It eats with fans, and it is the first animal on this site you cannot hand food to
A vampire shrimp, Atya gabonensis, does not graze. It anchors itself in a current, opens four fan-shaped appendages, and strains particles out of the water. Of the forty six records on this site before this one, not one describes an animal that filters its food, and all three of our other shrimp records describe animals that scrape surfaces.
Aquarium Breeder: these are active filter feeders that use fans, plume-like bristles, to filter the water column, and they need microscopic and very tiny food particles such as phytoplankton, zooplankton and powdered food. Aquarium Store Depot gives the anatomy and the consequence in one line: they have fan-like setae on their chela, they can capture and ingest algae particles, detritus, and any tiny nutrients that drift through the water column, and they cannot be spot-fed.
Aquarium Care Basics describes the same thing from the outside: fan feeders that snatch their food from the water current, which can be supplemented with finely ground pellets, algae wafers or small flakes. The word to notice in all three is current. A shrimp pellet dropped in front of this animal is not food, because the fans are built for particles measured in microns rather than millimeters.
That single row changes the whole tank. Our cherry shrimp, amano shrimp and ghost shrimp records describe animals that find their own food on any surface in the tank, which is why all three are easy. This one is fed by the filter, so the equipment is the diet and station 05 is about a pump.
Atya gabonensis is West African, first reported from Gabon, which is what the species name records, and it is one of two fan shrimp a keeper is likely to meet. The other is the bamboo shrimp, Atyopsis moluccensis, which has no record here yet and which Aquarium Store Depot names as a compatible tank mate for this one. Both feed the same way, both need the same current, and the bamboo shrimp is the smaller and more commonly stocked of the two. On plants, none of our three sources asks for any: the fans need suspended particles rather than a surface to graze, so planting is a preference on this record where it is a requirement on several others here.
Why this record was written now
- The gap
- Three thousand two hundred searches a month for a shrimp that is three times the length of every other shrimp we publish and eats in a way none of them do.
- What it changes
- The first filter feeder here, the largest shrimp, the longest lived invertebrate by its floor, the narrowest pH row on the site and the widest temperature band of any shrimp record.
- What it does not
- No growth rate, because no source publishes one, and no verdict on where shop stock comes from, because every source calls breeding impractical and none says where the animals are caught.
Three sources, a tank across a factor of three and a lifespan across a factor of two
| Source | Tank | Temperature | pH | Hardness | Adult size, tank | Lifespan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aquarium Breeder | 15 gal | 70 to 88 °F | 6.8 to 7.2, tolerating 6.0 to 8.0 | GH 6 to 20, KH 2 to 15 | 3.5 to 4.5 in | up to 10 years |
| Aquarium Care Basics | 20 gal to start | 74 to 84 °F | 7.0 to 7.5, some say 6.5 | on the hard side | 2 to 3 in | 3 observed, 5 heard of |
| Aquarium Store Depot | 30 gal, 40 breeder | 74 to 84 °F | 6.5 to 7.8 | 5 to 15 dKH | 3 to 4.5 in | 3 to 6 years |
| This record | 20 gal | 74 to 84 °F | 7.0 to 7.2 | 107 to 357 ppm | 2 to 4.5 in | 3 to 5 years |
The tank column runs from 15 gallons to 30 with a 40 gallon breeder recommended, and the spread is about flow rather than floor space. A filter feeder is fed by the current, so the tank is a delivery system rather than a container. Fifteen gallons will hold the animal; thirty is easier to keep moving and easier to keep stable, which is what Store Depot is buying with the extra volume.
The lifespan column is stranger, because the two figures run opposite to what you would expect. Store Depot asks for the larger tank and gives the shorter lifespan; Aquarium Breeder asks for the smaller tank and gives up to ten years. If tank size drove longevity the two would line up and they do not, which suggests neither figure is measured. The one source reporting from its own animals rather than from a care sheet is Aquarium Care Basics: I have had some that lived for three years and I have heard stories where some have been pushing five years. That is why the row is 3 to 5 and the ten is named rather than used.
The pH column produces the narrowest row on this site, two tenths of a point, and the record says immediately that this is not a two tenths requirement. Every source publishes a wider tolerance beside its optimum: Aquarium Breeder gives 6.0 to 8.0, Store Depot 6.5 to 7.8, Aquarium Care Basics notes that as low as 6.5 is reported to be fine. What the narrow row actually says is that no source recommends keeping this animal away from neutral, which is a real constraint and a mild one.
