Atyopsis moluccensis

Handelsnamn: Mountain Rock Räka, Solfjäder Räka, Wood shrimp, Bamboo shrimp, Asian Filter shrimp, Molukken Fächergarnele
Latinskt namn: Atyopsis moluccensis



Storlek: Female 6 cm, Males 10 cm
Ålder: They can get up to 12 years old in an aquarium!
Ursprung: Several countries in Southeast Asia
Temperatur: 22-26 °C. Best is around 23-24°C.
pH: 6.8 to 7.5
gH: 3-10

Beskrivning: Mostly brownish-striped colored; from a very pale light brown to a dark red but always with a light line over the whole length of the back. The "fans" of the Bamboo Shrimp are actually appendages that filter the current for microorganisms and/or particles of food. A happy and healthy Bamboo Shrimp will be found in a high current area of the aquarium filtering food out of the water with its fans spread out. They will stay in the same position for hours and will defend their favourite spot against other filterräkor. Atyopsis moluccensis should be kept in groups, though they are slightly territorial among themselves.

Könsbestämning: Once they are mature, it is easy to differentiate between males and females. Males will have much larger and thicker forelegs than the females. In females, the forelegs are about the same size as the second pair of legs.

Important fact: All filterräkor that are currently for sale have been caught in the wild. There is no commercial breeding of Atyopsis moluccensis.

Aquarium size: minimum of 54 liters

Aquarium inredning: If you keep the Bamboo shrimp in an aquarium with other shrimp and fish, I highly suggest that you place a piece of wood, rock, or similar "platform" for Atyopsis moluccensis to sit in the current. If it is difficult for this species to be in the current it will tend to climb the filter tubes or even out of the aquarium. Remember, they need a strong current to filter the food out of the water. If you have the opportunity, place an extra small cirkulationspump or a small powerhead (without a filter!!!) in the aquarium to provide a current. Then place something nearby for the filterräkor to sit on. Again, if you see the shrimp sifting the bottom of the tank then that is an indicator that it is not properly feeding and action on your part is required to change the surroundings so that it can feed.

Ideally, you keep Atyopsis moluccensis as a single species in a special strömaquarium. How to make one, see instructions further below the page.

Matning: In the wild they eat phytoplankton and zooplankton. Most of the time, a well-filtered aquarium does not contain enough of these foods to feed Atyopsis moluccensis. If Atyopsis moluccensis is observed trying to scavenge for food on the substrate using its fans, this is a sign there is not enough food in the water. Also note that most filterräkor purchased at pet stores are starving when they are first brought home. They will be seen picking at the gravel for food. This is normal and should subside within a few days if there is an adequate source of food in the water current.

Atyopsis moluccensis should be fed small amounts of powdered food 2-3 times per day. There are specialty foodmixes for Filterräkor available to buy on the Internet (AT Atyidae-Vital and Bio-mark Spezialfutter Fächergarnelen) or you can make your own food.

Self-made food for filterräkor:
- Group 1: Eklöv, Valnötlöv, Hasselnötlöv, Svartvinbärslöv, Nesslor, Hokkaido pumpa, normal räkfoder, algae wafers. Dry them and pulverize them in a mortar. Can be fed every day.
- Group 2: Skalad Artemiaägg, Spirulinapulver, levande små Artemia, levande Cyklops, levande Moina, Ärtor (cooked and then mashed), Liquifry 2, pollen. These things they get max. twice per week due to high protein content.

Mix 3-4 ingedients of Group 1 per meal and feed them something different every day. Twice per week mix in something from Group 2.

A good way to feed these foods is mixed with water in a syringe or pipette, squirting the mix slowly drop by drop into the fans of the shrimp or into the current directly before the shrimp.

WARNING: Since you basically need to make sure that there is food in the current at all times this can result in a negative effect on the aquarium's water chemistry, as any food missed by the shrimp pollutes the water, and this can be especially noticeable in small tanks. For this reason please pay great attention to the aquariums ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. Regular weekly or bi-weekly water changes are a MUST.

