# african giant filter shrimp



## rachnhaze (Jul 18, 2009)

Ok so i looked around at some of my lfs to see if anyone had any African Giant Filter Shrimp, well i got a phone call that someone just got two in, and so i ran right over and picked them up. I got home, there in my tank now, and they are awsome... but they dont look like they are supposed to.. all the ones i have seen are all one color, ranging from gray to black to blue. well i have two different ones and they are both striped, and one has brownish stripes with a very dark blue or black tone to it. The other has the same browninsh stripes with a red or pink undertone. Any idea as to what they are? other than the color they look like the African shrimps... they are awsome no matter what they are.


here is the larger, darker one










here is the smaller reddish one


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## Epitaph (Nov 28, 2007)

Looks more like marbled bamboo shrimp.


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## Veneer (Jan 18, 2005)

Yeah, seems to be _Atyopsis moluccensis_ (bamboo/wood/Asian fan shrimp).


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## zeldar (Jun 24, 2009)

yea i have both the blue african shrimp and bamboo shrimp. Yours looks like the bamboo shrimp but it has the big front legs like the african, so I don't know which it is. 

All I know is I never see my african shrimp, he hides constantly, prob haven't seen him twice in 5months. The bamboo shrimp is always out hanging on plants in the filter outflow doing his fanning. So observe your shrimp and if they are hiding a lot they may be africans but if they like to climb plants/rocks they are prob bamboo.


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## Veneer (Jan 18, 2005)

zeldar said:


> Yours looks like the bamboo shrimp but it has the big front legs like the african, so I don't know which it is.


That looks to be within the normal range for male _Atyopsis_, imo.


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## rachnhaze (Jul 18, 2009)

these guys are huge though, i didnt know bamboo shrimp got that big, the small one is about 3 inches and the large one is about 4 inches. they dont hang out by the filter, they like to hide in my cave were i can still see them, but come out and feed anywere. When they feed they use there fans as little claws and dig in the substrate then stick it in there mouths, sometimes they even grab up gravel eat the stuff thats on it, and spit it out.


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## anh (Jul 20, 2009)

rachnhaze said:


> these guys are huge though, i didnt know bamboo shrimp got that big, the small one is about 3 inches and the large one is about 4 inches. they dont hang out by the filter, they like to hide in my cave were i can still see them, but come out and feed anywere. When they feed they use there fans as little claws and dig in the substrate then stick it in there mouths, sometimes they even grab up gravel eat the stuff thats on it, and spit it out.


if their doing that its a sign that they dont have adequate food. You need to increase water flow.


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## rachnhaze (Jul 18, 2009)

yeah i read that upon further research, so i bought some algae discs, and broke them up near them, and now there just fanning and not digging, its cause my tank is fairly new. I have high water flow, but they dont seem to care about the flow.


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## Bubba_Shrimp (Jun 16, 2009)

anh said:


> if their doing that its a sign that they dont have adequate food. You need to increase water flow.


Yep, I had the same hiding behavior until I bough Hydor Koralia Water Circulation Pump and mounted it to “blow” towards the driftwood. A few minutes later, both on my bamboos climbed on driftwood in front of the water stream and started to happily feed 

Btw, Koralias are on sale now for $20.99 (Nano) at Dr. Foster $ Smith
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=15955

Also, bamboo shrimps change coloration/pattern to match the surrounding area. 

And I think you have a grown up bamboo shrimp...
African or Cameroon armored shrimp look like this:


Notice the key differences:

1. Obviously legs - lots of hairy "dots" 
2. Head spine is very small compared to bamboo shrimp, which is longer
3. Cameroon has shorter head with eyes located directly against head spine
4. Large armor scale in the middle of the body that sits on top of other scales.
5. Cameroon is fatter, more oval, while bamboo has more longer body.
6. Bamboo has a long bright stripe that goes across his whole body (color/brightness changes depends on surrounding area) while Cameroon doesn't.


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## feiyang (Jan 25, 2008)

very informative thread. do bamboo shrimps breed in fresh water?


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## rachnhaze (Jul 18, 2009)

I found a great article on them here.. 
http://www.planetinverts.com/Bamboo_Shrimp.html

This is what it says about breeding them. 
There is one downside to the Bamboo Shrimp: it does not fully reproduce in freshwater. Like the *Amano Shrimp*, this species requires brackish water during the larval stage in order to successfully develop from hatching. Another downside is that all virtually all specimens sold online and in pet stores are wild-caught and not captive bred.

To bad, as i am pretty sure i have one male and one female. I moved my filter over to the side were my cave and rocks are, and they seem to be fanning ALOT more, but they still dig around too.. they like to uproot my plants so i am glad they arnt digging as much anymore. They are such an interesting shrimp, i can watch them for hours.. i would recommend getting one, even though there kind of expensive. I was lucky to get full size ones, all the other ones i have seen are quite a bit smaller than my guys.


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## Veneer (Jan 18, 2005)

feiyang said:


> very informative thread. do bamboo shrimps breed in fresh water?


They'll become berried, but the larvae require saline water to develop. Nonetheless, some hobbyist attempts to rear them have met with varying degrees of success (I think up to postlarvae in a few cases). Same is true for all other _Atyopsis_, _Atya_, _Atyoida_, and _Micratya_ -- but not, allegedly, the Australian _Australatya_ (riffle shrimp). I know of an exporter who claims to be breeding the last one, but they haven't yet showed up in the U.S., to my knowledge.


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## anh (Jul 20, 2009)

rachnhaze said:


> I found a great article on them here..
> http://www.planetinverts.com/Bamboo_Shrimp.html
> 
> This is what it says about breeding them.
> ...



Amano shrimp can be tank bred, all you have to do is siphon those plankton like young to full strength salt water as fast as possible after they hatch, then when they turn into post larvae you move them back to fresh water (delaying will cause death after a week). Im sure you can do the same with bamboo/africans, the only problem is that when do they release their eggs? in brackish water or freshwater? cause from what i know Amano hatch their young in freshwater, this mean that they relide on water currents to get their babies out to sea.


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## leviathan0 (Oct 6, 2007)

Those are indeed Bamboo Shrimp. You can tell it apart from Vampires because it has a mottled pattern; Vampires are solid in color.

Male Bamboos have the big front "hairy" legs, females don't. Both sexes of Vampires have the big front legs.


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## bigboij (Jul 24, 2009)

my bamboo was a nasty dark brown/green color when i got him from the LFS, but after he had been in my tank for a few months he is now a bright orange color with a whitish stripe down his back. 

from what i seen online this means they're happy with the food and water parameters.


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