The temperature column is the opposite kind of agreement: two of the three publish the identical 74 to 84 °F and the third contains it. Ten degrees is the widest temperature band on any shrimp record here, against 72 to 80 on our ghost shrimp record and 72 to 78 on our amano shrimp record. On the hardness column only one source publishes general hardness at all; Store Depot gives carbonate hardness instead and Aquarium Care Basics gives a description, so the row is Aquarium Breeder’s GH converted.
Three times the size and twice the life, read against the three shrimp already written here
| Record | Adult size | Tank | Lifespan | How it eats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vampire shrimp | 2 to 4.5 in | 20 gal | 3 to 5 years | Filters the water column |
| Amano shrimp | 1 to 2 in | 10 gal | 2 to 3 years | Algae, and it prefers not to be |
| Cherry shrimp | 1.2 to 1.6 in | 5 gal | 1 to 2 years | Algae, biofilm and detritus |
| Ghost shrimp | 1 to 1.5 in | 5 gal | Days to 1.5 years | Omnivore and scavenger |
Read the size column and the difference is not marginal. At the top of its captive range this shrimp is three times the length of every other shrimp we publish, and in the wild two sources put it at six inches. Store Depot: in the wild, these species can reach up to 6 inches long, but are maintained between 3 and 4 1/2 inches when captive. Aquarium Breeder gives 12 to 15 cm in the wild.
That split between a wild figure and a tank figure appears on one other record here, our common pleco record at 15 inches in a tank and 24 in the wild, and it means the same thing in both places: the animal is not finishing its growth in captivity. On a filter feeder the likely reason is the food supply, which is the one thing a tank is worst at reproducing.
The lifespan column is the row that should change a purchase. Even the conservative 3 to 5 years gives this animal the highest lifespan floor of any invertebrate on this site. Our assassin snail record gives 2 to 5 years, our amano shrimp and rabbit snail records 2 to 3, our nerite snail and ramshorn snail records 1 to 2, our cherry shrimp record 1 to 2, and our ghost shrimp record days to 1.5 years.
A shrimp you may keep for five years is a different animal from one you may keep for eighteen months, and it is the strongest argument for getting the current right before buying rather than after. It is also the reason the molt matters more here than on the other three: Store Depot says molting problems are common killers and that the prevention is consistent mineral content, and Aquarium Care Basics notes a molt happens once every couple of months. Thirty molts over five years is thirty opportunities for a hardness swing to end it.
Store Depot adds the detail that explains a common worry: these creatures go through color changes over time as they age, tending towards darkening shades like black or sometimes even getting lighter blues or even purples after molting when the exoskeleton is shed. A shrimp that changes color after a molt is doing what the source describes rather than failing.
The full record
| Field | Recorded | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum tank | 20 gal | Three sources across a factor of nearly three, and the spread is about flow rather than floor space. Aquarium Breeder gives 15 gallons, about 70 liters, as the minimum. Aquarium Care Basics: a 20 gallon aquarium can be a good tank size to start with. Aquarium Store Depot asks for a minimum of 30 gallons and recommends a 40 gallon breeder. The row prints 20, which is the middle figure and the one two of the three will accept, and names the others. The reason the range is this wide is that the tank is a food delivery system rather than a container. A filter feeder needs a current carrying suspended particles past a fixed animal, and that is easier to build and easier to keep stable in a larger volume, which is what Store Depot is buying with the extra twenty gallons. |
| Temperature | 74 to 84 °F | Three bands and they meet across ten degrees, which is unusually generous for this site. Aquarium Breeder is the widest at 22 to 28 C, 70 to 88 F. Store Depot gives 74 to 84 F, 23 to 29 C. Aquarium Care Basics gives 74 to 84 degrees Fahrenheit. Two of the three publish the identical band, so the row is theirs and it sits inside the third. A ten degree row is the widest temperature span on any shrimp record here, against 72 to 80 on our ghost shrimp record and 72 to 78 on our amano shrimp record, and it contains the 75 to 76 the rest of the site shares with room at both ends. |
| pH | 7.0 to 7.2 | Two tenths of a point, which is the narrowest pH row on this site, and it is what the site rule produces when three sources publish three overlapping optima. Aquarium Breeder gives an optimum of 6.8 to 7.2 and a tolerance of 6.0 to 8.0 beside it. Store Depot gives 6.5 to 7.8. Aquarium Care Basics gives 7.0 to 7.5, although some sources suggest a pH as low as 6.5 is ok. The span all three optima contain is 7.0 to 7.2. That is not a two tenths requirement and this record does not claim it is: the tolerance figures beside it run from 6.0 to 8.0, and every source publishes a usable band around a point of agreement at neutral. What the narrow row does say is that nobody recommends keeping this animal away from neutral, which distinguishes it from our cherry shrimp record at 6.5 to 8.0. |
