Macrobrachium

[duanes]

Caught this guy in the Campana river in western Central Panamaa couple days back.

It's a good 10" long, and it made it back alive to my tank.
It hid over night but quickly got comfortable.
The small ones normally caught are great scavengers, but this one has proved to be more than that, catching and eating a 4" Pimlodella catfish.

 

[jjohnwm]

Yeah, once they put on some size, Macrobranchium can hold their own with most large fish in aquariums. They need a good place to hide during their vulnerable period after moulting, but otherwise they are just another big predator in the tank.

I purchased one at a size of about 1.5 inches and kept it for a couple years; back then they were usually sold as "Blue Lobsters". Once it attained a size of 7 - 8 inches, it was quite competetive in a large tank with large cichlids, cats, etc. It was very visible, got plenty to eat and was quite a showpiece.

It eventually found a way to escape the tank and was found on the floor, dried out and looking quite nice. I glued it to a wooden plaque and had it hanging on the wall in the fish room for many years; lost it during a move.

I think I was at least as upset about losing the mummified carcass as I had been about the death many years earlier.

 

[FJB]

Macrobrachium (no n after bra), Palaemonidae.
That specimen is a male. Although there are several species common to Panama and Colombia (and potentially some more not shared by both countries), the one you have seems to me to be M. americanum, I believe the one that gets the largest in the region, similar in size to M. rosenbergii from Asia. But I am not an expert and there are quite a few neotropical species.

 

[Backfromthedead]

Those pincers are something else. Perfect for catching quick little catfish.