picture!

If there are two males over 6", who ever molts first loses.

Wow these guys mean business!

Hm...I recommend a dip in a nice, thick pesto, then grilling.

Welcome to the forum and nice pics.

nothing like keeping shrimp that could eat a poodle... rock on

badflash wrote:I'd pretty much bet the farm these are juvenile M. Rosenbergii. In a very short period of time they will be making sushi of the fish in that tank. They will also be munching down any live plants you have. The makes can attain a body length of over a foot. A 40 gallon tank with some good caves can support 1 male and 3 females. If there are two males over 6", who ever molts first loses.

The diet you are giving them is perfect. They like steamed eggs too. A good mix of plant and animal foods is needed. They really seem to like hornwort.

Yes I thought as much ..
I have 3 living in a 30g. Its a corner tank and has the back piled with rocks, wood etc, so lots and lots of hiding places. They are in there with a couple of redclaw crabs (max size 5cms) No live plants, just silk. The largest is about 20cms, next down is about 16cms and the last is about 12cms. They seem to tolerate each other well and know their pecking order.
They also seem to have stopped growing too, which is good news, but I put that down to the fact they have no tetras to snack on anymore and their diet is now controlled by me I can see in the long run ending up with one shrimp! when hes decided to eat his tank mates
They have great personalities, each one being very individual.
Thanks for the info

Once they get the blue claws they slow down. The others will continue to grow and will morph to blue when large enough to kill the current blue. The current blue will watch for that molt and take the pretender to the thrown apart before he hardens up.

If you want to keep them, watch for when they stop eating. This is a sign they are ready to molt. Take that one out and put him in a 10 gallon tank until he molts & hardens up, then you can move him back. After the molt he'll be about 1/3 bigger.

Here is a pic I took last year of a pair. "Big Blue" and his best girl...

Thanks for the picture badflash and for telling us about these shrimp They sure do have personality, the kind I never want to run into

By the way, has Big Blue and his girl had their batch of babies yet?

No, no babies. That batch seemed to have some genetic issues. After a little over a year they just died. It wasn't my tank either. Within weeks I had reports from everyone I shared them with that there's had died as well.

We'll see what this year's batch does. These are bread for food shrimp, so there isn't much reason for them to breed long lived shrimp, just ones that gain weight fast.

They are definitely cool animals. They get very tame. My biggest is about 9" and he was 1/8" I got them March 15 of this year. I'm down to maybe 100 now between sales & canabalism. Even at that they are amazingly social. Mine are totally spoiled and don't bother the endlers or snails I keep with them. They eat the pond snails, but the apple snails and endlers they don't bother with.

They do look Tasty.

badflash wrote:Once they get the blue claws they slow down. The others will continue to grow and will morph to blue when large enough to kill the current blue. The current blue will watch for that molt and take the pretender to the thrown apart before he hardens up.

If you want to keep them, watch for when they stop eating. This is a sign they are ready to molt. Take that one out and put him in a 10 gallon tank until he molts & hardens up, then you can move him back. After the molt he'll be about 1/3 bigger.

Here is a pic I took last year of a pair. "Big Blue" and his best girl...

Big blue and his not so big Mrs are very impressive I'm thinking I have 3 males and they would never sit next to each other like that.
Boris my largest male is blue all over as you can see the pic above next to ruler. Hes not forgiven me for talking him out of the tank to measure and move him Before he would come to the glas and beg for food, now when he sees me he just hides and gives me dirty looks from inside a rock crevis

Boris doing a bit of fishing in the big tank:)

And when he was about half the size he is now, up on his fishing pole

As for *Shrimp that could eat a poodle* Well hes not had a go at the dog yet, But I did have to give him a poke when he had one of my bristlenose plecs by the tail [/url]

Pinky mice is the most meat I've seen mine eat. They LOVE earthworms.