Bamboo shrimp

Quick facts

Adult size

8 cm

Lifespan

can live up to 5 years

Tank zone

all

Temperament

peaceful

Difficulty

intermediate

Typically wild-caught

yes - acclimate slowly

Water parameters

Temperature

22–28°C

pH

6.5 to 7.5

Hardness

3 to 15 dGH

Tank requirements

Minimum volume

75 L

Minimum length

60 cm

Flow

high

Lighting

any

Substrate

any

Driftwood

preferred

Hiding spots

needed

Feeding

Diet: omnivore, feeds primarily at the all.

Filter feeder. Sits in current and catches microparticles with fan-shaped chelipeds. Supplemental feeding with powdered food (spirulina powder, ground flake, baby shrimp food) added upstream of their perch. If they start foraging on the substrate by picking with their fans, they're not getting enough suspended food.

Compatibility

• A filter feeder, not a scavenger. Sits on driftwood or rock in the strongest current and holds its fan-shaped front legs open to catch passing particles. Watching this behavior is the reason people keep them
• Needs flow. A tank with gentle filtration won't provide enough current to deliver food to the fans. Aim a powerhead at their favorite perch
• Completely defenseless. Don't keep with anything that might harass or eat them: cichlids, large barbs, puffers
• Changes color from brown to red to blue depending on diet and molting cycle. A sudden color change is not necessarily illness; it's often just a pre-molt phase
• Cannot breed in freshwater. Larvae require brackish water; captive breeding is not commercially viable. All aquarium bamboo shrimp are wild-caught

Habitat

Native to streams in Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka. Found in fast-flowing water perched on rocks and wood, filtering passing organic particles. The fan-feeding adaptation is convergent with barnacles and some marine worms.

Breeding

Cannot be bred in standard freshwater aquariums. Like amano shrimp, the larvae require brackish to saltwater conditions. Females carry large clutches of tiny eggs, but the larvae are planktonic and die in freshwater within days of hatching. Successful captive breeding has been reported but requires specialized marine larval rearing setups. All bamboo shrimp in the trade are wild-caught.

Common problems

Refusing to filter-feed and instead picking at the substrate with their fans closed is a sign of insufficient food particles in the water column. This is the most common issue. Increase flow, add powdered food upstream, or move them to a spot with more current. Molting problems (incomplete molt, getting stuck in the old exoskeleton) happen in water with insufficient calcium or unstable GH. Provide a source of calcium (cuttlebone, mineral supplements) and keep GH above 6.

Bioload

Bioload coefficient: 1.5 (large shrimp but filter feeder; waste is minimal).

Bioload coefficients are calibrated against the neon tetra as the anchor (1.0). See the methodology page for the formula and how each value was derived.

Further reading

• How to cycle a fish tank
• Stocking ideas by tank size