Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Can anyone provide any information concerning captive care of "the recently discovered freshwater snapping shrimp" - Alpheus cyanoteles, depicted below? They apparently hail from Malaysia and exhibit the characteristic asymmetrical chelae of the marine Alpheidae.

http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/biodiversitii/bio/images/c1.jpg

According to http://www.aquabase.org/crustacea/view.php3?id=53, sporadic importation to Europe is underway but little mention is given regarding behavior.

Can it be reasonably assumed that A. cyanoteles utilizes supercavitation to produce the titular "snapping" noise, as with other 'pistol shrimp' (depicted
http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/courses. ... impSeq.htm)?


If so, how much of a threat would they pose to aquarium cohabitants, for, according to a paper authored by Versluis-Michel; Schmitz-Barbara; von-der-Heydt-Anna; and Lohse-Detlef:

"We all know that snapping shrimp snap. It has been assumed that the snap was caused by a mechanical snap of one part of the shrimp's exoskeleton against another or by a release of a mechanically loaded skeletal string. The authors found the actual reason for the snap to be quite different. Looking at the snapping shrimp, Alpheus heterochaelis, they found the loud snapping sound was caused by an extremely rapid closure of its snapper claw. During the rapid snapper claw closure, a high-velocity water jet is emitted from the claw with a speed exceeding cavitation conditions. Hydrophone measurements in conjunction with time-controlled high-speed imaging of the claw closure demonstrate that the sound is emitted at the cavitation bubble collapse and not on claw closure. One of the effects of the snapping is to produce sound loud enough to stun or kill prey animals. The claw closure itself is silent."

Lohse, Delef, Barbara Schmitz, and Michel Versluis continued:

"The authors found that the cavitation bubbles created by shrimp in stunning their prey have some surprising properties. As the paper above indicated, the sound created by snapping shrimp originates from the rapid and violent collapse of a large cavitation bubble generated under the tensile forces of a high-velocity water jet formed when the shrimp's snapper-claw snaps shut. As this bubble collapses, a short, intense flash of light is emitted. This means that inside the collapsing bubble there are extremely high pressures and temperatures of at least 5,000° K (about 8,000 °F)."

How does this potential for destructive action affect the housing of saltwater snapping shrimp?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Are you concerned about the shrimp preying on tankmates or are you concerned that about the shrimp somehow destroying the aquarium?

Both circumstances, if they are within the range of possibility (I would house it alone, in the event I acquired a specimen).

Here is another take on how their snapping works:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... hrimp.html

These shrimp are not going to destroy your glass or anything. Mantis shrimp are reputed to do that although I have yet to hear about an actual case. Many snapping shrimp or pistol shrimp (which is how they are commonly called, too) are very beautiful animals and quite peaceful actually. Lots of times they live in close symbiosis with gobies (they live in the same burrows together):

http://digilander.libero.it/scubabob/Rosso3/goby01.html

Pistol shrimp usually go after very small prey, like small crabs and such. I don't think they will be too dangerous to fish in a saltwatertank. It should only be able to catch the odd small fish or crustacean. Here is another picture of a very nice pistol shrimp:

http://www.justphish.com/saltwater/inve ... pistol.htm

I hope there is more infor forthcoming on the freshwater Alpheus and its breeding habits. It would be interesting to keep some of them and try to breed them if possible.

Hope this helps.

Mustafa

Mustafa wrote:I hope there is more infor forthcoming on the freshwater Alpheus and its breeding habits. It would be interesting to keep some of them and try to breed them if possible.

We've got 4 of them, very small (2 cm), VERY shy (they almost never show up). Beatiful creatures. We'll be putting up a few photos on our website shortly.

There is no info on this shrimp on the net

Great Jackie! I can't wait to see the pictures. Yes, snapping shrimp tend to be shy since they usually live in little burrows most of their lives and have to worry about getting eaten by large fish if they leave their burrows. Maybe they will become less shy under aquarium conditions without fish.

Take care,
Mustafa

How big do they get? What size tank? I wonder if its like my sw tiger pistol?

Mustafa wrote:Great Jackie! I can't wait to see the pictures.

Here are the photos along with a bit of info, but only our own observations.

http://www.akwaria.pl/krewetki/alpheus_cyanoteles.html

The text explains why the photos aren't so good

Hi Jackie !
It's a nice shrimp, but I don't think that it's a snapping shrimp simillar to mantis. - cause it cannot shoot with it's long arm like snapping shrimp should do. It's more like an Macrobrachium-

Polypterus wrote:Hi Jackie !
It's a nice shrimp, but I don't think that it's a snapping shrimp simillar to mantis. - cause it cannot shoot with it's long arm like snapping shrimp should do. It's more like an Macrobrachium-

I must dissent - even from the position and form of the eyes and chelipeds, one can tell it is not of the genus Macrobrachium. In fact, it appears similar to Metabetaeus lohena, an anchialine Alpheid of Hawai'i.

Jackie - are you certain that your shrimp are Alpheus cyanoteles?[They appear markedly dissimilar to the specimen depicted on the "Freshwater Prawn Biodiversity" page I linked earlier.]

Does anyone know whether the designation of the image I provided in my first post accurate?

Sure, I think just cause of the long arms the eyes are surely completly different.
But metabetaeus not stay in salty water?

Flori

Polypterus wrote:Sure, I think just cause of the long arms :) the eyes are surely completly different.
But metabetaeus not stay in salty water?

Flori

Yes, but the gross outward resemblance suggests that the possibility they may both be Alpheids.

On the other hand, there is a certain degree of similarity between Jackie's shrimp and the "Neocaridina sp from Amazon
(アマゾン テナガエビ)" shown here. Is the shrimp in question indeed of the Neocaridina complex?

Veneer wrote:On the other hand, there is a certain degree of similarity between Jackie's shrimp and the "Neocaridina sp from Amazon
(アマゾン テナガエビ)" shown here. Is the shrimp in question indeed of the Neocaridina complex?

Of course it's not a Neocaridina. The Japanese, as most people out there, have huge troubles with scientific names and making any sense out of them.

Mustafa

Hi !
To compare- here is a good picture of Asian Alpheus microrhynchus by Chris Lukhaup : http://www.crusta10.de/index.php?sideid ... rie_id=124
Body, Exes is simillar, but the Hand of Jackies shrimp differs.

Veneer wrote:Jackie - are you certain that your shrimp are Alpheus cyanoteles?[They appear markedly dissimilar to the specimen depicted on the "Freshwater Prawn Biodiversity" page I linked earlier.]

That photo is so tiny it's impossible to see anything

We WERE sure, until the guy who imported them said he made a mistake - the shrimp we have are from Peru, not Malasya (BTW - nice mistake ). If we are lucky maybe we'll even get to know the name of the river they were caught in.

Anyway - I can't get hold of my webmaster, so the wrong name of the shrimp is going to be on our website untill Monday.

OK, anyone know what exactly we have now that we all know it's NOT Alpheus cyanoteles?