# African Filter Shrimp | Atya gabonensis



## foxfish (23 Oct 2013)

Anyone kept these?
They are for sale ay my local store for £12.
Interesting to watch but I don't know anything else.


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## norfolktim (23 Oct 2013)

hi foxfish.

i have kept them and the one i had got to around 6" and they are a great shrimp. i kept them with discus, but feeding was not so east as being filter feeders they take food suspended in water


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## Michael W (23 Oct 2013)

As stated it filter feeds from particles in the water, it is usually suggested that you have some sort of hardscape near the out flow of the filter for the shrimp to sit on to sift through the current. I've heard if they can't get enough food via the water column then it will try to scoop up tiny bits of algae wafer but its unlikely that they will find an easy time eating that way due to their fan like hands/claws? They also don't reproduce like cherry shrimps and such but more like amano shrimps.


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## foxfish (24 Oct 2013)

I am going to get two today...


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## RolyMo (24 Oct 2013)

Cool Foxfish. Make sure you post some pictures from the LFS and when they are in your tank!!! Sounds exciting.
Rolymo


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## foxfish (24 Oct 2013)

I bought two, one about 75mm long & the other about 50mm, cost £20 for two.
They went in my tank around 11am about 2 hours before lights start coming on, I saw one about an hour ago just for a few seconds & I know where they are hiding but no seen one apart from that.
I hope to see them tomorrow......


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## Michael W (24 Oct 2013)

Surely they won't be harder to spot than Kuli Loaches once they've settled in  . My Kuli Loaches refuses to show themselves until lights out, even then I'll have to watch 'em from afar   and these are currently only like 5cm long.


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## foxfish (25 Oct 2013)

Similar I would say LOL
Saw one tonight though, it made a crazy dash along the bottom & is now just visible in its new cave. 
I can also see the other one but only with a mirror behind the tank!


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## Michael W (26 Oct 2013)

I guess sometimes that can be fun trying to play hide 'en seek with fish and shrimps just another kind of joy.  As long as they're healthy I'm sure eventually they'll feel comfortable to show up in the open.


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## foxfish (26 Oct 2013)

I spent some time watching them in the shop tank, typical conditions with about 10 shrimp in a 30l tank!
There was only one cave, the assistant just picked up the cave complete with big shrimp & tipped him into the bag. She put the cave back in & another shrimp went straight in & that one came home with me too.
I will leave the creatures to settle in for a week or so but, I have a plan to make two caves facing the front glass....
One, we can just see his front end but, he is like one of the guys who direct airplanes waving around those bats!
All you see is these little fan things wafting around his face


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## pike (26 Oct 2013)

that's how they feed you need to grind some food into powder and put in the tank .I had one and gave it away to a mate now named by his kids as larry the lobster. it hide most of the time.


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## foxfish (1 Nov 2013)

Well these creatures are not really being very cooperative!
One has decide to live in my sump overflow & no matter how many time it is removed it goes straight back in there, it is not actually doing any harm & is defiantly getting plenty of food.
The other one lives in the most inaccessible & hidden away part of the tank & is not really visible at all, I doubt if it would get enough food so we have now use a syringe & a length of air line to feed the bloody thing every day!
I am not the sort of person to give up on my pets so we will have to sort out a better life for them somehow....


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## Michael W (1 Nov 2013)

Are there any chance that they feel scared or threatened by other members of your tank? Or could the shrimp hiding have molted and is trying to hide until his/her's shell hardens again? Just some theories since they usually like to hang out in a place with lots of flow as seen with the one which hangs out in your sump overflow.


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## foxfish (1 Nov 2013)

Yeah who knows mate, maybe shedding but defiantly not intimidated by my corrys or killi fish as that is all I keep.
Both are feeding so we will just see what develops in the next week..


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## snossage (1 Nov 2013)

Hi Foxfish.

We have had two Atyas for three years now, ours are rarely seen out in the open.  They are very shy and can be scared off easily when they do happen to venture out from the shadows.  They spend most of their time filtering for food under their piece of wood, away from the light. When the light is off they can sometimes be seen patrolling the substrate and lifting food particles from it.

We bought two Bamboo shrimps at the same time, both are also still with us I'm pleased to say. The Bamboos are always positioned in the current and disappear only when it is time for a molt - much more sociable!


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## foxfish (1 Nov 2013)

Ah I have seen Bamboo shrimps, should of bought those!  bit late now though so we will just make the most of our two, as long as they are happy they can hide


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## foxfish (6 Jan 2015)

Well blow me down! after over one year I spot one of my shrimps in the main tank!
I do see the bigger one in my sump every now and then but this smaller one has been hiding for 14 months....


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## foxfish (7 Jan 2015)

I now know why the poor chap is out in the open....  http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/blind-cave-fish.34869/page-2


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## Jason Burk (8 Jan 2015)

Hi foxfish
Its strange to hear that your ones are always hiding, in my tanks I have a good platform for them to filter feed right in the filter flow, and they'll sit there for days, side by side, really not going anywhere else much at all. However its usually bamboo shrimp that do this more.. 

Its either that its strange that yours are hiding, or strange that mine are never hiding.. 

Either way, here are a pointers on feeding them: 
If you do see them going along the floor using their fans to try and find food it means that they arent getting enough food by filter feeding - and this is bad because it can damage their fans to be going through substrate you see
So what usually works is, when feeding your fish thigs like pellets and flakes, if you crush some little bits up and place them in the filter flow then they get swept down into the shrimps fans and they then just eat that food.
Also, if your local fish shop has anything like 'liquifry' - basically a drop food that you add to the water to feed baby fish - then that is also easily taken by the shrimp


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## foxfish (8 Jan 2015)

Hi Jason thanks for that but they lived in my filter overflow because that is where the whole tank contents goes every 10 minutes & I guesse there is an endless supply  of food for them but I only have the one big one know as the result of the blind cave fish eating its fans, the poor thing turned pink last night and is now dead!
PS the overflow holds about 5lt & they can get in and out as they please.


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## roundasapound (22 May 2016)

foxfish said:


> Well these creatures are not really being very cooperative!
> One has decide to live in my sump overflow & no matter how many time it is removed it goes straight back in there, it is not actually doing any harm & is defiantly getting plenty of food.
> The other one lives in the most inaccessible & hidden away part of the tank & is not really visible at all, I doubt if it would get enough food so we have now use a syringe & a length of air line to feed the bloody thing every day!
> I am not the sort of person to give up on my pets so we will have to sort out a better life for them somehow....



This made me laugh so much. Is the shrimp still in the sump? Must be the size of a lobster now. Haha.


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## foxfish (22 May 2016)

Yeah I still have the one in the overflow, never really see it but, if I shine a torch in the box at night he is still waving his fan hands around


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## Protopigeon (26 May 2016)

I kept one of these before. Fascinating to watch but he only lasted about a year. I think i had possibly too much filtration on the tank....


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