| Hardness | 107 to 357 ppm (6 to 20 dGH) | One source of three publishes general hardness and the other two answer a different question. Aquarium Breeder gives GH 6 to 20 and KH 2 to 15, so the row is its GH figure converted. Store Depot publishes 5 to 15 dKH only, which is carbonate hardness and measures something else, the same unit trap our rabbit snail and common pleco records carry. Aquarium Care Basics declines a figure and says the shrimp appear healthy in water on the hard side. All three care about hardness for the same reason, and it is the molt. Store Depot is explicit that molting problems are a common killer and that the fix is consistent mineral content, which is what general and carbonate hardness both supply. So the row is soft to quite hard and the instruction underneath it is stability rather than a target. |
| Adult size | 2 to 4.5 in, and 6 in the wild | This is by a wide margin the largest shrimp on this site. Store Depot: in the wild, these species can reach up to 6 inches long, but are maintained between 3 and 4 1/2 inches when captive. Aquarium Breeder gives 12 to 15 cm, about 5 to 6 inches in the wild and 3.5 to 4.5 in captivity. Aquarium Care Basics is the low outlier at generally about two to three inches in length, although some claim that lengths up to six inches is possible. The row spans the captive figures all three give and names the wild ceiling two of them share. For scale here, our amano shrimp record is 1 to 2 inches, our cherry shrimp record 1.2 to 1.6 and our ghost shrimp record 1 to 1.5. At the top of its captive range this animal is three times the length of every other shrimp we publish, and the same split between a tank figure and a wild figure appears on our common pleco record. |
| Diet | Filter feeder. Particles in the current, not pellets | This is the row that makes the record, and it is the first of its kind here. No other record on this site describes an animal that filters its food out of the water. Aquarium Breeder: these are active filter feeders that use fans, plume-like bristles, to filter the water column, and they need microscopic and very tiny food particles such as phytoplankton, zooplankton and powdered food. Store Depot describes the anatomy: they have fan-like setae on their chela, they can capture and ingest algae particles, detritus, and any tiny nutrients that drift through the water column, and adds that they cannot be spot-fed. Aquarium Care Basics: fan feeders that snatch their food from the water current, supplemented with finely ground pellets, algae wafers or small flakes. So a pellet dropped in front of this shrimp is not food, which is the opposite of every other shrimp record here: our amano, cherry and ghost shrimp records all describe animals that graze surfaces. |
| Water column | Wherever the current is, and low on one source | No source states a swimming layer, because the animal does not swim to feed. It anchors and lets the water do the work, so the useful question is where the flow is rather than where the shrimp is. Aquarium Breeder is the only source that gives a position, and it gives it as an equipment instruction: install the secondary pump near or on the bottom. Store Depot asks for moderate to high water flow near a filter return or powerhead, and Aquarium Care Basics for a constantly moving oxygen rich current. The zone on this record is the substrate, matching our cherry shrimp, amano shrimp and ghost shrimp records, and it means something different here: the other three are on the bottom because that is where the food settles, and this one is on the bottom because that is where the pump is pointed. |
| Lifespan | 3 to 5 years | Three sources and the top of the range differs by a factor of two. Aquarium Breeder gives up to 10 years. Store Depot gives 3 to 6 years. Aquarium Care Basics reports from its own tanks: I have had some that lived for three years and I have heard stories where some have been pushing five years. The row prints the 3 to 5 all three contain and names the ten. Even the conservative row makes this the longest lived invertebrate on this site by its floor: our assassin snail record gives 2 to 5 years, our amano shrimp and rabbit snail records 2 to 3, our cherry shrimp record 1 to 2 and our ghost shrimp record days to 1.5 years. A shrimp you may keep for five years is a different purchase from one you may keep for eighteen months, and it is the strongest argument for getting the flow right before buying one. |
| Growth rate | Not recorded yet | Neither Aquarium Store Depot nor Aquarium Care Basics states a rate: both give an adult size and a lifespan and nothing between them. Aquarium Breeder is the third source on this record and its page will not serve a scripted request, so this blank is recorded against the two that can be read rather than against all three. Our ghost shrimp and cherry shrimp records are the only two shrimp here that carry a figure on this row. |
The same nine fields for every animal on this site are in the A to Z index.
