Krewetki w akwarium słodkowodnym

Shrimps from Palemonidae family

Kind Macrobrachium

First or second pair of these shrimp's legs is elongated and equipped in tongs. Macrobrachium have tongs evolved in different ways. There are species have both legs same length. Males usually have them larger. In other group Males have legs with different length. Usually one more evolved tong is powerful weapon used to generally to fight, as well as "hugging" and holding the female. In some species characteristic is that only left or right tong leg evolves.

To macrobrachium kind we put small (3-4 cm) animals and even 35 cm giants. The big ones are kept for consuming reasons:)

Macrobrachium are not too sensitive to water conditions. They are less demanding (with small exceptions) than Caridinas, but You shouldn't forget about water changes. They live in different biotopes, some of them are completely different, like: creeks, rivers, seaside areas, salty depressions, river deltas. Giving general water parameters is impossible, because the differences between biotopes are so big that we should give parameters to certain species. For example: Macrobrachium faustinum needs water temperature of 29-30 C, pH over 8 and lots of algae, and some Asian species (especially from Hong Kong) live in about 14 C in acidic water. Just like all invertebrates, Macrobrachium are sensitive to metal conjunctions in water, especially copper conjunctions.

Shrimps are territorially, that's why apart from caridina, Macrobrachium can't be kept in big numbers in tanks. On closed area creates hierarchy between shrimps. Some species live in caves, other have hideouts under roots and gaps under stones. So when you are keeping these species you should make sure that there are enough hideouts incase of fights between males. Except from hideouts Macrobrachium need leafs which are part of their menu. Leafs of oaks, beeches and alders. When putting in one tank with other animals we should be careful because Macrobrachium can be taken for food by bigger fishes. Inverse situation is also possible. Big arms shrimps are raptures and they hunt for small fish and fish offspring.

Feeding doesn't make any problems. They eat generally all type of food frozen, flakes or granulated. Living food should be used for keeping good mood of shrimps. Bigger species can be fed with fish, shellfish, snails, and wimps from time to time.

Among big arms shrimps we find both types of breeding: simple and specialized - last one very rare. Larvae stadium breeding dominates what makes breeding them in tank impossible. In fact only breeded in tanks specie is Macrobrachium assamense. Other bigarm shrimps breeding in tanks are probably just strains of Macrobrachium assamense like Macrobrachium "Red Tail Fancy". Precise description of breeding in this way you will find in description of Macrobrachium assemense.

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