# All Too Fascinating -- Bamboo Shrimp



## riseabovethesun (Jul 15, 2010)

I just wanted to share a video I took of one of my Bamboo Shrimp eating. I think its important for anyone who is adding them to their tank to know that they eat by filtering the current and that eating any other way will shorten their lifespan. This is why they have "fan" feet.

Video isn't the best quality:



That's the big momma filtering and towards the end when I change the view you can see right below her a smaller bamboo shrimp who is not so red and more brown/black. Wonderful creatures! (Oh and I don't really know their genders, I'm just assuming the giant one is a female and the smaller a male)

A few other notes about them:
They only breed in brackish water.
Most are taken directly from the wild and are rarely bred in captivity, this means not only are we decreasing their population, but you won't be able to be sure how old they are or if they will survive in your tank. I learned most of this after purchasing mine, but at least I can provide a real planted tank and a current unlike the store I bought them from. Which is another reason to do research before trusting your local pet store.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Thanks for sharing the video. I've never actually seen these guys in action.


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## riseabovethesun (Jul 15, 2010)

davemonkey said:


> Thanks for sharing the video. I've never actually seen these guys in action.


You're very welcome! I actually added them to my tank about 3 days ago and hadn't seen them until this morning -- all the while panicking that they were dead.

I was so excited to wake up and see them in action, I also had never seen it. I'm hoping to get a better quality video at some point, but my cameras aren't all that great.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

I've had those a few times, but have not been successful keeping them long-term. Is it possible they need very strong current.


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## riseabovethesun (Jul 15, 2010)

houseofcards said:


> I've had those a few times, but have not been successful keeping them long-term. Is it possible they need very strong current.


That might be the case, my current comes from the spray bar that comes with the Rena Filstar canister filters and is all the way up on "high." But like I've read most everywhere since they're not bred in captivity its very difficult to know if they're already really old and on the verge of dying. They need to eat from the current though, so if they weren't able to that could be why also.

I've only had mine for about 4 days, so I'll keep you posted on how they seem to be doing and then fill you in on the water parameters and such.


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## mellowvision (Jun 18, 2007)

I've been keeping Bamboos for a while now. They absolutely prefer as much flow as they can get. Mine fight over the key spots in front of small jets throughout the tank. 

They also prefer to eat tiny inverts in the water column, so it's important to introduce them into mature tanks. A newly cycled tank is a death sentence for a bamboo shimp, and they WILL try to find an older tank. I had several climb out of a quarantine tank, and found them all together, 3 feet away from their tank. It was sad. I moved the rest into a well seasoned planted tank, where they haven't tried to escape. 

I have tried supplementing their diet with a variety of prepared foods and powders, algaes, liquid foods, etc... and have found their absolute favorite to be first day hatch, live baby brine shrimp. The BBS send the bamboos into a frenzy.

As far as not being bred in captivity and their numbers diminishing... The aquarium trade uses very few bamboo shrimp compared to the food industry in asia. Since they grow rather large, and are considered food, they have never been really popularized for aquariums...


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## riseabovethesun (Jul 15, 2010)

mellowvision said:


> I've been keeping Bamboos for a while now. They absolutely prefer as much flow as they can get. Mine fight over the key spots in front of small jets throughout the tank.
> 
> They also prefer to eat tiny inverts in the water column, so it's important to introduce them into mature tanks. A newly cycled tank is a death sentence for a bamboo shimp, and they WILL try to find an older tank. I had several climb out of a quarantine tank, and found them all together, 3 feet away from their tank. It was sad. I moved the rest into a well seasoned planted tank, where they haven't tried to escape.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the food suggestions :] I had to do some removing of some kuhli loaches last night and take out all the driftwood and stir everybody up, so my tank isn't happy with me. I'm waiting for my bamboos to get back up into the current, they're skeptical right now. That's really sad about your 3 

Oh yeah, I didn't mean they were like diminishing drastically in numbers, just that they're typically taken from the wild which eventually if never bred in captivity could cause issues but I doubt it and am positive they're worse off in the food industry, like whales and dolphins. I mostly mention it because I've noticed a lot that its commonly the reason of why they might not survive well so figure its worth noting whether its very accurate or slightly accurate.

I introduced mine into an already going tank, so that probably helped a lot. This is my first planted tank and was never started from the beginning in my possession. So it kinda worked out!

Do you have any suggestions on the best way to get some food coming at them in the current? I'm using the spray bar as mentioned, so its the filter water, maybe putting some in the filter exit tube?


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## mellowvision (Jun 18, 2007)

it really depends on the food you want to use, but if it were a liquid food, you could add a drip line at the filter return. My tank is set up with an undergravel jet that creates a circular upcurrent, so anything i add to the right side of the tank falls into the current and gets shot at the bamboos. A freshwater rotifer culture dripping near their favorite spot would probably be the ultimate... but that can be difficult to maintain, especially with the drip going. To supplement the BBS and in tank microfauna, I often mix powdered food with water and use a syringe to shoot it where I want it.


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## Bunbuku (Feb 10, 2008)

Hey all! Is this a bamboo shrimp? I noticed this sucker in my kids tank this morning. It may have been there for months. I believe belonged to a batch of Amanos I got a long time ago, some of with which attempted to "escape" from my 60-P. I think found it this one crawling on the floor so I popped it into the kids tank which is covered and never gave it much thought until I observed its peculiar behavior this morning.

The shape of its head seems to be different from yours shrimp, riseabovethesun. It's about the size of a mature Amano shrimp.


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## riseabovethesun (Jul 15, 2010)

Bunbuku said:


> Hey all! Is this a bamboo shrimp? I noticed this sucker in my kids tank this morning. It may have been there for months. I believe belonged to a batch of Amanos I got a long time ago, some of with which attempted to "escape" from my 60-P. I think found it this one crawling on the floor so I popped it into the kids tank which is covered and never gave it much thought until I observed its peculiar behavior this morning.
> 
> The shape of its head seems to be different from yours shrimp, riseabovethesun. It's about the size of a mature Amano shrimp.


I'd definitely say its a Bamboo shrimp, looks like it has the same pattern and the "fan" feet. I hear that they usually try and escape if there isn't a strong current for them to be in and eat from. These are some names I've seen used synonymously with one another: Wood Shrimp, Bamboo Shrimp, Singapore Shrimp, Flower Shrimp, Marble Shrimp, Mountain Shrimp


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## Bunbuku (Feb 10, 2008)

Cool! That's a nice little surprise that came with those Amanos. It seems to have found a sweet spot in the front corner of the kids tank diagonal from the Aquaball filter where the current just flows down on it. Its been in that same spot all day - didn't even budge when I did a water change.


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## riseabovethesun (Jul 15, 2010)

Bunbuku said:


> Cool! That's a nice little surprise that came with those Amanos. It seems to have found a sweet spot in the front corner of the kids tank diagonal from the Aquaball filter where the current just flows down on it. Its been in that same spot all day - didn't even budge when I did a water change.


That is how mine are, I've been syringe feeding mine bloodworms because they're just not getting enough food out of the currents. Pretty crazy to watch them eat bloodworms, great shrimp. I'd definitely make sure they are getting some food though so they don't die or try and escape!


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