Where our sources disagree
Every record here names a disagreement. On this one the tank runs across a factor of nearly three and the lifespan across a factor of two.
Aquarium Breeder, on the tank and the lifespan
15 gallons, about 70 liters; up to 10 years
Aquarium Store Depot, on the same two rows
minimum 30 gallons, 40 gallon breeder recommended; 3 to 6 years
Aquarium Care Basics, reporting from its own tanks
I have had some that lived for three years and I have heard stories where some have been pushing five years
What we record: we print the middle figure on the tank and the span all three contain on the lifespan, and we say what the disagreement is about. Both rows are really one row. A filter feeder is fed by the current, so the tank is a delivery system: fifteen gallons can hold the animal and thirty is easier to keep moving and stable, and an animal that is fed properly for years lives at the top of the lifespan range rather than the bottom.
Store Depot asks for the larger tank and gives the shorter lifespan; Aquarium Breeder asks for the smaller tank and gives the longer one, which is the opposite of what you would expect if the two were connected in a simple way. The honest reading is that neither figure is measured, and the one source reporting from its own shrimp rather than from a care sheet gives three years observed and five heard about. That is why the row is 3 to 5 and the ten is named rather than used.
The pump is the feeding routine, and it is the only record here where that is true
On every other record on this site, feeding is something a keeper does. Here it is something the equipment does, and all three sources describe the same setup from different angles. Aquarium Breeder asks for a moderate water current and gives a placement instruction rather than a product: install the secondary pump near or on the bottom.
Store Depot asks for moderate to high water flow near a filter return or powerhead, and states the constraint that makes it necessary: the shrimp cannot be spot-fed. Aquarium Care Basics asks for a constantly moving oxygen rich current. Two of the three describe the flow before they describe the food, which is the correct order for an animal that cannot chase a meal.
The food itself has to match the fans. Aquarium Breeder asks for microscopic and very tiny food particles, naming phytoplankton, zooplankton and powdered food. Aquarium Care Basics gives the kitchen version: finely ground fish pellets, shrimp pellets, finely ground algae wafers, or small flakes. Grinding a pellet is not a garnish here, it is the difference between food and gravel.
There is a tension in that setup worth naming, because it is the practical difficulty of this animal. A tank clean enough to look good has little suspended in it, and a filter efficient enough to keep it that way removes what the shrimp eats. None of our three sources addresses that directly, which is a real gap in the published record rather than an omission here, and it is why a mature tank is usually recommended for fan shrimp.
The behavior compounds it. Aquarium Breeder: extremely shy and hide all the time. Store Depot: peaceful and shy, and the shrimp will often retreat to small areas in the aquarium. Aquarium Care Basics: peaceful, tranquil, on the shy side and they like little places to hide. A shy filter feeder that hides is an animal you cannot easily tell is eating, which is why Aquarium Breeder says they do really well in groups and are 100% peaceful. More of them makes the behavior visible.
What every source clears is the temperament. Store Depot names compatible tank mates and six of them have records here: cherry shrimp, corydoras catfish, guppies, ember tetras, honey gouramis and betta fish. It refuses large cichlids, goldfish, crayfish, freshwater crabs and tiger barbs, and Aquarium Breeder refuses the same list of big or aggressive fish, crabs or crayfish.
It cannot be bred in fresh water, and the reason is a number in grams per liter
Aquarium Breeder gives the wall precisely. The larvae can do it only in saltwater, requiring brackish water at a concentration of 28 to 30 g/l, and development takes almost 4 months. Store Depot agrees in plainer terms: breeding vampire shrimp is a complex task, since their young need both brackish and freshwater for proper development, and calls it very difficult. Aquarium Care Basics does not address breeding at all.
Twenty eight to thirty grams per liter is close to full seawater, so the requirement is not a pinch of aquarium salt in the corner of a freshwater tank. It is a second system, held at a marine salinity, for four months, for an animal that then has to be moved gradually back to fresh water. That is a fair description of why our sources call it impractical rather than merely hard.
