# Redclaw Shrimp?



## zoologist101 (Oct 4, 2008)

If they are red claw shrimp Macrobrachium assamense – and I can't tell from the picture – the male will be bigger than the female, with much larger claws. They are highly aggressive towards anything else in the tank, including each other. But they will breed, at least mine do.


----------



## quiverpigeon (Jan 2, 2009)

Ah, just checked a vid on youtube, and see what you mean about the males.. Perhaps I have two females then. They seem to get on very well together though. When I first put them in the same tank, they found each other, had a quick sniff, and they've stayed out of each others way since then.
Thanks for the info anyway. =)


----------



## zoologist101 (Oct 4, 2008)

Yup, sounds like two females. When 'HE' turns up it's like King Kong has arrived – lots of girlie screaming, and any minor Kong is likely to lose one/both arms, and then his life..!


----------



## quiverpigeon (Jan 2, 2009)

Wow, sounds pretty intense!
Just bought a couple of young'uns that look identical to the larger shrimp when she was young, so fingers crossed one of them will be a male. They're quite cute either way. =)


----------



## quiverpigeon (Jan 2, 2009)

Few more pics..


----------



## quiverpigeon (Jan 2, 2009)

She actually looks just like these macrobrachium lanchesteri (glasgarnel: german for glass shrimp?)
Maybe..

http://flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/2091830186/


----------



## oblongshrimp (Jul 26, 2006)

Here are some pictures of mine. So far they haven't been difficult to breed and I currently have a bunch of babies running around in the tank. Its hard to tell from your picture if they are indeed red claw macros. You should be able to see the red claws on the females (even though they are much smaller then the males). Additionally mine look to have greenish eggs. Hope this helps.

http://www.theshrimptank.com/RedClawMacro.shtml


----------



## quiverpigeon (Jan 2, 2009)

Wow, those are great pics! Cheers.. =)
I changed the lighting arrangement and added some plants last night, and they've both become a lot more active and easier to see now. The shrimp in the pictures does have a slight red tinge to her claws, but comparing her to your wonderful specimens, I'm really doubting that she's a red claw. She does have greenish eggs too though, lots of little tiny ones, maybe 0.5mm.
Pretty sure the new addition is a female of a different macro species, as there's quite a difference between the two of them really. They seem happy together though so I'll just keep an eye on them.
Thanks for your help though anyway. =)


----------



## zoologist101 (Oct 4, 2008)

Mine are considerably darker than yours – no transparency to the body at all. Also, my largest male was 4 inches long..!


----------



## oblongshrimp (Jul 26, 2006)

The eggs of mine were quite large (for shrimp eggs). They were larger then neocaridina species eggs (probably twice as large or more). I was thinking his red claws looked on the clear side as well. Most of my pictures were not of the adults as they were not playing along with the camera.


----------



## Gobies et al (Jun 7, 2008)

I think mine is M. cf lanchesteri. I purchased this one as a "ghost shrimp". I picked up another a while later. That one is darker colored but the legs are the same color. I keep them in a 10 g. with a couple of Apple snails (in quarantine). Presently he is ~ 2" and growing.


----------



## quiverpigeon (Jan 2, 2009)

Hey Gobies, she does look very similar to your shrimp indeed!
Can't be sure, but think right now I'd put my money on her being M. Lanchesteri.
The newer female is different though, similar shape, but the eyes are set closer together, and she's a much darker opaque sandy brown colour.
Not sure how yours behave when they're shedding, but yesterday morning found them both up at the top of the plants, right at the waters surface. I thought I'd done something massively wrong and that the darker one had pretty much had it. Removed the new plants and did a quick water change hoping that that would help, but it seemed to have little effect. Then after an hour or so, she shed and has been fine ever since.
It was just odd that she went from hiding most of the time, to suddenly being an extrovert as she was shedding. I always though it was supposed to be the other way round. She wouldn't let any of the other shrimp near her thought, when normally she's not too bothered. Not sure if anyone's noticed anything similar, or if this is just normal?


----------



## Gobies et al (Jun 7, 2008)

That neat, quiverpigeon!

The bigger one of mine is my extrovert. The other stays out of the way and moves back deeper in the tank when trying to get a picture of it. When the larger molted, the smaller did a personality reversal and was very much in the face of the other larger one. The freshly molted would retreat. After about 24 hrs they were back to normal with the smaller avoiding the larger. I think there is a pheromone release when the females molt. I think mine are both females but neither have berried. Their color has darkened quite a bit in the time that I have had them.

This is my smaller one...


