Man, adult amanos are HARDY! I just moved my new amanos out of QT after a 3-week quarantine. As I was netting them out, one fell out and dropped on the floor. As it was at least a 3-foot drop onto hard flooring, I assumed it was a goner. At least if it were a cherry shrimp, it'd be history. But imagine my surprise when I looked down and he was WALKING across the floor! I have dropped ghost shrimp that survived the fall (boy, do they jump) but they were never strong enough to stand up in the absence of water, or to break the surface tension clumping their legs together. Amanos are now a strong contender for my favorite shrimp
I ordered 25 amanos, and every single one was male. Frustrating, since I had hoped to try to raise some larvae. I remember badflash saying he also had many males, and had to look elsewhere for a female. Why is there this prevalence of males in this particular wild-caught shrimp? Are they more mobile so are more likely to be caught in nets? But that would be true of most if not all shrimp species. Why this reversal in sex ratio in amanos?
Last edited by Baby_Girl on Fri Nov 02, 2007 5:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I think it depends on your dealer. The females are larger and easier to see & catch, so if you are getting the tail end of a shipment, the females went first. I caught up with my dealer at a snake show and he let me pick them. He could not sex amanos even though he is a pretty prominent invert dealer. I guess because no one breeds them it wasn't important to him.
badflash wrote: The females are larger and easier to see & catch, so if you are getting the tail end of a shipment, the females went first.
ahh, that does make sense.
Luckily, one of my friends is willing to trade me her female amanos for some of my RCS. She said they were berried and didn't want to undertake such a complicated breeding project.
edit: I just went back to the site I ordered my amanos from. When I placed my order, the dealer said he had over 200 amanos so it doesn't sound like they were at the end of their shipment. The site says they "only sell Juveniles" to ensure maximum survival. Since this is really hard to do with wild-caught shrimp, I'm guessing they selected all males from their supplier, thinking if they were smaller they must be juvenile.
Last edited by Baby_Girl on Fri Nov 02, 2007 7:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The site says they only ship 'juvenile' shrimp to ensure maximum survival. Since this is really hard to do with wild-caught shrimp, I'm guessing they selected all males from their supplier, thinking if they were smaller they must be juvenile.
Neonshrimp wrote:What are the size of your amano shrimp?
they are all nearly full-grown males, I think? All are 2.5-3.0 cm.
I looked at this page http://mikes-machine.mine.nu/breeding_yamato.htm
and my amanos all match the description of males. Slender body, no elongated pleopods, lowest row of dots are truly dots and not short bars.
Baby_Girl wrote: Why is there this prevalence of males in this particular wild-caught shrimp?
These shrimp are actually now bred in fish/shrimp farms in southeast asia (Singapore, Indonesia etc.) since they are a hardy, large, popular species.
I also noticed back in NYC that the amano shrimp at Petco were all male. I have no idea what that is the case. I did not have any females until I located a local fish store that had extremely small, juvenile (think smaller than medium sized red cherry shrimp) animals, that did not even have the characteristic dots on them. That batch turned out to be about 50/50 male/female.
Maybe some suppliers in southeast asia have a hard time parting with their females, who knows....
Mustafa wrote:These shrimp are actually now bred in fish/shrimp farms in southeast asia (Singapore, Indonesia etc.) since they are a hardy, large, popular species....
Maybe some suppliers in southeast asia have a hard time parting with their females, who knows....
Wow, really??! That's super exciting.
If I have any success with amano larvae, I'd be hard-pressed to part with a female, too. But those wholesalers must have huge numbers of females (and males).
badflash wrote:I sure hope these weren't from that yo-yo in AZ. They say anything and you can beleive none of it.
oh no. I've heard nothing good about that company and avoid them at all costs.
Not to beat a dead horse but I know to stay clear of them also
yeah, I've heard nothing but tales of dead animals and dirty water. Any place that says you should order extras to make up for losses that are unavoidable (and therefore to be expected) during shipping, is FOS.
I've never received a single DOA when buying from fellow hobbyists. And we're not doing this for a living, which would supposedly give retailers access to proper shipping materials and methods. We as private parties just care more about our animals. So shipping accomodations are made as comfortable as possible (styrofoam insulating box, heat/cold pack if needed) and the critters are all healthy enough to survive those 2-3 days in transit.
Mustafa wrote:These shrimp are actually now bred in fish/shrimp farms in southeast asia (Singapore, Indonesia etc.) since they are a hardy, large, popular species.
I was thinking about this.
I thought the hobbyist community was trying to raise Amano larvae because it hadn't been done except with limited success before. Given this new (at least to me) knowledge that this species is actively being bred and raised in Asia on a large scale, does this mean our private endeavors toward this same end are moot?
Regardless, I'm still going to give it a go. If nothing else, it will be a learning excercise and a test of my skill.
Regardless, I'm still going to give it a go. If nothing else, it will be a learning excercise and a test of my skill.
Just by this statement alone you show that trying to breed as a hobbyist is worth it. The farms may have the expensive hatching/breeding equipment but most of them do not have the passion and heart we put into it
I don't think the "pros" do anything other than have a pond on a suitable stream. They make life good for the schrimp and harvest them. This isn't anything like shrimp farming for M. Rosenbergii or other farm raised shrimp.
Neonshrimp wrote:Just by this statement alone you show that trying to breed as a hobbyist is worth it.
Thanks, mate!
I hope I can report back with some results. I'm still at least a couple months away as I have to cycle a saltwater tank and may be able to make that trade with my friend over Thanksgiving break.
