Help With Shrimp Id...

[Kev_A]

Bought this little guy a few months back as a jeuvinile along with some other freshwater shrimp,

He's quite obviously different from the others though, he's develpoed these huge claws, has a serated spike on his head and is approximately 3.5-4" long! AND GROWING!

He seems harmless enough scouting about by himself, he's very defensive, waves his claws about if any of the fish go near him, but when the lights go out I'm convinced his picking off my glowlight Tetra's, he seems very much carnivorous, he will eat sinkers, flakes etc. but absolutely loves prawns & bloodworm.

Anyone know what he is?

I might be interested in trading him for other shrimp or fish

 

[Hawkins]

The last 3 pics are scary!

I have no idea anyway

 

[Cdarmychi]

ewww.......and ill do some googling, but as of now......just eww

 

[Kev_A]

The last 3 pics are scary!

I have no idea anyway

Lol, I know, I took them with my phone, been showing them to mates etc. and they always say the same

ewww.......and ill do some googling, but as of now......just eww

Again, I know, poor little guy, seems to provoke that reaction in people, my Girlfriend is scared of him

I found this

http/www.ausyfish.com/shrimp.htm

Right at the bottom, looks exactly like him with the distinctive claws but only classes him as a large freshwater shrimp, seems a bit of a generalization, it says they only use the claws for battling with other males, maybe mine has thought about it a little more and has realised he can use them for fishing

 

[saltynay]

Can't say exact species but it is a long armed shrimp of the macrobrachium genus. Macrobrachiums are nasty buggers most will pick off small shrimp and fish given the opportunity and will scoop snails out of their shells.

 

[Kev_A]

Can't say exact species but it is a long armed shrimp of the macrobrachium genus. Macrobrachiums are nasty buggers most will pick off small shrimp and fish given the opportunity and will scoop snails out of their shells.

Macrobrachium Australiensis, that's what the above link list him as....

Hmm, I may need to rehome him then, I do have a pair of Bamboo shrimp there that are now smaller than him but he doesn't bother with them, then there's the various Amano's etc. that live in the plants which are a fair bit smaller than him, I'm slightly worried about them now...

Does anyone keep these?

 

[MermaidMel]

It's a long armed macro, they are eeeevul if you keep small bottom feeders he will get them

 

[silverrabbit]

Aww, I think he's rather cute

 

[Platygirl11]

ewww.......and ill do some googling, but as of now......just eww

The last 3 pics are scary!

I have no idea anyway

Am I the only one whose first thought was "ooh, how adorable?"

 

[loraxchick]

he is soooo cool because he's so scary looking. i want!

 

[three-fingers]

Yep, macro shrimp of some sort, very cool if you don't mind other tank inhabitants being eaten .

Where are you located?

Id love to try something like this in my main tank, though I have a feeling my loaches would eat something like that .

 

[Cdarmychi]

ewww.......and ill do some googling, but as of now......just eww

The last 3 pics are scary!

I have no idea anyway

Am I the only one whose first thought was "ooh, how adorable?"

.....YES

 

[TylerFerretLord]

Nope. I think it's cute too.

Little guy will probably fare well in a ten gallon with a cave, some wood and a sponge filter if you want to give him his own tank.

 

[Platygirl11]

ewww.......and ill do some googling, but as of now......just eww

The last 3 pics are scary!

I have no idea anyway

Am I the only one whose first thought was "ooh, how adorable?"

.....YES

Yeah, that happens sometimes.
Ah, well. I think he's cute.

 

[FishBeast]

After reading on a website that these macro's were absolutely harmless I went out and caught 9 of them along with heaps of native dwarf glass shrimp. I got them from about 4 cm to about 8 cm's in length (not including the claws). Then I noticed that the biggest one was taking a swipe at my dwarf shrimp when they got too close. Should I let them go? or sentence them to the tiger oscar tank?