Freshwater Aquarium Shrimp

[alextret]

Where could I get some freshwater aquarium shrimp, to keep in a freshwater tank? I mean, for their own sake, not as fish food ...

I'm based in Palmerston North.

[Caryl]

Have you had a look in the local waterways?

[alextret]

Well, we have a small Tiritea river flowing through the campus, I never seen any in it (I did see some fish, though).

Manawatu river is too murky to see anything in it.

I'm also not sure if a specimen taken from the wild would settle well in a tank. I wonder if anyone is actually keeping them in NZ.

In principle, they are a lot of fun. See, e.g.

http://www.aquatic-store.com/en-us/dept_307.html

[HummingBird]

Plantman from this forum keeps ones he catches from his local stream, they only survive in cold water though I think, I put some of his in one of my tropical tanks and they just disappeared. There are a ton of snails in the tank so I'm assuming they just ate the bodies.

[Shilo]

If you can't see them in the local stream, go at night. Their eyes glow orange in torch light. You will be surprised how many there are living in that "barren" stream or bush drain.

I wouldn't use the these shrimp in a tropical though, they don't like too much heat. In the tank they are fascinating creatures to watch and will survive quite happily on tank detritus. But they may seem to disappear now and again even if there is nothing big enough to eat them and you find a "dead body" drifting along the gravel. This is just their moulting stage and the shrimp will be fine and happy hidden away amongst the plants until its new fancy outfit hardens up.

In my case I plan on getting some more soon. I know mine got eaten by counting how many times the Banded Kokopu's stomach bloated up without me feeding him. :roll: The plants have grown a lot more now so the shrimp will be able to hide better.

[alextret]

I wonder, what would be a legal way to catch them.

Technically, constructing a trap and leaving it with some sort of a bait should be most effective.

However:

1) Using a trap could be illegal altogether

2) Perhaps, it is legal, but requires some sort of a license

Any ideas?

[Shilo]

They are legal to catch - not a protected species. Don't worry about traps etc, just head out to a shallow stream or bush drain at night (head torch is handy) and use a aquarium net. Just remember they crawl forward but shot backwards so to catch them put the net behind the shrimp and your hand in front of it. They will swim backwards to escape your hand and end up being caught in the net. Pick a small stream and you don't even have to get your feet wet!

If you do get some avoid any medical treatment or plant fertilizer that contains copper (i.e. Ich treatment) - deadly for any shrimp or crays.

Heres some more info: http://www.nzfreshwater.org/index_wildlife.html

[Faran]

I got a DVD called "Fish Tank Telly" that has a NZ Native tank as one of the 5. Pretty interesting to watch, recommended if you ever come across it. I found it in the WGTN library when I was trying to find Discus books.