Whisker shrimp?

[creic38]

Hello all! Kinda new here. Been reading for a long time, and learned tons from everyone. Thanks all for your help.

I need a little help with something specific. I was at a great, new lfs today, and I ran across se shrimp called whisker shrimp. I picked up 3 (3 for $5) because I have a little algae I was hoping these guys could help with. I know I should have done research first, but I haven't been able to find much, and I have a lot of trouble finding other shrimp in my area. Don't want to risk red cherries because I have red that my German blue ram, swordtail and black skirts might tear them up.

These whisker shrimp are fairly large, about an inch and half. They are clear like ghosts, but have long arms/legs.





The picture is crappy.....my kid was hanging on my leg! Hahaha. I'll try to get more pics up in a few. Any info is greatly appreciated!

 

[manbeast]

look like glass/grass shrimp but yours look a little fuzzier then the ones I'm used to

 

[creic38]

Might be the pic.







Check these out. It looks like two of the ones I got might have a saddle. They have a green "sack" behind the head area.

 

[manbeast]

that green sack right behind the head is the stomach, when they're carrying eggs you'll see them on the underside of the tail with the swimmerets. I personally never had my ghosts successfully reproduce I've heard differing opinions as to whether they need fresh or brackish water for the eggs to hatch, but when or if they do they hatch they'll be in a free swimming larval form not fully formed like the adults. so about the only filter I've heard of that won't consume the larvae is a sponge filter

 

[creic38]

Thanks for the info. I don't think these are ghost shrimp though. Not finding much info on whisker shrimp.

 

[creic38]

I guess not much info on these badboys? They are cool as heck, I can tell you that. Dropped an algae wafer in the tank and the cories and swordtail were all over it. All of a sudden, this shrimp swoops in, picks up the wafer and takes off for the end zone! The fish chased him around the tank for like 5 minutes until they forced the fumble and took the wafer back! It was hilarious. I gave the shrimp a shrimp pellet, which he grabbed and hid in a corner to eat. Everybody won......wish I caught it on camera.

 

[Autumnsky]

Hi,
My LFS has these and I checked about them, I seem to remember they would be aggressive with other dwarf shrimp. Do get bigger 1.5 or so appx, get a big reddish purple brown color claw on one side.

Sounds like fun to watch. I love a good wafer/pellet challenge!

I just remember they weren't for me due to the fact they would probably eat baby shrimp.

 

[Wyomingite]

Thanks for the info. I don't think these are ghost shrimp though. Not finding much info on whisker shrimp.

Howdy! These guys are a Machrobrachium sp. from south Asia, and belong to the same family as ghost shrimp. They're life cycle is the same as ghost shrimp, with a free-swimming larval form for 'bout a week before they start crawlin' around. I managed to get two larvae in a tank with a sponge filter, from five adults, but never got them to the crawling stage. My tank crashed for unknown reasons when I was out of town on business, and I lost the group (as well as my ghost shrimp colony). They do not need brackish or SW for reproduction.

They get 'bout 2" long and love to pick at algae. I had them with glass cats and lambchop rasboras, both of which left 'em alone. I'm not sure rams would resisit the temptation, though.

WYite

 

[creic38]

Thanks for that info! These guys all stick to themselves. The ram does not bother them. He is still young though, barely an inch. The shrimp are about one and a half now.