Identify this shrimp? ***a better pic added***

[Sinuhe]

I bought this shrimp about a month ago, and still am not sure what it is exactly, lol. First I thought it was a Ghost Shrimp, but after the first molting (he molted for the second time today) he turned quite dark brown in color, and he's also pretty big, about 6 cm/ 2½ inches. I have another, similar one in my QT tank, he's slightly smaller. Any idea what species it could be?

Click here for a large picture.

 

[TankGirl]

What about this "chameleon" shrimp? http://www.fish2u.com/chamshrim.html

 

[Sinuhe]

Hmm, kind of looks like it, but the site says Chameleon Shrimp only grows up to 1 inch. Or is that the size of the shrimp at the time of selling them from the site?

 

[madasafish]

Fish2u always states the approx size of a fish/invert when shipped, not its max size. Kinda annoying, coz you have to do your own research.

Hm... I've seen shrimp like this before. It looks a fair amount like a browner example of this shrimp: http://www.franksaquarium.com/freshwatershrimpfarm.htm (Red Claw shrimp about 9/10 of the way down)

Frank's is always a good resource for info on shrimp and crayfish. BTW, are you even sure it's a shrimp, not a crayfish? It looks kind of like the White River (USA) crayfish and the Calico Crayfish, too: http://www.franksaquarium.com/crayfish_farm.htm

A lot of fish and inverts change their color to adapt to a substrate (even in a matter of minutes). Actually I'm reading John Steinbeck's "Log from the Sea of Cortez" and he describes how fish they caught would change color rapidly when brought on board (to eat) at a pace of a change every few seconds. Wow!

 

[Sinuhe]

I'm pretty sure it's shrimp, altho I'm not sure what the defining difference is between shrimp and crayfish? It looks a lot like the pictures I've seen of Ghost Shrimp, only that it's darker, and probably bigger. Also, after taking a look at the links madasafish provided, the shrimp look a lot more similar to it than the crayfish. I should try to get better pictures of my invertebrate.

 

[Sinuhe]

Here's a better picture of the shrimp

Click here to see a close-up

 

[TankGirl]

Well this has really been bugging me that I can't find this shrimp. It must be one of those considered a prawn because of the size and the claws. Just in my reading up on these they are somewhat predatory so watch out for it. Otherwise they are excellent scavenger feeders, provided they are given enough room.

 

[Allivymar]

*nods and agrees with TankGirl*

Its definitely one of the Palaeomonetes or Macrobrachium species, aka long arm shrimp or long arm prawn. I hadn't seen the claw arms clearly before; now that I see it we can limit the guesses to those 2 species.

My guess is Macrobrachium as the Palaeomonetes species are usually white or translucent. I figure its either the Indian Prawn or the Striped-Hand Prawn; you can find some info on em here: http://www.shrimpcrabsandcrayfish.co.uk/Shrimp.htm?Shrimpfr.htm~mainFrame and here: http://www.thekrib.com/Fish/Shrimp/

 

[Sinuhe]

Thanks, TG and Ally . So far, the shrimp and fish have gotten along fine. He's in a tank with 3 Platies and 5 Swordtails. Sometimes when the shrimp and fish cross paths, the shrimp will reach out and touch the fish, but I haven't seen any attacks, no fish has been hurt as far as I know. But I'll keep an eye on him.

 

[Timanator]

Thats alot of knowledge on shrimps Allivymar, thanks.


I have always liked small shrimps, maybe I can clone your tank oneday....

 

[Sinuhe]

I'm really starting to get attached to that shrimp, he's so interesting to observe. Yesterday, I saw him trying to catch a small trumpet snail, but the snail was hanging on to the driftwood so tightly he finally gave up . (Do shrimp eat snails?) I also see him scanning the gravel for stuff to eat

 

[ferret]

I need one of these I like crawdad's, but they're too aggressive for me to risk This looks like a good compromise

 

[Timanator]

I had 6 small shrimps to start off with. But now can only find 2. But they are still too small to venture the open areas in my tank without fear....

 

[Sinuhe]

Yeah, shrimp seem to be somewhat shy, at least at first. I have 2 shrimps in QT that mainly keep hiding during the day.

 

[lyquidphyre]

I think mine are doing what yours did. At first when I bought them you could hardly see them because they were so small, now they are bigger than half my fish and they seem to be getting darker.