----------



## jphan (Mar 2, 2008)

lol i had those shrimp b4 i bought 2 dollars worth of ghost shrimp and i got those as ghost shrimp. They are quite aggressive every time i would add fish into the tank they would start attacking them


----------



## zoologist101 (Oct 4, 2008)

I keep Endlers in my long-arm shrimp tank. The Endlers breed like rabbits, but the shrimp keep their numbers down to a manageable level. Balance of nature at work...


----------



## quiverpigeon (Jan 2, 2009)

Ha! That's good to hear Gobies. =D Not sure how the power play stands between mine. The larger one has longer claws, but they're more light-weight and she always tend to back off from the other shrimp, even though she's bigger. Always entertaingin how they change when they're all naked and vulnerable though. =)
Zoologist- That's a great idea, especially if they're as prolific as they sound! Seems a bit of an intense life for the Endlers, but like you say, nature at work. =)
What size tank do you have them in?


----------



## Gobies et al (Jun 7, 2008)

*zoologist101* - How many of them did you keep in what size tank? I'll keep Endlers in mind. Mine are in with a couple of Pomacea canaliculata, a Zebra snail, and a few young Neocaridina heteropoda. They ignore the snails and may get the occasional shrimp. Are you able to tell with mine what sex they probably are?

*jphan* - How many did you end up with? How big a tank did you keep them in? Do you still have them?

*quiverpigeon* - Keep us posted about the female carrying eggs! I would like to hear how that turns out.


----------



## zoologist101 (Oct 4, 2008)

This is my tank. 18 inches long, heavily planted, rocks and bogwood, internal filter, low light, no ferts or CO2. I have six adults, and several youngsters [don't know how many as they keep their heads down while they are small]
Yours look like females to me, Gobies. The arms on an adult male would be much longer.


----------



## Gobies et al (Jun 7, 2008)

Could you please post a picture showing the length of the males arms. I know some of the males will grow a large claw, but hadn't been aware of difference in length for sexing. I was going more by depth of body.

Here is a different view of the larger shrimp.


----------



## zoologist101 (Oct 4, 2008)

That picture looks to me like a male, Gobies.
It's not easy to tell the sex until they are nearly adult, and you really need one of each for comparison. 
The largest male I ever saw [the father of all my shrimps, from the I guy mine originally came from] was over 4 inches long, with enormous arm and claws. The Alpha male in the tank grows much bigger than the other males, maybe because he gets the most food, or perhaps the secondary males somehow restrict their growth so as not to be a challenge to him. I know that when this BIG DADDY died, one of the other males began to outgrow all his brothers [new alpha male, I guess].


----------



## Gobies et al (Jun 7, 2008)

I came across this site today with pictures of many different species and often showing both sexes. Going from this, I would be inclined to say I have female Dagoba-Glasgarnele M. australe. The male is very heavy looking.

http://www.infochembio.ethz.ch/links/en/zool_gliederf_krebse_hoehere_garnele.html

Maybe you will be able to match yours up quiverpigeon.

Thoughts?


----------



## quiverpigeon (Jan 2, 2009)

Wow, that's a great resource, good find gobies! Wish more of these shrimp sites were in English, so many of them seem to be in German.

Had a brief scout through that immense list, and M. Lanchesteri is still the most likely looking for mine.
It's hard to say though, as so many of them only show the males, and the females seem to be a lot less distinctive, or with the main distinctions of the males a lot less apparent.

She's just shed again, so she'll no doubt fill with un-fertilised eggs again..
Still keeping my fingers crossed that one of the juveniles is a male of the same species..


----------



## quiverpigeon (Jan 2, 2009)

Sure enough, she's berried again. Very pale green eggs, maybe 1mm diameter. They're partly dangling out of her swimmerets. She's been getting them every moult for a good few months now. She normally just eats them over a few days.


----------



## Gobies et al (Jun 7, 2008)

Does she drop the eggs unhatched? Have you seen her eat the eggs?

You could try putting her into a separate container/tank, soon after she berries, with lots of plants and remove her once she drops the eggs. The eggs may hatch into a larval state where they float in the water column for a period of time.


----------



## quiverpigeon (Jan 2, 2009)

Since owning her, she's berried maybe 4-5 times, but I've never seen larvae in the tank. I have seen her reaching up into her swimmerets with her smaller claws, then moving them back to her mouth. After a few days, all the eggs are gone, and she doesn't eat anything else during this time. I've never seen her actually dispersing, or laying the eggs and the tank she is in now has lots of plants.
I've kinda need assuming that the eggs would need to be fertilised before they would hatch, is this not the case?
Would have paid a lot more attention if I thought there was a chance they'd actually hatch!


----------



## Gobies et al (Jun 7, 2008)

I don't know if they can be prehit. I wasn't aware they would drop unfertilized eggs.


----------

