Here's My Macrobrachium Lanchesteri...

[GunmetalBlue]

Hi everyone, two of my shrimp are M.lanchesteri named Barbie and Barney. I later found out they're both females but their names stuck. Anyway, these guys will attack and eat fish, so they live in a separate 10 gallon tank by themselves.

Although they are not a particularly colorful shrimp, their personalities are! For instance, they look especially comical when they multi-task - one hand will be scrubbing their head while still another, scrubs their back. Yet another hand cleans out their pleopod and all this while still reserving another hand to pick at something to eat. :joking: They're definitely the ones that got me hooked on shrimp! :2thumbsup

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/ZeroCatgravity/Shrimp%20-%20Heres%20M%20Lanchesteri/01MLanchesteri190600W9C.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/ZeroCatgravity/Shrimp%20-%20Heres%20M%20Lanchesteri/02MLanchesteri189600W9C.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/ZeroCatgravity/Shrimp%20-%20Heres%20M%20Lanchesteri/03MLanchesteri166600W9C.jpg

Although they eat some algae, they definitely prefer fish food, be it flakes, freeze dried, frozen, etc. An endearing trait of theirs is they can detect food as soon as it hits the water and they come rushing over to the front of the tank like happy little puppies! :grin2:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/ZeroCatgravity/Shrimp%20-%20Heres%20M%20Lanchesteri/04MLanchesteri045600W9C.jpg

Thought I'd include some of their molted exoskeleton pictures. I can usually tell right before a molt because their carapace becomes a little "cloudy" looking, and they will not eat - that, I always notice because they've got "happy teeth" any other time. I can usually expect them to have molted by next morning when I notice this.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/ZeroCatgravity/Shrimp%20-%20Heres%20M%20Lanchesteri/05MLanchesteri140600W9C.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/ZeroCatgravity/Shrimp%20-%20Heres%20M%20Lanchesteri/06MLanchesteri153600W9C.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/ZeroCatgravity/Shrimp%20-%20Heres%20M%20Lanchesteri/07MLanchesteri155600W9C.jpg

-GunmetalBlue

[Lobsterman]

You sure take great pictures bro. Good contrast and sharpness. I guess crustaceans do share the same traits before a moult. My crayfishes behave the same ways you mentioned of your shrimps before moulting. Have fun keeping these fellas and you might want to get them more companions. Cheers!

[Walter]

Are these glass/ghost shrimps? I agree they are really interesting shrimps! :D

And wow! Your photo-taking skills are superb! Ever thought of sending for competitions? :D Very very sharp!

[fatboy]

Super pictures! Those shrimp look amazing.

I had a few of those which I wrongly called tiger shrimp. They all died recently due, I think, to high PH.

Anyway, do yours 'fly' around your tank? Mine used to swim in the middle of the tank with their legs hanging under them. They looked very similar to some of the long-legged insects I see in summer. It makes them an interesting addition to the tank.

Mine would also hoard food. If I dropped sinking pellets into the tank, they would grab as many as they could and then hide. It was funny to see a 1 inch shrimp clutching 7 pellets and being unable to move because it might drop one. :)

[GunmetalBlue]

Thanks for your comments, Lobsterman, I'm actually a sis and not a bro, though I think it's safe to call you bro due to your username? lol. Not sure if I can find anymore of these guys, I was told by one source that they are quite common in Southeast Asia and Europe but that it's uncommon here in the states. Though I do hear the occasional story of someone having a "killer ghost shrimp" which probably means they have some sort of Macrobrachium and not ghost shrimp.

I worry about their sparring too, and have provided a bunch of cover for them. When they meet, they come at each other waving their pincers until one (usually the smaller one) backs off and jumps away. I'm not sure if it would be different if they were male and female; just don't know much about them except what I observe. The only source I've seen any info is in German and when I used a translator on it, it wasn't all that much more understandable! :rolleyes:

Hi Walter, I was originally in fact, trying to buy glass/ghost shrimp and my LFS said these were "grass shrimp" which I presumed to be glass/ghost shrimp. Then my fish started disappearing but never suspected them because ghost shrimp are supposed to be friendly. I finally caught one of them scarfing on one of my smaller Zebra Danios, *sigh. So had to separate them ASAP. Thanks for your nice compliment BTW. :)

Lol, Fatboy, they really fly around the tank at feeding time, they're nuts! :juggle: And when I feed them flake food, they madly scrounge along the bottom looking for sunken ones and try to grab ALL they can, as if a bunch of $$ bills went flying every which way. I also feed them by hand using the blunt end of those wooden skewers like chopsticks and hold the food for them to take. That's too bad you lost your guys. :(

-GunmetalBlue

[kross]

Awesome!! :)

[dwaffer]

truly awesome pics!
would you tell us what equipment you use to get such fine pics?

Truly amazing!!!!

[kross]

She probably used a 1:1 macro lens on a DSLR or a prosumer cam with crop... :happy:

[GunmetalBlue]

Hey Kross and Dwaffer, thanks for your nice comments! A bit off topic but Kross's second guess is correct. :yes: I'm currently using the macro feature on an old Nikon 5700 digital camera. It's got an 8x optical and 4x digital zoom.

It helps to choose a camera with a higher number of optical zoom because during optical zoom, the lens physically telescopes up to the subject, whereas during digital zoom, it is processed digitally, merely enlarging the picture but not actually increasing the amount of detail in the picture. This particular camera can zoom as close as 3 inches to the subject too... of course it helps that these M. lanchesteri are larger than those tiny algae-eating shrimps (taking pictures of the latter is driving me crazy!) and the fact that this 10-gallon tank sits on a counter where I have access to both sides of the tank. :D

-GunmetalBlue

[Hans]

Well this is my 1st post and I want to congratulate GunmetalBlue on her absolutely great pictures!

Hans

[Cukierpudel]

GunMetalBlue - do you still have those shrimps ? I've bought two from my local shop. They did not now what was it . . .

The problem is - they seems to be a bit unhappy.
My water PH is probably to high (7.9).

fatboy - how long did you had yours ?

Cheers

[triscene]

anyone successful with breeding little shrimplets? :)

just after 1 week after i got mine, i see berried female..will be checking her and try feeding with artemia. i have found that initial days you have to attract larvae and artemia by flashlight to the one place. both are attracted by light.