Vampire Shrimp

Want a crayfish for a community tank, but don’t want all of your fish to die? The vampire shrimp is a friendly alternative to large crayfish, despite its spooky name. They have thick bodies and look like crayfish at first glance, until you see that their claws are actually fans.
Vampire Shrimp
  • Name: Atya gabonensis
  • Temperature: 75-84 F
  • Size: 3-6”
  • pH: 6.5-7.5
  • kH: 2-5
  • gH: 6-15
  • TDS: 120-350
  • Care Level: 2/5

Want a crayfish for a community tank, but don’t want all of your fish to die? The vampire shrimp is a friendly alternative to large crayfish, despite its spooky name. They have thick bodies and look like crayfish at first glance, until you see that their claws are actually fans.

These generally reach sizes of 3” in the average aquarium, though some do claim that they can reach twice that size. They are a filter feeder, so damaging your fish is not possible. However, this does mean that they need an aquarium with suspended particles and high flow.

These shrimps are rather skittish, despite their large size, and will spend most of their time either hiding or hanging out in a high flow area. It is a good idea to put a large decoration or two in areas with high flow, so the shrimp can sit on top of them and collect its food.

Unfortunately, most of these are wild caught and tend to be rather rare. Unless you have an amazing local fish store, you will have to order them online. They are not often bred in captivity, because just like Amano shrimp, the larvae need brackish or salt water to grow, but the adults cannot tolerate much salinity.

The ranking of ⅖ difficulty is simply due to the fact that they are filter feeders and skittish.

from – BYA

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