Fortplantning: Atyopsis moluccensis belongs to the primitiv reproduction type. The female carries up to 2000 eggs sticking to her swimming legs. The more males are available, the more eggs are seminated. The female carries the eggs between 21 -28 days. In the beginning the eggs are dark brown or reddish and later they turn lighter until they are white-greyish. Over a period of around 3 days the female then releases the larvae. The Zoea-larvae is about 1,5-2mm small. In the wild, the larvae drift with the current into the sea where they over a period of about 4 weeks go through different larvae stages until they turn into little filterräkor and move back into freshwater. More about how to breed Atyopsis moluccensis further down the page.

Zoea larvae 1 day old


Instructions for a special current aquarium for Atyopsis moluccensis

You need:

- 54 Liter aquarium (60 x 30)
- a heater
- 2 powerheads (ca. 1000l/t each)
- 2m Elkabelkanal med 2 cm diameter
- 6 T-kopplingar i PVC (Innediameter 2 cm). Finns hos VVS butik.
- 4 Vinkel i PVC (90°), också 2 cm Innediameter
- Akvariesilikon
- Mindst 4 (jag behövde 8) Adapter och 4 korta rör for the Powerheads and the inlets.

First you cut the kabelkakal to the right length. You need 8 short bits (mine were 3,5 cm) to connect the vinkel and the t-kopplingar. Then 3 long pipes. The length depends on what powerhead you use, you need to calculate how thick they are so that the mounted powerhead will fit into the aquarium. Cut and try out with the powerhead on to see if it fits into the aquarium BEFORE you fasten everything with the silikon. Make sure nothing touches the glass (vibrations).

Then you need 4 different length of pipes to put the powerheads on and the inlets. You might need adapters to fit them on the t-kopplingar. Don't place the powerheads too high. Then glue together everything with the silikon and let it dry for 24h.

It should look somehow like this then:





And on we go... now we place the construction into the aquarium. Between the pipes put some Siporax for the bacteria since we have no actual filter in the aquarium:

Put in some 1-2 cm grov grus (I used basalt). The grus must not be too fine since we need good water circulation in the grus to avoid fouling. Cover the pipes with the grus. Then use the water from the old aquarium with the dirt (or blend 50% old water, 50% fresh water) and refill the new aquarium and turn on the pumps. The water will be dirty for up to 48 hours, don't worry.


As decoration use some larger stones in different sizes and maybe some roots. Plants usually get in the way, use only sturdy ones that do not mind the strong current and plant them along the back of the aquarium. Monitor the nitrite, nitrate and ammonia and when all is well move in the filterräkor. Make sure to add some snails (Physa) and maybe some Körsbärsräkor to clean up the leftover food. You should make a weekly water change of 30% and if too much dirt develops on the ground, gently suck it off.

Odlingsinstruktioner

You need the following:

1 or 2 Aquariums: 20-40 Liter is a good size. Aquarium should have a cover (heltäckande ramp or glas)
Salinity: 33 gram salt per Liter (for example Tropic Marine Salt, Red Sea Salt. It needs to be salt for saltwater aquariums and not normal table salt)
Temperatur: 26-27 °C. A heater with 25W is good.
Light: From the side or the top, 4 hours per dayt (for example 18:00-00:00). Normal daylight otherwise. No direkt sunlight or the water will turn dark green with algae very quickly.
Aquariumdecoration: None
Gravel: None
Waterchanges: None. (Only change the water if it gets so green that you cannot see the larvae anymore)
Filter: None. Two airhoses connected to a small luftpump (For example Elite 799). Fasten the ends in separate corners to the bottom of the aquarium or tie them gently around some weight. Airflow should be that you can still count the bubbles. (see photo)


Food: Liquizell, Mikrozell, Genchem Polytase, Grotech PlanktoMarin, Tropic Marine Pro-Coral Phyton, Nannochloropsis salina

There are two methods on how you can start your breeding attempts, depending if you have 1 or 2 aquariums.

