KyWildFish

So the other day I was at my LFS picking up some driftwood when my wife noticed some huge ghost shrimp in a tank. They usually have some there at a rediculous price so I never check the tank but these guys were noticable. They are about an inch long and were huge compared to the others in the tank. They both have dark stripes running laterally down the middle of their backs. They have some slight blue pigment on the front claws but its quite faint. Compared to my other ghosties they are very similar in body size and anatomy but just colored quite differently. She took some pics and I will get them up when I get home.

(Glad to see FL back up!)

MizRamzi

Hmmm may be Amano shrimp?

KyWildFish

I have some pics but they wont load up for some reason on FL's server.

MizRamzi They definitely are not amano. Which I at first thought they were.

KyWildFish

Hope the bucket works, here's another try. One is with a flash the other without. Help me fishlorians, your my only hope.

KyWildFish

No guesses? Hmmm...

Toddnbecka

There are hundreds of different species of shrimp caught and sold as "ghost shrimp", including juvenile prawns and longarm shrimp that look nearly identical to other species when they're small.

KyWildFish

After looking at some of the morphology of these guys, I am thinking they are some kind of long arm variety. I will keep posting pics here if anything changes. I think I also got a crystal shrimp with them that was labeled a ghostie. Good haul if I dont say so, especially for place holders.

Tony G.

when you described him i though he was an electric bue crawfish.... now im confused... here´s a site that will hopefully help you get an ID of him...

http://www.petshrimp.com/shrimpspecies.html

Toddnbecka

One thing to beware of, some of the larger prawns are predatory critters, and will eat anything they can get their claws on. Other, smaller shrimp are usually first, then fish start disappearing.

KyWildFish

Ive looked through lots of sites and cannot find what they look like. I'm thinking they are in fact predatory and will have to keep a close eye on them. Lucky they are in a tank that's isolated so they wont be harming anything. Should be cool to see how they develop and what they really are.

pepetj

Here are my "weird" looking FW Ghost like Shrimps. They develop somewhat strong but elongated tweezers or claws (help with correct English wording here please!). I have an almost 4" male that I've been keeping since fall 2008 (this one ended up munching inofensive Yellow Nose Shrimps as well as a few small fishies like Fire Rasboras and Neon Tetras as it was sold to me with the Yellow Nose Shrimps mislabeled as Ghost/Glass Shrimps in a LFS).

It is capable of killing mid size snails (such as Apple Snails juveniles and Nerite snails), feed on whatever is available and respect hardy plants such as Anubias barteri species. A couple of days ago I got an adult carrying female, three young males (one has one claw missing) and two juveniles that seem too early to sex. The adult male I have somehow figured out his way around a tank divider and ended up killing and eating a young crayfish that was bigger in size had what looked like stronger/larger claws than him.

Here are a few pics of them.

Having a hard time identifying them. So far it seems that these are not crayfish but actual shrimps. Not safe for fish tanks and likely aggressive toward territorial issues.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

Attached Images

	Hispaniola FW Ghost like Shrimp Female carrying eggs.JPG (538.4 KB, 60 views)
	Hispaniola FW Ghost like Shrimp young male.JPG (369.3 KB, 62 views)
	Hispaniola FW Ghost like Shrimp Female carrying eggs pic 2.JPG (463.4 KB, 56 views)

iloveengl

WOAH! Those are scary!! Holy smokes. Seriously, I would be scared to put arm in the tank.

Toddnbecka

I can't say what species, but it's definitely a longarm shrimp. Not too surprising it took down the crayfish, it has the advantage with those longer claws.

Jaysee

Pepetj - Found your shimp on a website

http://www.z-life.info/fshrimp.html

pepetj

Thanks Jaysee. The juveniles look a lot like the first pics of that article but the adults keep the elongated thin claws. It looks like some call them long arm river prawns. Is a prawn the same crustacean as shrimp?

I believe the ones I have are from the genus Macrobrachium. Not sure about the specific species and if these were introduced or are native to Hispaniola Island.

One species of beautiful Ghost/Glass Shrimp that I also keep are the native (and I believe endemic to the Caribbean basin area) Yellow Nose Shrimps (Xyphocaris elongata). Peaceful and suitable for Community Tanks but as I've read around not available in the trade. I am fortunate to keep these little curious inverts.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

Attached Images

	Hispaniola FW Macrobrahium sp carrying female.JPG (191.1 KB, 24 views)
	Yellow Nose Shrimp in 6.8pH.JPG (493.9 KB, 19 views)

Tony G.

wow pepe those shrimp are deffinately... interesting
scary haha have you tried sticking your finger in there!? please dont haha


dont know if anybody noticed the date of the post lol

iloveengl

lol. Good point Tony. I think we're just too freaked out by Pepet J's shrimp. They need their own scary shrimp thread.

pepetj

I don't think they will attack me (in fact they run to hide whenever I place my hand in the tank) but I wouldn't dare "cornering" them. Those claws look capable of inflicting pain you know.

I did noticed the date of the post (August 2009). What happened here is that as I was searching for info on my specimes, it turned out they look a lot like the ones KyWildFish posted so I picked the subject up. I did send a PM to KWF before posting here to request any findings since the first post was made, no conclusive ID or scientific name has been suggested at the time; I followed a lead on Texas or Mexican Ghost Shrimp based on feedback by KWF without conclusive findings. Sometimes it happens that a question remains unanswered for a while. We are still trying to answer this one...

An info that seems to puzzle me is that of the ones I have been keeping, the female seems larger than the male (One of the specimens I have is a year old already). I've read on other macrobrachium species that the male is bigger than the female so....

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

Gouramiguy17

Wow, a shrimp like that would probably go for a decent amount on aquabid.jk you would have scars that would put parrinaha owners to shame if that shrimp got ahold of you. Hope it doesn't get out and eat you while you are sleeping