Common Marble Shrimp
- Thread starter cakelady204
- Start date
Oh I have one of these guys now. Saw him at Petsmart when they got a whole bunch of new fish a few weeks ago. The problem with getting information on them is that Petsmart is the only place on earth who calls them marble shrimp. But luckily, Petsmart also included the Latin name on the ID card, so I looked him up before I bought him. Atyopsis moluccensis. They like a few hiding places, maybe some plants and definately substrate.
They're actually called bamboo shrimp or Singapore flower shrimp. http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1842
Petsmart seems to want to sell a lot of aquarium salt lately, as many of those new ID tags say "requires aquarium salt." Meanwhile, no freshwater fish should have salt in their tank, much less do they require it! Be wary of their suggestions for minimum tank sizes as well. They claim that clown loaches need a minimum ten gallon tank, when in truth a clown loach in a fifty-five gallon tank is already pushing it. A gross understatement.
Now back to this shrimp. I have one in my five gallon betta world. (I feel that Foster-Smith's site is incorrect with their idea that Atyopsis moluccensis needs a minimum 20g tank. They don't seem too interested in running laps or exploring. Other places I've researched indicates that these shrimp can be kept about one shrimp per five gallons.) He has been a pleasure so far; fun to watch, doesn't seem to need any special feeding (he eats from the water column or scavenges) and mine has already molted so I assume he's quite happy. One thing though: POOP! These folks can POOP! haha So you'll be syphoning out a little more poop than usual with your water changes. But other than that (if you can even consider that an issue?) these are wonderful additions to a tank. As long as you don't have any really, really big fish who will make this guy dinner (or maybe a big crayfish or other crustacean that might fight or kill him) I heartily recommend him.
They're actually called bamboo shrimp or Singapore flower shrimp. http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1842
Petsmart seems to want to sell a lot of aquarium salt lately, as many of those new ID tags say "requires aquarium salt." Meanwhile, no freshwater fish should have salt in their tank, much less do they require it! Be wary of their suggestions for minimum tank sizes as well. They claim that clown loaches need a minimum ten gallon tank, when in truth a clown loach in a fifty-five gallon tank is already pushing it. A gross understatement.
Now back to this shrimp. I have one in my five gallon betta world. (I feel that Foster-Smith's site is incorrect with their idea that Atyopsis moluccensis needs a minimum 20g tank. They don't seem too interested in running laps or exploring. Other places I've researched indicates that these shrimp can be kept about one shrimp per five gallons.) He has been a pleasure so far; fun to watch, doesn't seem to need any special feeding (he eats from the water column or scavenges) and mine has already molted so I assume he's quite happy. One thing though: POOP! These folks can POOP! haha So you'll be syphoning out a little more poop than usual with your water changes. But other than that (if you can even consider that an issue?) these are wonderful additions to a tank. As long as you don't have any really, really big fish who will make this guy dinner (or maybe a big crayfish or other crustacean that might fight or kill him) I heartily recommend him.
Last edited:
I've actually been considering a letter to them regarding this. If you check out my "rant about things you've seen at the LFS" thread you'll see the list of things that geekrockgirl and I took down from their info cards.
My favorite is still clown loaches only need a minimum tank size of 10g!
Oh and that gouramis "require" aquarium salt.
Thanks for all the info. I think I will go ahead and get one. It will go in the five gallon tank in my boys bedroom that I had our crayfish in. Since he passed it has been empty. My sons thought it was just the neatest thing but I wanted more info before I purchased one. Thanks again to all he responded.
Not aggressive...and even if they wanted to be, they're really not equipped to do any damage. They lack pincers; instead they have these little fan-like appendages that they use to either sweep up debris, or they "fan" the flowing water to gather microscopic foods. Hence the talk about having some sort of a water flow (ie - filter output) for them to fan for food.
Mine spends his time either walking around gathering the detritus, or sitting in front of the output of my Stingray filter. He's been doing wonderful...a deep, red color, prominent line down his back and he's even molted succesfully and was back out from hiding within days. The betta rarely bothers him, but when he does it's just a little chase away/flaring. Nothing I'm worried about.
Mine spends his time either walking around gathering the detritus, or sitting in front of the output of my Stingray filter. He's been doing wonderful...a deep, red color, prominent line down his back and he's even molted succesfully and was back out from hiding within days. The betta rarely bothers him, but when he does it's just a little chase away/flaring. Nothing I'm worried about.
They're about as peaceful as you can get.
The only problem I can see with them in my tank, is mobility - my male(Who is about twice the size of my female) has trouble walking across the bottom of the tank, because of my really fine grain sand. Not really a problem, but I can imagine it's annoying for him!
The female doesn't have the same problem, just him, so he usually stays on my driftwood.
