Malayan Beauty

[imported_subzero]

Cheap, but effective beautiful shrimp for planted tank, wonder how many colour they can appear as. Sometime people call it rainbow shrimp

[/img]

[alan]

i have 2 yamato and 2 malayan shrimp and one puffer living in a 2 ft very lightly planted tank with a driftwood with moss and 2 windelov in it the malayan shrimp show many different colour there was one time it turned red i mean real red the whole thing is red but i found out that it cant seem to "swim" or move around normally... it was like jetting it self up and down and then stay motionless , it such a poor thing i putted blood worm in front of it so it can it.... but now it back to life again ! malayan shrimp are truly very interesting creature with many colour

[hwchoy]

poster time!

[fishchemist]

Really interesting pictures. Are they really the same species? From those pictures, they look really different. Any other input?

Cheers,
Simon

[hwchoy]

yes, they exhibit a wide variety of colours, but most of the time they're an unassuming beige

[fishchemist]

I observed that too, usually their colors are rather dull.
They are not really hardy, not like the Yamatoes. I got 100 in my planted tank but now only one or two left. One of them is completely black in colour.
Apart from the colour, I also notice that their features are a little different.

Simon

[hwchoy]

Apart from the colour, I also notice that their features are a little different.

Simon

they should always show the dorsal stripe with the characteristic "horns" and the tail fan tips are furnished with beige.

[fishchemist]

Yep, see that now. Thanks for the info.
Really cheap and if lucky, within the hundred you get a few of those coloured ones. Did not see a red one before, but I think its beauty is surely comparable to the Cherries.

[hwchoy]

the beige ones will actually develop colours, which I suspect is affected by water condition and perhaps their "mood". The big red one you saw in the poster was caught from my outdoor "pond". I threw a bunch of colourless ones last year just to help clean up the mulch. Saw this little monster a year later, it was an inch in size and VERY VERY red (as you can see).

So, work on making a comfortable environment for them, and they will reward you will all kinds of colours.

[timebomb]

Hey, fellas,

Someone told me recently that I got the name of my shrimp wrong. I called it a Ghost or Malayan shrimp but he said Ghost shrimps are those used as food for bigger fishes. If anyone knows the scientific name, I would appreciate it very much. Here's a picture of my shrimp:



Loh K L

[hwchoy]

Kwek Leong, that's a ghost shrimp, or relative thereof. Definitely not the malayan shrimp which should be those shown in Ben's poster.

As for scientific names, it is very challenging. I have yet to see a reliable source stating the scientific name of the malayan shrimp. As for ghost shrimp, it is generally a species in the Macrobrachium genus. Heok Hee mentioned one species that is commonly sold as feeder ghost shrimp but I can't remember the epithet. I'll ask him.

Bottom line is: shrimps are very hard to ID with just a picture, just like moss. Most of the time you can guess at the genus. For example, those big filter-fan shrimp aka Singapore/Wood shrimp is Atyopsis moluccensis (confirmed by H.H. who also caught and ate a lot of them on Pulau Tioman, they taste bad apparently). The Yamato shrimp is Caridina japonica, and yet the Temasek shrimp native to Singapore, which is a filter-fan shrimp as well, is actually the Caridina temasek in the same genus as the Yamato and yet has filter-fans like the Wood shrimp

[Green Baron]

I have a few black colour Malayan shrimps !

[RonWill]

Choy, now I'm listening...
How does the Temasek shrimp (Caridina temasek) differ from the Wood shrimp (Atyopsis moluccensis)? I've always been fascinated by the wood shrimp's 'radar-like' armament of filter arms and spent much time looking at them, clinging on where the current really flows, and observing how they gather their food. Are the Temasek shrimps much smaller and any idea where I might be able to buy some?

BTW, any one here knows Sow Yan personally?... a most interesting fellow, who's always poking around in nature reserves and around streams.

[jonpoh]

Yah.... My dad just bought 100 pieces of them today... out of the lot...
1-2 of them is actually green.. some of them are pink
Really interesting...

regards
Jonathan poh

i have 2 yamato and 2 malayan shrimp and one puffer living in a 2 ft very lightly planted tank with a driftwood with moss and 2 windelov in it the malayan shrimp show many different colour there was one time it turned red i mean real red the whole thing is red but i found out that it cant seem to "swim" or move around normally... it was like jetting it self up and down and then stay motionless , it such a poor thing i putted blood worm in front of it so it can it.... but now it back to life again ! malayan shrimp are truly very interesting creature with many colour

[hwchoy]

Choy, now I'm listening...
How does the Temasek shrimp (Caridina temasek) differ from the Wood shrimp (Atyopsis moluccensis)? I've always been fascinated by the wood shrimp's 'radar-like' armament of filter arms and spent much time looking at them, clinging on where the current really flows, and observing how they gather their food. Are the Temasek shrimps much smaller and any idea where I might be able to buy some?

BTW, any one here knows Sow Yan personally?... a most interesting fellow, who's always poking around in nature reserves and around streams.

Ronnie, you may be disappointed as this Caridina temasek is colourless and very very small. Here is a description I copied from an NUS website:

TEMASEK SHRIMP Caridina temasek
This small (about 7.5 mm) freshwater shrimp occurs in streams in the Central Catchment Area. It has delicate pincers that are modified for filtering minute organisms in the water. It was described from Singapore in 1991, and has since been found in Peninsular Malaysia.

and here is a picture (copy and paste into your browser) http://mp_exploration03.tripod.com/s...edershrimp.jpg “borrowed” from molluscan.com

so the answers to your questions are: yes they are darn small; and no, I doubt you can buy any from anywhere!

I know someone who knows Sow Yan, although apparently he is always ultra-busy. Why? Sow Yan is one of those busy explorers at molluscan.com

[RonWill]

...you may be disappointed as this Caridina temasek is colourless and very very small.

Choy, I'm not disappointed because that is the shrimp that Sow Yan described to me personally when he last visited me at my old home.

He found them during one of his 'poking around' in a stream somewhere in Nee Soon I think, but I couldn't find the pic in his 'snail page' (and your link didn't work ).

although apparently he is always ultra-busy. Why?

...because it's been a long time since we last met and I was reminded about those little temaseks clinging onto his legs!

Last I heard, was that due to upstream land redevelopment, the once cool clear water in the gentle-flowing stream, where the shrimps were found, had become mud soup.

Silt and other debris contaminants literally wiped out the population of the Temasek shrimps for they were no where to be found in his subsequent trips.

If true, I'd find that pretty sad... unless these shrimps do migrate up/down stream or their abundance may be seasonal. Hopefully, it's the latter.

It would be great to tag along when he goes trekking and catch up with him... but his 'trips' are often impromtu Still, I relish in the thought of having these tiny filter shrimps in my tanks :wink:

[alan]

if possible i like to tag along with you ronwill , im on hoilday now till july or soon till national service call me to go in to service hee , by the way what does "impromtu" mean ? mean nothing or ? thank !

[RonWill]

Alan, as Sow Yan's trail treks are impromptu*, and I have a day job, it just wasn't possible for me to join him and his companion.

For you to tag along with me, it'll be a classic case of "blind leading the blind". I do not know 'the spots' but be prepared to get lost...

Sow Yan, if by chance you're reading this, do get in touch with me.

*I made a typo in my previous post... one "p" was omitted .
According to www.dictionary.com, "impromptu" means... "Prompted by the occasion rather than being planned in advance; eg. an impromptu party". (In Sow Yan's case, it's more like "whenever, wherever, as and when possible")