Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Are the redclaw and/or other Macro's suitable only for a single-species tank?

In large tanks with lots of hiding spaces you can keep red claw macros and fuzzy claw macros with non-aggressive but fast fish and shrimp. Especially fish that don't sleep on the ground are fine. There is never a guarantee, though, that your fish or shrimp won't get hurt.

Also, for the sake of the macros, don't keep them with aggressive cichlids...even if the cichlids are small. The shrimp will be dinner at the latest when they molt.

I kept chameleon shrimp with dwarf puffers for about a year and had no problems. The DPs didn't go too the bottom of the tank when sleeping, thus avoiding the shrimp, while the shrimp were too large to be pestered by the DPs. A few other DP keepers reported the same success.

I was surprised a little, as sleeping DPs are almost comatose and take about 10 seconds to come round if woken suddenly. As the shrimp grew I was worried it might turn killer. Eventually the dominant male had a claw larger than his body and went on a rampage, stalking the other shrmip constantly until he'd killed them. He still ignored the DPS though.

I heard from someone who kept a chameleon shrimp with corys. That lasted long enough for the shrimp to develop a hairy claw and then the corys were history.

The red claw are best kept by themselves if you value the life of fish or other macros. You can keep them with shrimp such as the cherry shrimp. I have kept them in a setup for 3 months this way and they are both proliferating just fine. Guppies do okay to some extent. They breed almost fast enough to feed the macros and yet not slow enough to disappear all together. These are a friendly shrimp as long as there is only 1 male in tank. Mine show no aggression unless i put something in tank for them to fight with. They will attack wounded fish also. I have put fish in the tank that were swimming funky. The shrimp notice this and go after them. Good Luck with yours. And the bigger the tank the better.

Jason

I keep my macrobrachium red claw in a 100 litre weel planted tank. At the moment there are two males together with 9 females. I have had no territrial disputes so far. The shrimps only show some agressive behaviour during feeding time.


good luck with your shrimps!

My 100l tank

Nice tank gabs. Any fish in there or other tank mates?

Jason

Thanks jason. No there aren't any tank mates in the 100 litre tank.

But I keep some other Macrobrachium Red claw (about 7) in a 200 litre planted tank. The shrimps are kept together with corydoras, discus, siamese algae eaters and a yoyo loach. No trouble so far.


Macrobrachium in the 200 litre tank


Macrobrachium in the 100 litre tank

Great pictures gabs! I like how you use the wood and plants in your tanks, and the shrimp are beautiful

Thanks.

Your tank is very well planted. How long have you had the red claw. Mine breed at a pretty fast pace and would soon fill that tank and they would be pretty hard to get out. I use a 33 gallon long tank for mine but I keep only floating plants like hornwort in there. Pretty easy to move shrimp when I have to.

Jason

I've got 8 red claws in a 125 gallon tank with about 15 glowlight danios and everything seems fine. I've never seen any interaction between the fish and shrimp at all, actually, even when the shrimp were little. There is a pregnant female right now, so I guess I'll see how everything goes with baby shrimp in there soon, hopefully.

That is a good size tank. The shrimp will usually hunt fish at night when the fish are laying near bottom. I am only using a 33 gallon long so there is not as much room. The bigger the better though. Good luck with your batch of future babies.