African Vampire Shrimp Comin' Atya

There is a shrimp that the scientific community knows as Atya gabonensis. Unsurprisingly, one of its common names is the Gabon Shrimp. Oddly, almost no one uses this name. Instead, it gets called Viper Shrimp (easily it's least appropriate name), Vampire Shrimp, Big Blue Shrimp, African Filter Shrimp, Blue Wood Shrimp, and many other variations on these themes. Here at Aquatropic, we call them African Vampire Shrimp, which is their most commonly used name in North America.

Okay, more weird parts coming. They aren't poisonous, so Viper seems silly, and they aren't bloodsuckers, so Vampire isn't entirely satisfying either. In fact, they're ridiculously peaceful. At least they come from Africa (or most of them do) so that part works out. The males of the species will develop a red hook at the ends of some of their legs (the ones that don't have fans) and they're usually really shy during the day, especially initially. Generally, they've been labeled crepuscular if not nocturnal, and this (and maybe the little red hooks) is likely why they get called Vampires. Color wise they can range from a pale white, to tan/brown, though often times they are some shades of blue, this color being the most sought after.

Atya gabonensis is a really big shrimp by aquarium standards, most people will look at their size and wonder what kind of crayfish this is. Do not mix them with crayfish, no matter how big these looks. Males get larger than the females and might get up to five and a half or six inches long, while the females will stay about an inch shorter. The point here is, they don't need much space aquarium wise, you could keep three or four of them in a 20-gallon tank. A breeder style tank with the larger footprint and less height would be preferable. The more cover there is in this display the better; very densely planted displays are perfect, any way to add cover with rocks, plants, leaves, even PVC and or terracotta pots is a good idea. We've found that as the Vampire Shrimp become accustomed to a display, you'll see them more and more during the day, especially if there is plenty of cover for them.

Filtration for these displays is an interesting topic and for Vampire Shrimp this topic blends into feeding. The reason they frequently get called Filter Shrimp is because their front four legs end in fans that they pulse in the water to collect small bits of food from the water column. A tank that is too clean or lacks some suspended food won't offer them anything to eat. They can also use these little fans like small pincers and are surprisingly accurate picking up minuscule tidbits to eat. They'll love picking bits off of filter pads and air filters. Long story short, you want clean water, but you also want some suspended material in this water. Aim for gentle filtration in your display for this shrimp.

In a well-designed and maintained display, your African Vampire Shrimp will only need feeding a couple times a week. The primary need for feeding these guys is getting them food that is small enough. They eat just about everything that gets caught up in their fans, plant matter, detritus, fish waste, even tiny inverts. In house, we like to feed them GAMMA Daphnia and Cyclops which are well sized, nutritious and easy to target feed with a baster. We also use Nutramar Shots in the Freshwater Algae and Color boost formula. If you have fish in the display that like to graze, they will eat the shots before the shot dissolves into acceptable food for the shrimp, but if the shot is left long enough, the shrimp can filter out the tiny bits that disintegrate off them. You can also grind fish pellets or flakes into powder and feed the tiny bits to your shrimp. In well-established displays with lots of degrading plant matter and fish waste your shrimp may almost never need feeding, but it's good practice to get used to feeding them consistently anyway.

This is one of the most peaceful things you can put into an aquarium, and so they're perfect for community displays or even dedicated shrimp tanks (they'll get along swimmingly with all the other shrimp). You could keep them with any number of snails and peaceful fish, even some bottom dwellers like Corydoras or Otos. Really the only thing you need to worry about is fish or inverts that are too aggressive, or big enough to eat the Vampires. They aren't that picky about water chemistry, as long as the water in the display is fairly moderate and stable in all its parameters, Atya gambonensis will be just fine. This opens the door to a wide range of other tank inhabitants as long as they are peaceful too. Make sure that there is never any ammonia, nitrite or copper in the display and always keep the nitrates under 20ppm.

Watching the African Viper Vampire Big Blue Filter Gambon Wood Shrimp (or whatever combination of these terms you like) is amazing. Their feeding mechanism is so fun to watch up close and the pulsing of their filter fans keeps us entertained for hours. If you have a shrimp display full of a single species like Cherry, Bamboo, or Amanos, African Vampires can be mixed in with no risk of cross breeding, making those displays all the more interesting. They're even fun to feed! If you have a display that is all settled and mature, and want to add a big, peaceful shrimp to it, then ask your favorite fishy retailer about getting you some Atya gambonensis from Aquatropic today!