Giant African Shrimp - Atya Gabonensis

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Million

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Hi all. I hope this is the right place to post this! I recently got this interesting character, and am becoming slightly concerned about him. As Atya spp. are fan filter feeders (mostly anyway), I expected to see him filtering away merrily come lights out, but all he seems to do is hide in the corner under some bogwood. I'm almost tempted to put him in a hospital tank so he can't hide, and feed him up. Anyone have experience in this field?
 
Sounds pretty normal. They aren't the easiest animals in the world to look after, and giving regular feedings of filter-feeder food, plus dosing the tank with Iodine (sold for use in marine aquaria) will improve your odds of success. They are territorial but easily bullied, and in my opinion are not suitable for community tanks unless care is taken with issues like tankmates, water chemistry, feeding, etc.

There's a nice Index entry on a closely related species; have a read, because the details for keeping that shrimp apply equally well to yours.

Cheers, Neale
 
Thanks Neale, i'll try adding iodine. Also I was wondering whether adding another might help, but I guess not. I would like to make a slate stack for him soon
 
These shrimps seem to be fairly territorial, so I'd only keep either one or a group of three or more to prevent bullying. And even then, make sure the tank has adequate space for them all. While caves are important, most squabbling seems to be over feeding sites, i.e., the places in the strongest water current.

Get yourself a turkey baster. Costs about £3 in Waitrose here in Berkhamsted anyway. Use these to feed filter feeder food directly at the shrimp every day or two. The food needn't be anything fancy. Marine-grade foods are ideal, but liquid fry food or finely powdered flake will work just as well. Add these to a small pot of aquarium water, stir well, and then direct the turkey baster at the shrimp, squirting the food at its fans. Problem solved!

Turkey basters are useful things to have for all kinds of reasons. They're great for spot cleaning tanks, for separating female mouthbrooders from their fry, and for moving baby fish and eggs. Every aquarist should have one!

Cheers, Neale
 
Yes, I read about using a baster, so I got one. The problem is, in his favourite little corner he doesn't seem to open up his fans, so I don't think there's any point in suirting food at him. I did try, to see if he would open them out in response, but to no avail
 
Yes, I read about using a baster, so I got one. The problem is, in his favourite little corner he doesn't seem to open up his fans, so I don't think there's any point in suirting food at him. I did try, to see if he would open them out in response, but to no avail

Lucky you! I really fancy those, but never find them in my LFS. All my experience is with the wood/mountain shrimp (Atyopsis moluccensis) but as a fellow filter feeder, yours is perhaps not dissimilar.
Because filter feeders don't have large claws to defend themselves, they tend to be shy and retiring. They tend to hide during the day, coming out at night to feed.
Having said that, they do have tiny claws, which they will use to pluck up small pieces of left-over food and algae from rocks and substrate. Also, once feeling safe and at home, they will appear during the day.
I have four, in a planted 10 gallon tank, with bumble-bees shrimps, and a few endlers as tank mates. I have slightly-curved cork bark glued to the back wall – giving a small gap at the top where I can root plants, and a gap at bottom where the shrimps can hide, feeling safe. There is a weak internal filter (not strong enough to suck baby BBS's into the inlet, but strong enough to give a water current.
I feed them in the evening at lights-out, with a frozen cube of algae or other tiny food placed over the filter outlet – so, as it melts, a stream of food is slowly sent out.
Other may be able to better advise you, but this works for me.

P.S. If desperate to see him, pop downstairs with a torch during the night – like all the tribe, his eyes will be easy to pick out...
 
How turbulent is the water? If there's not enough movement they seem to become lazy about filtering. The faster the current the more likely you are to see them with fans out, clinging on for dear life. That's their ideal set-up, a tank sparingly decorated with rocks and branches with a VERY fast water flow.

