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Fresh Water Amano Shrimp


TioTeo
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So…I definitely did not put (going on 13 that I can see) more than 3 Amano shrimp into my fresh water aquarium [20 gallon Hexagonal tall]. Did I just accidentally, and quite to the contradiction of all advice, breed and raise Amano shrimp in fresh water?

 

I probably should do a bit of scrubbing of my tank here soon, but the positive is that I have recently noticed more and more Amano shrimp grazing off the algae on all the decorations, and counting them, they have to have bred.

 

The only thing that makes sense is that I did increase the salinity quite a bit a few months back to try and beat off some ich before giving in and getting Ich-X delivered. There are definitely plenty of places for the shrimp to hide in some sphagnum moss and rocks, so I have not seen them until the last few weeks starting to appear. But I have lost no fish in the process, so the salinity could not have gotten to lethal levels. I am seriously at a loss, Unless there are some Neo Cardina that now look like Amano shrimp. These would have been purchased from Petco, as there are no local shops in my area. 

 

I am confused, and delighted all at the same time. 

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Wow! That’s neat! The other thing I wonder is if the amano shrimp you got aren’t actually amanos, but something else that can breed in freshwater. I don’t know enough about shrimp to know, though.

Either way, it’s great! It’s always useful to have more shrimp!

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That is kind of why I posted here. I would think fresh water Amano shrimp would be a great revelation to shrimp keeping. I am trying to decide if I need to keep these to test out instead of giving them away to people that may eventually kill them off, when I move in a few months. 

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So looking into this a little more, it seems there are a lot of different imposters to true Amano shrimp. Given their relatively low price at the chain store, their freshwater breeding ability, and the fact that they are not the best at controlling algae, I have to determine that these are in fact likely not true Amano shrimp. 

https://www.fishkeepingworld.com/amano-shrimp/

https://urbanfishkeeping.com/how-to-tell-if-it-is-a-real-amano-shrimp/

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/true-amano-or-one-of-the-imposters.478978/

 

Unfortunate, but these are the times we live in...

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The shrimp in this tank have historically stayed pretty hidden: 1) due to the presence of betta females (sorority tank), 2) little algea growth, and 3) many good hiding spots. It has only been recently with the outgrowth fo algae and putting on a larger size that they have started to adventure out into the open. The other fish have gotten used to them now, but I never really saw one carrying eggs.

I will have to keep an eye out if I see this moving forward. 

I, however, agree that these may be a different freshwater cardina species. 

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On 8/13/2021 at 1:26 PM, laritheloud said:

How big are your adults? My amano shrimp (adult females, especially) are massive, and two of them are carrying eggs that I know will just either not hatch or die immediately after hatching. These guys look kinda small for amanos, and the body looks different to me.

The adults looks pretty small for what I think adult amano should be, ~ 1" maybe 1.25". 

I guess I did not realize that it was common to find neo cardina (wild type) shrimp with amano type markings.  Looking closely you can definitely begin seeing the difference in body style and coloring between these and your standard amano shrimp. But these were definitely sold as "Amano Shrimp" at the big box stores, in my local area. 

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On 8/13/2021 at 4:39 PM, laritheloud said:

amanos are easily 3 inches,

Yeah my amanos are every bit of that and they are like bulldozers.  When  i throw food in the just grab the whole thing and carry it off.  I was amazed to seem them carrying entire zucchini pieces away.  I had to put in more for the cherry shrimp lol

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On 8/14/2021 at 8:48 AM, ARMYVET said:

Yeah my amanos are every bit of that and they are like bulldozers.  When  i throw food in the just grab the whole thing and carry it off.  I was amazed to seem them carrying entire zucchini pieces away.  I had to put in more for the cherry shrimp lol

Dirty bandits 😆

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On 8/14/2021 at 5:48 AM, ARMYVET said:

Yeah my amanos are every bit of that and they are like bulldozers.  When  i throw food in the just grab the whole thing and carry it off.  I was amazed to seem them carrying entire zucchini pieces away.  I had to put in more for the cherry shrimp lol

Amano antics for sure!

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