This site has one other record with a saltwater sentence attached and the two are worth reading together. Our black molly record carries Seriously Fish saying the species can live a happy life in full marine conditions, which is a tolerance an adult has. Here the marine requirement belongs to the larva rather than the adult, and it is a requirement rather than a tolerance. The adult vampire shrimp is a freshwater animal whose young are not.
What follows from that is the one thing this record cannot tell you, and it is worth stating rather than skipping. If captive breeding is impractical, the animals in shops came from somewhere else, and none of our three sources says where or how. That is why the provenance question sits in the not recorded list on this page instead of in a station: it is the most important thing about buying this shrimp and no source we hold answers it.
One detail from Aquarium Breeder connects the molt in station 03 to this station, because it is the same event: the shrimp molt before mating. On an animal that molts once every couple of months and lives up to five years, the molt is the reproductive cycle, the growth mechanism and the most common cause of death, all in one process that a hardness swing can interrupt.
Vampire shrimp questions, answered from the record
What do vampire shrimp eat?
Particles out of the water, and they cannot be spot-fed. Aquarium Breeder: they are active filter feeders using fans, plume-like bristles, to filter the water column, and they need microscopic and very tiny food particles such as phytoplankton, zooplankton and powdered food. Aquarium Care Basics gives the practical version: finely ground fish pellets, shrimp pellets, finely ground algae wafers, or small flakes. A whole pellet in front of this shrimp is not food.
Do vampire shrimp need a strong current?
Yes, and the current is the feeding routine rather than a preference. Aquarium Breeder asks for a moderate water current and for the secondary pump near or on the bottom. Store Depot asks for moderate to high water flow near a filter return or powerhead. Aquarium Care Basics asks for a constantly moving oxygen rich current. This is the only record on this site where the pump does the feeding.
How big do vampire shrimp get?
2 to 4.5 inches in a tank, and up to 6 in the wild, which makes this by a wide margin the largest shrimp on this site. Store Depot: in the wild, these species can reach up to 6 inches long, but are maintained between 3 and 4 1/2 inches when captive. Aquarium Breeder gives 12 to 15 cm wild. For scale our amano shrimp record is 1 to 2 inches and our cherry shrimp record 1.2 to 1.6.
How long do vampire shrimp live?
3 to 5 years on the row, and one source says up to ten. Aquarium Breeder gives up to 10 years; Store Depot 3 to 6; Aquarium Care Basics reports from its own tanks, I have had some that lived for three years and I have heard stories where some have been pushing five years. Even the conservative row gives this animal the highest lifespan floor of any invertebrate on this site, above our assassin snail record at 2 to 5 years.
What size tank does a vampire shrimp need?
20 gallons, and the sources run from 15 to 40. Aquarium Breeder gives 15 gallons, Aquarium Care Basics 20 to start, and Store Depot a 30 gallon minimum with a 40 gallon breeder recommended. The spread is about flow rather than floor space: a filter feeder is fed by the current, so the tank is a delivery system, and a larger volume is easier to keep both moving and stable.
Are vampire shrimp aggressive?
No. Aquarium Breeder calls them 100% peaceful, and all three sources describe the same shy behavior. Aquarium Breeder: extremely shy and hide all the time. Store Depot: the shrimp will often retreat to small areas in the aquarium. Aquarium Care Basics: peaceful, tranquil, on the shy side and they like little places to hide. The name is the least accurate thing about the animal.
Why are they called vampire shrimp?
For the look, and it is the least accurate of the six names our sources use. Aquarium Breeder lists African Fan Shrimp, African Filter Shrimp, African Giant Shrimp, Vampire Fan Shrimp, Blue Rhino Shrimp alongside it. The animal is a filter feeder with fans instead of claws and no means of biting anything, so African filter shrimp and fan shrimp both describe what it does. Vampire is the name the shops use.
Can you breed vampire shrimp at home?
Not realistically, and the reason is a salinity figure. Aquarium Breeder: the larvae can do it only in saltwater, at 28 to 30 g/l, with development taking almost 4 months. Store Depot: breeding vampire shrimp is a complex task, since their young need both brackish and freshwater for proper development, and calls it very difficult. That is close to full seawater, held for a third of a year, then transitioned back to fresh.
What water do vampire shrimp need?
