Dwarf
shrimps are charming and completely harmless, but also very small. So
keepers of somewhat larger fish often search for a species of shrimp
which is absolutely harmless and day active, but also a bit larger – too
large to be eaten as an intermediate snack between dinner and supper.
For these cases mother nature has produced Atyoida pilipes. This shrimp
attains a maximum length of about 5 cm and feeds exclusively on very
small particles of food which are filtered with the fan-like shaped
claws out of the water.
The
animals are completely harmless. In an aquarium they also feed readily
on dry food for fishes, so feeding them is no problem at all. The best
choice are food tablets that decay slowly in the water. Here all A.
pilipes that live in the tank will meet quite fast.
This
shrimp likes to live in larger aggregations, so one should never keep
them alone. In any other respect the animal is absolutely undemanding.
The only exception is when it comes to breeding A. pilipes: raising the
very tiny larvae is quite difficult, because they develop only in marine
environments.
For our customers: the shrimps have code 481270 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