Even though it's hiding it might still be filter feeding at times. When I've kept mine in community tanks they typically hide and I occassionally spot the fans poking out of their hiding spot. They could be clinging to the wood upside down, back on the gravel, or whatever. They don't need to be in the open or upright to feed, and staying hidden even while feeding is common. You could try adding a sturdy plant like a amazon sword near the filter outlet and see if it hides in there, fans out.

If they don't get enough food from filtering they'll scour the substrate. A dissolving catfish pellet is ideal as the small particles stay on the floor. One of mine used to smack the pellet and brush up the mess. They can live like this for years as long as you don't kill them with pollution. :)

Getting another one (preferably slightly smaller) is a good idea. They are MUCH bolder in small groups, even though it might look like they're fighting all the time. They will spend their time either snuggled up, the little one protected by the big one, or trying to stab each other with their leg spikes.

Don't bother with iodone, it's not necessary with freshwater shrimp. They need almost none, unlike their marine cousins, and get it from food in minute quantities. Adding it to the water doesn't appreciably benefit the shrimp and there's a marginal risk of harming them by overdosing.
 
Are you sure about this? I've heard that iodine makes a big difference with crayfish and crabs. I have to admit, my cherry shrimps breed like guppies without any extra iodine, but I do keep them in slightly brackish water and that may be a factor.

Cheers, Neale

Don't bother with iodone, it's not necessary with freshwater shrimp. They need almost none, unlike their marine cousins, and get it from food in minute quantities. Adding it to the water doesn't appreciably benefit the shrimp and there's a marginal risk of harming them by overdosing.
 
Are you sure about this? I've heard that iodine makes a big difference with crayfish and crabs. I have to admit, my cherry shrimps breed like guppies without any extra iodine, but I do keep them in slightly brackish water and that may be a factor.

I'm fairly sure A. gabonsensis don't need iodine supplementing, based on what I've read. It's one of the that shrimp live in areas of very little iodone - eg rain-fed rivers - and typically have a low need for it. If they can get trace amounts from food, that's enough.

The 'iodine myth' is a hot topic among shrimp keepers. Some people say it's useless for many shrimp and others say it's worth adding as there's no evidence it's NOT beneficial like it is for many crabs, crays and marine inverts. Since few of us have the technical knowledge to judge accurately, we'd probably all dose if people hadn't experienced deaths from over-dosing.

This post at www.petshrimp.com has some thoughts
http://www.petshrimp.com/discussions/viewtopic.php?t=620

Not sure if that helps or just confuses the issue more. :blush:

By the way, cherry shrimp are insanely tough. I have kept some outside since last March and they survived the winter freeze. One week with inch-thick ice on their tub and they were. Amazing.
 
Thanks for this. I'd never thought about iodine before, but then about six months ago another (very respected marine) fishkeeping writer told me it was really important with crabs and especially crayfish. So in the spirit of "it can't do any harm" I've passed the factoid onwards. Interested to learn it's a myth!

Cheers, Neale
 
Good stuff, glad to have sparked a helpful discussion. I'm thinking about reducing the size of the outflow tube on my filter tower to increase flow - what do you reckon?
 
I have four of them together, they have a pecking order and push each other about a little, they dont do each other any harm and do seem to like each others company, once after I had done a bit of moving things about they all movedtogether to another area of the tank . Mine are in very soft water ph 6.5 for the soft water crystal reds. I actually use a big aquascaping tweezers, wet and soften a crab or shrimp pellet and squeeze it just above the fans. I turn the filter down to stop the food getting moved all over the tank. It looks like they know the food is coming as they get quite active. I give the tweezers a squeeze and they eagerly eat it. They behave like baby birds in a nest competing for the food. I give it to them a few times a week as the tank wouldnt have enough food for them. I think from watching them that they are happiest when they have enough flow and a place to hide so that they dont have to move the fans except to eat the food from them. I have had them for over a year and have not added iodine, they seem fine, molt every few months and are growing slowly.
Anyway they are cool enough critters though they really dont do much.
 

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