74 to 84 °F, pH near neutral, and hardness held steady. Two of three sources publish the identical 74 to 84 band, which is the widest temperature row of any shrimp record here. On pH the span all three optima contain is 7.0 to 7.2, though each publishes a wider tolerance beside it running as far as 6.0 to 8.0. Only Aquarium Breeder gives general hardness, GH 6 to 20, which is 107 to 357 ppm.
Why do vampire shrimp change color?
Because they molt, and one source describes it directly. Store Depot: these creatures go through color changes over time as they age, tending towards darkening shades like black or sometimes even getting lighter blues or even purples after molting when the exoskeleton is shed. A shrimp that looks different after a molt is doing what the source describes rather than failing.
Why do vampire shrimp die after molting?
Store Depot names molting problems as common killers and gives the prevention as consistent mineral content, which is what general and carbonate hardness supply. Aquarium Care Basics notes a molt happens once every couple of months and that the shrimp will look for a quiet and safe place to hide when it does. Over a five year life that is roughly thirty molts, so a hardness that swings has thirty chances to interrupt one.
What can live with a vampire shrimp?
Store Depot names a list and six of them have records here: cherry shrimp, bamboo shrimp, harlequin rasboras, cherry barbs, corydoras catfish, guppies, ember tetras, honey gouramis and betta fish. It refuses large cichlids, goldfish, crayfish, freshwater crabs and tiger barbs. Aquarium Breeder refuses the same shape of list: big or aggressive fish, crabs or crayfish.
How many vampire shrimp should I keep?
Three or more, and only one source addresses it. Aquarium Breeder says they do really well in groups and are 100% peaceful. No source publishes a number, so this record prints three as a floor rather than a figure. The practical argument for a group is visibility: all three sources describe an animal that hides, and a shrimp you cannot see is a shrimp you cannot tell is eating.
Are vampire shrimp wild caught?
None of our three sources says, and it is the most important thing this record cannot tell you. What all three do establish is that captive breeding is impractical, because the larvae need brackish water at 28 to 30 g/l for almost four months. If breeding is impractical then shop animals came from somewhere else, but no source we hold states where or how, so this record does not either. It is worth asking a retailer.
Are vampire shrimp hard to keep?
The water is easy and the food is not. The temperature band is ten degrees wide, the temperament is peaceful, and nothing about the chemistry is demanding. The difficulty is a genuine tension none of our sources addresses: a tank clean enough to look good has little suspended in it, and a filter efficient enough to keep it that way removes what the shrimp eats. That is why fan shrimp are usually recommended for mature tanks.
What a vampire shrimp needs that a cherry shrimp does not
Two of these follow from an animal that cannot be handed food.
- A pump aimed at it, not just a filterAquarium Breeder asks for a moderate current and for the secondary pump to be installed near or on the bottom, and Store Depot says the shrimp cannot be spot-fed and needs strong flow near a return or powerhead
- Powdered food, not pelletsthe fans catch microscopic particles, so Aquarium Breeder asks for phytoplankton, zooplankton and powdered food and Aquarium Care Basics for finely ground pellets, algae wafers or small flakes
- Stable minerals, for the moltStore Depot says molting problems are a common killer and that consistent general and carbonate hardness is the prevention, and Aquarium Care Basics notes a molt happens once every couple of months
Every item our records ask for is gathered on the tank setup topic.
Nothing here is a paid link. It is the shortfall between what this record asks for and what a boxed kit contains.
How this record was compiled
- By
- Verified
- Sources
Aquarium Breeder, vampire shrimp detailed guide, Aquarium Store Depot, vampire shrimp care and Aquarium Care Basics, vampire shrimp
- Conflicts
Printed rather than resolved: the minimum tank runs from 15 gallons to 30 with a 40 gallon breeder recommended, a factor of nearly three; the lifespan runs from 3 to 6 years to up to 10; and the adult size in a tank runs from about 2 to 3 inches on one source to 3.5 to 4.5 on the other two, with two of three agreeing the wild ceiling is 6 inches.
- Blanks
Growth rate stay empty until a source we trust states them
- Not recorded
A growth rate, because no source we hold publishes one; a group size as a number, because only one source raises groups at all; a general hardness figure from two of the three sources, both of which publish carbonate hardness or a description instead; and whether shop stock is wild caught or captive bred, which matters because every source describes breeding as impractical in fresh water and none of the three states where the animals come from