Method 1 (when you have only 1 aquarium): Prepare your exil aquarium/larvae aquarium. Fill it with 50% water from the aquarium that the mother is in right now and 50% fresh water. You need to know exactly how much water is in the aquarium, write it up and put a stripe of tape on the glass (for example: 20 l up to here) Put a heater in it (24°C). Add a stone/cave and a plastväxt to the aquarium. Add either a very gentle billifilter, a hang-on filter or just put the slang of a small luftpump in it. The should be a current so they can filter but the current shouldn't be strong enough so that the larvae get sucked into a filter. If you have no filter, make sure you change 30% of the water twice per week.

Now catch the mother with the eggs and gently get her used to the new water, then add her to the aquarium. Note: Atyopsis moluccensis are shy and do not like changes of their surroundings. It can take a couple of days till the mother gets used to the new aquarium and use her filters to feed. Make sure the aquarium has a cover !!! My female Atya gabonensis decided that she didn't like being in exil and climbed out of the tank overnight (she died).

Feed her as you would feed her in her normal tank (2x per day very small amounts of dustfood). Add 1 or 2 Zebrasnails (Neritina turrita) to the aquarium to take care of the leftover food. You can use other snails but preferrably some that do not lay eggs and breed in freshwater. You do not want tons of small snails in that aquarium because they will all die once you add the salt and the water will go bad.

Now the waiting starts. It takes between 21 and 28 days until the larvae are released. (It is best to leave mom in her normal aquarium as long as possible to reduce the stress) When the eggs are white-greyish, then it is soon time. One day, mostly at night, she will start to release the larvae. When you look into the aquarium you will recognize them easily, no worries. (See photo above) Now you wait another day and hope that mom will release the larvae quickly. 1-3 days in freshwater is no problem for the larvae, remember they travel downstream in nature until they reach the sea and that takes also time. Once mom has no visible eggs left (or only a few), put her gently back into her normal aquarium after you got her used to that water again. And take the snails out !

Next you need to add the salt. When it is dark, you shine a light into one of the corners of the aquarium. When the larvae swim to the light, you can safely suck some aquarium water into a bucket (8 Liters is good). You need to know exactly how many liters of water are in the larvae aquarium. Measure the right amount of salt for the whole aquarium (33g salt per liter) and dissolve it in the bucket of aquarium water. Use a small cirkulation pump and make sure the water is around 25°C. Once the salt has completely dissolved, you add the bucket of concentrated saltwater back to the larvae aquarium. You need to stirr the water very well so that the freshwater and the concentrated saltwater from the bucket mix quickly to the right salt concentration in the whole larvae tank. Don't worry, the larvae are tough, they can take the stirring. If you do not mix well, the larvae will die.

Done. Now comes the difficult part, keeping the larvae alive :-)

Method 2 (you have two aquariums): Fill one or two buckets (depending on how many liters your aquarium has) with 30% water from the aquarium that the mother is in right now and 70% fresh water. Make sure you know exactly how many liters are in the buckets and then measure your salt (33g salt per liter). The water should be 25°C. Add the salt and stir. Then add a small cirkulation pump and let it run until the salt has completely dissolved. Fill your salt water into your larvae aquarium and let it stand for 1 week before adding the larvae.

Meanwhile, you make an exil aquarium as in Method 1 and move mom inside. Just follow the instructions of Method 1 until she releases the larvae. Now comes the fun part that you will spend your following evenings with: Moving larvae. If you have money to spend, you can make things easy for yourself and invest in a larvae trap (for example Terra Nova Pro Larvae Trap for €199). Or you do it the old-fashioned way. You need a bit of airslang, ca. 30cm. You wait until the room is completely dark, then take a small flashlight and place it on the corner of the aquarium so that it shines down into the water. Then you wait 10 min. The larvae are drawn to the light. You take one side of the slang into your mouth, the other end you insert into the water and then you gently suck the larvae into the slang and then transfer them this way into the saltwater aquarium. If you want to make things interesting you can try to count them while you transfer them (Trust me, after a few rounds of breeding attempts you stop with that). Most Atyopsis moluccensis release their larvae over 3 days. Some can be highly annoying and tease you with just 10 larvae per day. You can try a larger water change with cooler water or a stronger current to get mom to release the rest of the larvae quicker. Once mom has no visible eggs left (or only a few), put her gently back into her normal aquarium after you got her used to that water again.

(Soon to come: How to keep the larvae alive)