Amano shrimp Caridina multidentata

This record carries 1 to 2 inches and the sources give five different answers. Wikipedia, the smallest and most precise, says they typically grow to 25 to 35 mm, which is 0.98 to 1.38 inches. Aquarium Co-Op says 1.5 to 2 inches. Aquatic Arts and Aquarium Care Basics both say 2 inches or more. Flip Aquatics says over 3.

The two figures worth knowing when you buy are the ones from the sources that handle the animal: Aquatic Arts ships young adults of half an inch to an inch, and Aquarium Care Basics says shop shrimp are about an inch or a little less.

Two to three years, from Aquarium Care Basics, which is the only one of our six sources to publish a lifespan for this animal at all. Aquarium Co-Op, Aquatic Arts, Shrimpy Business, Flip Aquatics and Wikipedia state none.

It is the longest lived of the three shrimp this site holds. Our cherry shrimp record carries 1 to 2 years and our ghost shrimp record carries days to 1.5 years.

The amano shrimp water parameters our six sources publish come down to two numbers: temperature 72 to 78 °F and pH 7.2 to 7.5. Both of those are Aquarium Care Basics figures, and both are exactly what the four published bands share once you take the highest floor and the lowest ceiling. Aquarium Co-Op gives 65 to 82 and pH 6 to 8, Shrimpy Business 64 to 84 and pH 6.5 to 7.5, Aquatic Arts 60 to 80 and pH 6.0 to 7.6, and Wikipedia 64 to 82 with a preference for 6.5 to 7.5.

Hardness is 72 to 251 ppm, which is Aquatic Arts publishing gH 4 to 14 and the only general hardness figure on the record. Two sources publish KH 0 to 10 instead, which is a different test.

No, and the reason is in the life cycle rather than in anything a keeper does. Wikipedia states that the species is amphidromous: oviposition and hatching occurs in freshwater, and newly hatched larvae drift to saltwater and develop as juveniles, returning to freshwater as adults.

Aquarium Co-Op states the consequence directly: they are not capable of reproducing in regular freshwater tanks at all, since their larvae require highly brackish or salt water to survive. Aquatic Arts agrees and calls them extremely difficult to breed even with brackish water available. Shrimpy Business gives the one duration anyone publishes: the female carries the eggs for six weeks.

Yes, with two qualifications that our sources state and most summaries drop. Aquarium Co-Op says they will go after hair algae, thread algae and even black beard algae, but are not as good at eating flat types of algae that grow on surfaces. Flip Aquatics says the same by comparison, calling them less effective at scraping algae off flat surfaces than snails.

The second qualification is the one that ruins expectations: Aquarium Co-Op states they prefer not to eat algae if other tastier options are available, so you should limit feedings for a few days if you want them to work on an algae problem. Aquarium Care Basics goes furthest, calling it a misconception that they will eat away algae problems in a tank.

10 gallons, from Shrimpy Business, with a maximum of 2 shrimp per gallon. It is the only volume any of our six sources publishes.

Aquarium Co-Op answers the question a different way and gives no floor: they can live in most nano tanks or larger, as long as there is a tight fitting lid. That lid is not optional in its telling, because the same source calls them expert escapers and says to cover any openings where power cords or airline tubing come out of the tank.

Not on this site's reading. No source on this record names the betta either way, and our betta tank mates guide refuses shrimp on Aquarium Co-Op describing bettas as notorious for going after them.

At 1 to 2 inches the amano is the largest of the three shrimp we hold, which is the one argument in its favor, and it is not an argument any source makes. The verdict stays no and the reason is printed rather than implied.

More of this site's records than for any other animal here. Aquarium Co-Op names tetras, Endler's livebearers, corydoras catfish, bristlenose plecos, kuhli loaches, other shrimp and snails as suitable, and seven of our records fall inside that list.

The refusal is a single sentence and it is specific: stay away from any fish that are big enough to eat them, like medium to large cichlids, barbs, and goldfish. That refuses our goldfish, angelfish and oscar records at once. Station 09 runs the whole list.

Aquarium Co-Op is the only source of the six to say: males are smaller and have dots along the side of the body, while females are larger and have a row of dashes instead of dots.

That is also why this record publishes no color varieties. The dots and dashes are the marks people photograph and ask about, and in the one source that explains them they are a sex difference rather than a variety.

Because their blood uses it. Wikipedia gives the mechanism, which no other record on this site carries: as with all crustaceans, they are extremely averse to copper due to their hemocyanin blood. Hemocyanin is a copper based oxygen carrier, so a metal that is a trace nutrient for a vertebrate is a poison for them.

Aquatic Arts gives the practical list of where it hides: avoid any food product, medication or plant fertilizer that contains copper of any form. Our nerite snail and ghost shrimp records carry the same warning without the reason.

Once every five or six weeks, give or take, from Aquarium Care Basics. Aquarium Co-Op gives the instruction rather than the interval: if you see an empty exoskeleton that is clear rather than solid colored, leave the molt in the tank so the shrimp can consume it for extra minerals.

A solid colored shell is a dead shrimp rather than a molt, which is the distinction that sentence is drawing. Our cherry shrimp record is where molting has a water figure attached, because for that animal the minerals in the water are the shell.

They are sold for different reasons and station 10 puts every field side by side. The short version: the amano is the better algae eater, lives longer at 2 to 3 years, wants a narrower pH band at 7.2 to 7.5, and will never breed in your tank. The cherry shrimp is easier on water, breeds readily as a colony from one male and one female, and is smaller.

Our sources name them as suitable tank mates for each other, and they are different genera so there is no crossbreeding question between them. The shrimp silo covers the crossbreeding that does matter, which is between Caridina and Neocaridina.

In three ways. It is the first record here where the narrowest source band turned out to be the intersection of every other band, twice over. It is the first record whose breeding answer is never, with a mechanism rather than a difficulty rating. And it is the first record that needed no new sources: all six were already in use elsewhere on this site.

The shrimp silo now holds three records, the full index lists every record we hold, and the method page names every source in use.