Green Lace Shrimp (Atyoida pilipes)

[msjinkzd]

I have grown really fond of these shrimp and thought I would share some pictures and information.

They are the smallest of the fan filter shrimp and originally come from Southeast Asia. They can tolerate a decent range of parameters from soft to hard with somewhere around 7-7.5 being ideal with moderate hardness. A temperature range from low 70's-80 can be used. They get about two inches long and have a range of colors from a speckled green to a reddish green.Their average lifespan is about two years. Unlike some of the other fan filter shrimp, this particular species is exceedingly easy to supplement and its not at all uncommon for them to both filter feed and pick at the substrate with their fans. Similar to the care of other fan filter shrimp, they do best in well established aquariums.

All in all, a very peaceful shrimp with fairly easy care and forgiving of a range of parameters.

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

Nice Rach

 

[msjinkzd]

the baby snails in with them are Tylo snails, yellow and yellow antennae. Those particular babies are about one week old. The adults get to 4" plus. Neat critters as well.

 

[MDK500]

Awesome... I never knew there were fan feeding shrimp this small.

 

[kingyella]

I thought those were called "amano shrimp". http://www.theshrimpfarm.com/amano_shrimp.shtml

I have kept these shrimps for at least a year now in my planted tank. I always thought they were known for cleaning algae up.

 

[msjinkzd]

nah, i have amanos as well. They are not fan filter feeders.

amano shrimp:

 

[Fishfur]

I realize this is a rather old post, but found it while seeking info on Green Lace shrimp. Don't suppose anyone knows how long Green Lace larvae need to be in salt water ? I have an opportunity to get some berried females, sure be nice to try raising them.

In any event, this post stated that Green Lace shrimp are the smallest fan shrimp. But in my experience, that distinction belongs to Atyopsis spinipes. I've seen them sold as Mini fan shrimp, Golden Fan, Mini Bamboo, and as Bamboo shrimp too. The Golden Fan is a variant that greatly resembles Bamboo shrimp, perhaps that is why they go by the same common name at times.

A. spinipes has a common wild form, but as I said, it also appears, though less often, in a variant commonly called the Golden Fan shrimp, a near dead ringer for A. molloccensis. The t obvious differences between these species are their mature size, plus truly minute fans on A. spinipes, much less than half the size of the fans on A. molluccensis. The wild form has the smallest fans of them all, they are barely visible even when wide open. Golden Fan are slightly larger.

Full grown, A spinipes is the size of a female Neocaridina shrimp. I am unsure if they share similar gender differences, though it seems probably they do. Notably, males have a much thicker pair of first walking legs. I've not had many of them and was unable to determine their genders for certain so I can't say for sure. Behaviour and diet appear to be the same as A. molluccensis.

I've seen these little guys pile atop each other and also ride atop Bamboo shrimp 3 times their size so as to filter feed in a really choice spot. These 'mini' fan shrimp cohabit quite well with their larger cousins and most other shrimps as well. Their wild form can vary in body colour but is often very pale yellow; the odd one may be bluish, all with very faint horizontal body stripes.

The Golden Fan variant has a darker yellowish to tan body colour, very similar to A. molluccensis with much darker horizontal brown/red body stripes just like those of A. molluccensis. It would not be difficult to mistake the Golden Fan for a juvenile A. molluccensis. I wish I saw this form more often. I fed mine a fair bit of cultured green water, and the 5-50 micron size of Golden Pearls, live microworms and other live foods suited to newborn egg layer fish fry.