Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Hi,

A long time ago, one of my friends (also a shrimper) went to mammoth cave with his family. As a joke, I said, "Grab me some of those cave shrimp." He said "Yeah, Sure." But upon his return he had a bag. It had small whitish-gray eyeless shrimp! He kept them under a jacket in the car. He gave them to me. Seconds later, I was surfing the net for answers. They were Kentucky Cave Shrimp, Palaemonias ganteri. They were a member of atyidae. Well I set up a micro-tank in my closet but they all died . This was this early this summer. As soon as i joined the forum i forgot the story. While feeding my p. Paludosus I remembered. Cool, Huh? Mustafa, what should i have fed them? Water conditions? lighting? tankmates? If you have any info, tell me. I want to try and raise them. Is this a Good idea? Don't know? I will try.

On a heavier note, they are federally endangered and its illegal to take them. So how did he get them? Can he get arrested?

Those shrimp are actually Palaemonidae and not Atyidae. Yes, he can arrested when caught, but obviously there is not someone standing around and watching everyone all the time. Most people don't really care about the shrimp that swim around there. Your shrimp probably died because of the same reasons other shrimp die....bad water paramters, uncycled tank etc. etc. Also, there shrimp probably need lower water temperatures since they come from a cave.

Having said that....it would be nice if the government actually allowed some kind of breeding program to keep the species alive, since these shrimp should be pretty easy to breed (they produce mini-shrimp instead of larvae). Once that population in that cave is gone, that will be it for this species.

Mustafa

Yeah, That would be great. theshrimp_123 and mustafa.... Saving shrimp species everywhere....lol