The only problem I can see with them in my tank, is mobility - my male(Who is about twice the size of my female) has trouble walking across the bottom of the tank, because of my really fine grain sand. Not really a problem, but I can imagine it's annoying for him!
The female doesn't have the same problem, just him, so he usually stays on my driftwood.
Rocks would be fine. You can tell males from females by their first set of legs; females have all six sets close to the same size; males have a very prominent first set.
They won't touch plants, they don't even have a way to do so if they wanted to!
for food, they filter microscopic particles out of the water, so provided you have enough water volume and current, there will be enough food. If you have any doubts, you can use liquid fry food to feed them.
They won't touch plants, they don't even have a way to do so if they wanted to!
for food, they filter microscopic particles out of the water, so provided you have enough water volume and current, there will be enough food. If you have any doubts, you can use liquid fry food to feed them.
I just wanted to reply to some of the comments about Petsmart's innaccuracies when it comes to their fish ID tags. (I will comment on bamboo/marble shrimp at the end of this post.
I work for the pet care department at my local Petsmart, and you all are quite correct about your complaints -- and, yes, it is a corporate problem. I've attempted to bring some of these issues to the attention of my managers and the district managers, but apparently they "can't do anything about it." Needless to say, I may not be willing to support Petsmart much longer. It's incredibly frustrating having to re-educate customers (and some of my co-workers) because they assume that corporate Petsmart knows what they're doing.
The one thing I will say, though, is certain "freshwater" Petsmart fish really should have small amounts of aquarium salt in the tank. Glassfish and dragon gobies, for example, are technically brackish-water fish (note that Petsmart doesn't seem to realize this, and should not sell them as "freshwater" fish). Mollies, also, are a semi-brackish species, and often thrive far better if provided with salt -- and aquarium salt is an amazing preventative for disease for many (but not all) fish. So please don't completely discount using aquarium salt because of the term "freshwater" fish. On the other hand, the tag for our dwarf freshwater puffers says they require aquarium salt, which is actually lethal to the particular species we carry. So much for accuracy.
Sorry for the rant... if any of you do feel like writing a letter with complaints to corporate Petsmart, please, please, please do. The more complaints, the better!
Back to bamboo shrimp (which do come from the fish supplier labeled as bamboo shrimp, despite Petsmart's tags)! These guys are amazing -- I'm considering setting up a 20-gallon species tank for them. From everything I've read, most if not all bamboo shrimp are wild-caught -- has anyone heard of successful breedings in captivity?
The link Freshwater Invertebrates for Aquariums: Singapore Flower Shrimp does say "They are extremely difficult to breed going through many planktonic stages before reaching miniature adult stage and need brackish to full strength saltwater." Apparently the larvae hatch in brackish-to-salt water and then head back into streams as adults.
I work for the pet care department at my local Petsmart, and you all are quite correct about your complaints -- and, yes, it is a corporate problem. I've attempted to bring some of these issues to the attention of my managers and the district managers, but apparently they "can't do anything about it." Needless to say, I may not be willing to support Petsmart much longer. It's incredibly frustrating having to re-educate customers (and some of my co-workers) because they assume that corporate Petsmart knows what they're doing.
The one thing I will say, though, is certain "freshwater" Petsmart fish really should have small amounts of aquarium salt in the tank. Glassfish and dragon gobies, for example, are technically brackish-water fish (note that Petsmart doesn't seem to realize this, and should not sell them as "freshwater" fish). Mollies, also, are a semi-brackish species, and often thrive far better if provided with salt -- and aquarium salt is an amazing preventative for disease for many (but not all) fish. So please don't completely discount using aquarium salt because of the term "freshwater" fish. On the other hand, the tag for our dwarf freshwater puffers says they require aquarium salt, which is actually lethal to the particular species we carry. So much for accuracy.
Sorry for the rant... if any of you do feel like writing a letter with complaints to corporate Petsmart, please, please, please do. The more complaints, the better!
Back to bamboo shrimp (which do come from the fish supplier labeled as bamboo shrimp, despite Petsmart's tags)! These guys are amazing -- I'm considering setting up a 20-gallon species tank for them. From everything I've read, most if not all bamboo shrimp are wild-caught -- has anyone heard of successful breedings in captivity?
The link Freshwater Invertebrates for Aquariums: Singapore Flower Shrimp does say "They are extremely difficult to breed going through many planktonic stages before reaching miniature adult stage and need brackish to full strength saltwater." Apparently the larvae hatch in brackish-to-salt water and then head back into streams as adults.
Petco in my area sells them as Bamboo Shrimp. They are almost half the price that Petsmart is selling "Marble Shrimp" for. I have had one for about six weeks and he/she is great. I was warned by the guy at Petco to be very selective with their tank mates. Some fish nip off their feeler/filter things and then they can't eat.
