What Kind Of Shrimp Is This...

[Liv15]

I was told it was a yamato (apparently aka amano) when I bought it. But apparently shrimp get miss-sold sometimes?!
I look at yamato shrimp on google images and they are spotty, my shrimp has some spots but also strips that are reddish in colour! Maybe it's a ghost shrimp? I hear they can be aggressive

Not sure if the shrimp is a female or male and also not sure how old it is. The shrimp is about 1.5 - 2 inches in size. I've had it for a week, no change in size. This shrimp has killed two of my guppies by getting a hold of them and eating all of their fins and tail! The first guppy did appear to be weak before hand and all the other fish were pecking at it too, but to my knowledge the second one was healthy, it was smaller than my other guppies although not by much, it was still pretty average sized! It also jumped onto my dwarf gourami at feeding time! luckily the gourami got away.
This is my only shrimp in the tank. Is this normal? Should I replace it with some cherry shrimp instead and how many?

 

[fm1978]

It's definitely NOT an Amano...

It's most likely a Macrobrachium by your description of it's behaviour mixed with the look of it from your pic. You should remove it asap if you want all your other tank inhabitants to live!

Look them up...they get big and they get mental!

 

[Liv15]

So is this what they look like when they're babies?

 

[Chad]

You can already see the large Macrobrachium claws in your photo. Amano do not have those so they serve as the primary way to tell if you have an amano or not.

 

[fm1978]

Yes, they're easily mistaken for yamato or ghost shrimp at that size, however, if you look at their claws, as tcamos suggests, you'll have a much better chance of identifying them correctly.

 

[Liv15]

I added another picture but its not as clear... I also recorded a video of the shrimp crawling around at feeding time, i can put it on youtube if anyone wants to see it? And thanks for the help guys!

 

[Chad]

Yes, as long as the video shows the claws well it can be helpful indeed.

 

[Liv15]

Here is the video... http/youtube.com/watch?v=229vF3-SGa0
Make sure you watch it in HD if you can and you can see the claws toward the end.

 

[Chad]

I do think it's a Macrobrachium lanchesteri. Compare to the two photos below that I grabbed from google.
 
M. lanchesteri

Amano

For me the difference in the claws between what you have and the amano is pretty clear.

 

[Liv15]

I think I will monitor this shrimp's growth and behaviour carefully. I'm thinking that it killed the second guppy because after it had the first one (which was weak) it then maybe got a taste for my guppies and so targeted the smallest one? If things get bad would it be okay to put it in with my fancy golfish or shall I just rehome it? (I don't know who would want it though )
Ooooh! I found something on google which looks the same. An "Indian Whisker Shrimp" ? Not much info on them though

 

[Liv15]

Whatever it is, if it kills one more of my fish I shall be taking it back to the store and demanding a full refund and a replacement of the fish I have lost because of it!

 

[ncguppy830]

I think I will monitor this shrimp's growth and behaviour carefully. I'm thinking that it killed the second guppy because after it had the first one (which was weak) it then maybe got a taste for my guppies and so targeted the smallest one? If things get bad would it be okay to put it in with my fancy golfish or shall I just rehome it? (I don't know who would want it though

)
Ooooh! I found something on google which looks the same. An "Indian Whisker Shrimp" ? Not much info on them though

its probaly not a indian whisker becuase they only prey upon other shrimp and small fry, your guy sounds like a macro.

 

[stanleo]

It does look like my indian whisker shrimp and they are aggressive. I think they ate 3 of my neon tetras but they seem to leave the remaining neons and the rest of the fish alone. I see them grab for one now and then but the healthy fish are able to get away pretty easily. I like them cause they constantly eat and keep things clean. I can't find much info on them either, but that is my experiance of them. Plus you need a good lid on the tank because I started with 4 and 2 jumped out of the tank before i knew what was happening.

 

[Liv15]

How big did yours get? I can't find anywhere how big they get

 

[Chad]

"In the Malaysian area ovigerous females of C. (M). lanchesteri may have an overall length of only 33 mm. Wild caught specimens seldom exceed 50 mm but the author obtained larger specimens from the research ponds of the Tropical Fish Culture Research Station at Batu Berendam, Malacca. The largest, a male, had an overall length of 62 mm. The large-sized males differ somewhat from the smaller individuals previously described and will necessitate a redescription of the species. In these ponds the pH, calcium content, and phosphate content of the water tend to be higher than in many natural habitats, and there is an abundant supply of digestible algae; but even where these conditions prevail in natural habitats such large individuals have not been obtained. A probable contributory factor is the rarity of efficient predatory fish which are excluded and eliminated in the ponds. It is quite likely that in uncontrolled habitats prawns do not survive long enough to attain the maximum size." - http/www.fao.org/docrep/005/ac740t/ac740t09.htm