Wooo Free Shrimp, Now What...

[awilson360]

Hi guys,

When I bought my Corydoras they caught a shrimp by accident and just said I could have it free. I have no idea what kind of shrimp it is. It is about the size of my young Panda Corydoras and white. I found a skin of it in the sand the other day and he hides in the coconut cave I made. I was just wondering if I should buy a few more shrimp so he has some friends? The tank has 2 Dwarf Gouramis and 4 Panda Corydoras which as far as I'm aware don't bother him as he is sometimes seen freely swimming about at night.

So my question is...

How many shrimp should I get so that they could breed and never need replacing. I also don't want my tank to become over-run with shrimp hehe

Thanks,

AW

 

[BethK]

a picture would help if it's an amano, they won't reproduce

 

[ZoddyZod]

if by 'white' you mean translucent, then it sounds like an Amano shrimp. If the body is solid white with maybe a spec of red, then it sounds like a high grade cystal shrimp (maybe someone with more shrimp knowledge will correct me?).

if it's Amano then I'd certainly look to get more. They are much more active in groups and if you only have one you might not see it much. For breeding the Amano is quite tricky and you will need brackish water to transfer the eggs to and raise the young.

If it's a crystal/cherry shrimp (unlikely given the 'white' colour) then get 6+ of these and they will breed like rabbits. However, it's very likely that the rest of the tankmates will eat any of the young.

a picture would help if it's an amano, they won't reproduce

it wont reproduce on its own, certainly. But if there are others in the tank then it almost certainly will. The problem is the rasing of the young and the requirement for brackish water.

I've seen my female carrying eggs several times, but nothing will come of it unless I take the extra care required to raise them.

 

[BethK]

But they won't carry through a spawning, amanos may-well carry eggs but the young won't hatch or survive.

I would say a min. of 4 amanos as a group but if you say white and see-through, most likely to be a ghost shrimp.

 

[awilson360]

But they won't carry through a spawning, amanos may-well carry eggs but the young won't hatch or survive.

I would say a min. of 4 amanos as a group but if you say white and see-through, most likely to be a ghost shrimp.

Hmm well he is hiding at the moment so a photo would be tricky!

From the looks it could either be Amano or Ghost! What is the difference between either? Will have to have a look tonight when he is active.

Thanks,
AW

O and it was a feeder shrimp in the LFS I believe. It was the only one in the tank so I presume it was plopped in for the fish to eat? Don't know if that helps at all.

 

[BethK]

ghost shrimp

Amano

cherries

fresh water

 

[ZoddyZod]

From the looks it could either be Amano or Ghost! What is the difference between either?

O and it was a feeder shrimp in the LFS I believe. It was the only one in the tank so I presume it was plopped in for the fish to eat? Don't know if that helps at all.

if it was a feeder then I'd say ghost, they are very cheap (50p for 10 near me) compared to amano (£2.75 each).

Ghost have this distinctive bend in the tail
http/t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSs6XF1x6TlmKSKndQRc5bFnkHdNjrQ4yr-lSrpA77W__ykWCY&t=1&usg=__P9duP0WOb_QRPGiIxhzxXtLagOI=

Amano do not
http/t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQtwztl6_SXIudwTnR9JXJkEYx9TxWU0NEvMA9T5jpvBmiLgZY&t=1&usg=__vIadmgVuITerii4-dCHIWYmCNv8=

 

[Shred]

That last pic is a tiger shrimp by the way, BethK.

 

[BethK]

That last pic is a tiger shrimp by the way, BethK.

ta, i totally forgot the name of it

 

[awilson360]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

This is the best photo I could get.

He is sitting on the Anubias leaf in the middle!

From the looks he is an Amano Shrimp?

AW

 

[BethK]

he could be but that stripe makes me think he/she is a bamboo shrimp

 

[Verminator89]

I'd say wood shrimp from that picture.

Beth carefull what images your posting technically your infringing copyright by using all those peoples images (unless they are yours).

 

[BethK]

I'd say wood shrimp from that picture.

Beth carefull what images your posting technically your infringing copyright by using all those peoples images (unless they are yours).

googled

 

[Verminator89]

The likely hood of them realising is very slim, so you'll be ok. I just know i'd be pissed if people started posting images of my fish as exmaples on other forums, atleast without my approval anyway

 

[ZoddyZod]

Beth carefull what images your posting technically your infringing copyright by using all those peoples images (unless they are yours).

you're also leeching the host sites bandwidth.

From the looks he is an Amano Shrimp?

AW

Agree, looks just like my female. She's also got a nice band of colouration along her spine.