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June 15, 2005
Filter shrimp difference...
Was watching my two filter-feeding shrimp last night and noticed that even though both had those filter hands for feeding, they used them differently and had some other behavorial differences too.
My bamboo/flower shrimp would typically park itself near heavier water flow and then stick its filter hands out and remain motionless, occassionally drawing a hand towards its mouth to eat. It'll also occassionally make the rounds of the tank, picking up food from the gravel with the hands in a constant motion. It also seems to be less intimidated by the other fish in the tank.
The vampire shrimp on the other hand is one heck of a digger. I guess it uses those two large, spiny front legs to do the digging cause since it's arrived, it seems to have dug quite an impressive space underneath the left driftwood and that's where it spends its days, usually hanging upside down from the wood. It won't venture outside and search the gravel for food like the bamboo/flower shrimp and its a more proactive water-filter feeder. Instead of remaining motionless, it constantly fans its filter hands through the water and draws them to its mouth in a continuous cycling motion. It's just too bad that it hides so much cause I rarely get more than a glimpse of its head and hands at work or its tail.
[UPDATE]: Looks like the vampire shrimp does scour the gravel for food as well but it still tries to stay hidden when doing so so it's only scouring the area under the two driftwoods.
Posted by ronin at June 15, 2005 8:22 AM