paul Posted February 7, 2012 Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 Hey all. There have been a few posts with shrimp (cherry and crystal), crabs and yabbies posted recently, and it got me thinking about other crustaceans that could be added to a shrimp tank. I have a smallish tank with a little colony of cherry shrimp that has just been spruced up with a few plants, a little water change and actually feeding the shrimp... surprise, surprise they are starting to look really good. There are quite a few tiny shrimplets around the place, and there always seems to be a berried female or two in the mix. Seeing this little bit of success, I was thinking about adding other - maybe bigger/more interesting crustaceans to the tank. I found this site with pics of Macrobrachium ausralense, that might be a decent freshwater prawn type critter that might be suitable for this sort of thing. (I'm thinking a yabbie would get too big, and a crab would dig up the plants). Anyone know anything about these critters or their relatives (big nippers look cool)... or how to source them? Just going through some ideas.... Lemme know your thoughts. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masquerade Posted February 7, 2012 Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 Wow, those algae eaters look like they could come in handy *collective groan* What? Someone had to say it! How are you thinking of getting them, buying or trapping? Good luck with whichever channel you go down, they certainly look unique. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbites Posted February 7, 2012 Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 Big nippers shred plants :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul Posted February 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 poop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
les Posted February 7, 2012 Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 Hi Paul I have Dawin alge shrimp and they are fantastic in moss that has hair alge as hair alge is there favorite food also have fresh water mussels that do a fantastic jod at filtering and add a little diferance to a tank and for somthing without legs they realy do get around Cheers les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_95 Posted February 7, 2012 Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 Macro prawns will eat your cherries. Pretty much only other dwarf shrimp or micro fish, or as Les suggested muscles. Aqua green has a range of shrimp and snails that are quite good :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
les Posted February 7, 2012 Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 They do Matt and they are very resonably priced Cheers Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ophelia Posted February 8, 2012 Report Share Posted February 8, 2012 (edited) I don't think thouse 'mini algae eating shrimp' are the same thing as the darwin algae eaters... Macrobrachium aren't all that hard to catch if you can't find anyone selling them. You probably wouldn't want to put them in with your shrimp though. Edited February 8, 2012 by Ophelia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul Posted February 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2012 Cool guys... I knew it would be worth asking you all. The very basic search I did resulted in limited info that didn't really help a lot. So now I know: Macrobrachium = big nippers on fairly big shrimp. Big nippers = plants become nom noms Fairly big shrimp = mini shrimp become nom noms Little shrimp likes little shrimps Some fish nom noms little shrimp Little fish sometimes not nom noms little shrimp Easy Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
les Posted February 22, 2012 Report Share Posted February 22, 2012 So Paul what did you go with?????? or did you not gowith any?????? Cheers les PS those fresh water muscles can be put in your outside tubs and help with the filtering of your thia style rearing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul Posted February 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2012 Didn't end up adding any other crustacean type critters, Les. Interestingly, there are a bunch of really small shrimp like critters that appeared after adding the new plants. I'm assuming they are seed shrimp. There's one addition who is appreciating the seed shrimp though... A solitary betta fry that came from the outdoor spawning experiment. Seems to be doing really well in there. Still too small to eat the cherry shrimplets but growing quickly. Took a pic just now before heading out to work, but I don't know how to upload iPhone pic to photobucket from my iPhone (ie without hooking phone up to computer). Anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadoh Posted February 22, 2012 Report Share Posted February 22, 2012 I either use the Photobucket app, or log into Photobucket through my iPhones browser and upload that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul Posted February 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 Thanks. Finally figured it out... Need to get full web version (not mobile version) then upload button, then "from phone", then copy email address supplied, then mail to said email. Easy as p Here's the little fella in with the shrimpies: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
les Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 Cool he will grow fast on his own bonus getting seed shrimp with your plants I think thats how all my tanks now have cherry shrimp in them from transfering plants oh and Bloody Ricia its every where grows faster that duckweed hear in Perth Cheers Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul Posted March 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2012 So I tried to take a couple pics of the little fry in the shrimp tank, but failed to get a good shot of him... but managed to get one of one of the shrimp sitting on a algae covered rock. I thought I'd share: Strangely I don't think the little betta fry has actually learnt how to hunt down the shrimplets particularly well yet. Although I'm sure he's fluked the occasional shrimplet, they seem too fast for him to catch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
les Posted March 27, 2012 Report Share Posted March 27, 2012 Holy **** thats awsome Opss sorry but it is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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