Algae Eating Shrimp (not Amanos?)

[dskidmore]

Preface on Species:
I purchased a bunch of "algae eating shrimp" at the pet store. They did indeed eat hair algae, much to my glee. I've launched a research project into them, and have come across two complely seperate descriptions of the Amano shrimp. There is a brown shrimp, and a more translucent shrimp both being labeled as Amanos. Writers of the brown-shrimp descriptions sometimes mention the more translucent variety is a mis-identification. Mine are of the more translucent variety, I will try to post some pictures soon.

Breeding:
A couple of the shrimp appeared to be carrying eggs. From my research, it sounded as though the eggs would never hatch in freshwater; however, I found yesterday a large number of empty hemispheres floating on the sufrace of the water, clumped with a few infertile eggs. (The infertile ones were white instead of brown.) If these are true Amanos, they will need saltwater to survive long, but if not, they may be ok in freshwater? Opinions?

 

[Friendly]

I never knew that a brown amano shrimp existed. It would be interesting to see a pic of one. I've only had the translucent kind of amano shrimp (which I believe is a true amano). My shrimps have produced eggs a few times but none of the larva survived in freshwater.

From what I have read and have seen, the eggs do hatch in freshwater. The larva can only survive a few days in fresh water before having to be put into a tank with brackish water. If you check out this site http://hem.bredband.net/micnor/breeding_yamato.htm , it says that there have been reports of amano shrimp larva surviving and reaching adulthood in freshwater.

 

[dskidmore]

there have been reports of amano shrimp larva surviving and reaching adulthood in freshwater.

...while other sites claim that each of these incidents is purely a case of mis-identification.

It seems from what I've read that it's possible for the babies to survive in freshwater, but the survival rate is much higher in seawater.