Amazonian leaf shrimp, Euryrhynchus amazoniensis

The interestingly patterned Amazonian Leaf Shrimp Euryrhynchus amazoniensis comes from the Amazon Basin in South America. There this pretty little shrimp lives in very soft and acidic water in blackwater streams, often in rivers and streams with large accumulations of foliage at the bottom. Euryrhynchus amazoniensis may be considered a rarity: The Amazonian Leaf Shrimp is rarely imported and it is not easy to obtain in the trade.

Euryrhynchus amazoniensis belongs to the large-armed shrimp, but the Amazon shrimp remains with about 2-3 cm body length compared to other large-armed shrimp quite small and is very peaceful. Their finely hairy brown to blue colored claw arms are not particularly powerful and do not become dangerous to fish. The females carry few, but very large, yellow to light brown eggs. They can be distinguished from the males quite well: the females are not so large, they have less large and strong claw arms and in the neck one recognizes typically an egg spot or the eggs, which are carried under the abdomen, are also a good recognition feature. From the eggs, which are really very large in comparison, hatch fully developed juveniles that are able to survive in freshwater.

The Amazon shrimp has a typical darker horizontal stripe pattern on a light brown ground, which extends to the tail fan. Light blue colored animals with dark blue horizontal stripes also occur, although rarely.

The Amazon shrimp is an omnivore, but prefers mainly meaty food such as frozen or freeze-dried mosquito larvae, Artemia, worms such as Grindal, frozen or freeze-dried small crustaceans such as Cyclops, protein shrimp food (for example the NatureHolic Protein Feed) - so rather protein-rich animal food. It only nibbles on foliage from time to time. This large-armed shrimp is mainly nocturnal, it lives rather hidden in nature as well as in the aquarium. A layer of brown foliage is mandatory in an aquarium with Amazon leaf shrimp! 

The water for a tank with Euryrhynchus amazoniensis should be very soft and acidic with a pH of 4.5 to 6, a carbonate hardness (KH) of 0, a total hardness (GH) between 6 and 10 and a temperature of 26-30 °C. Optimally, these water values can be established with osmosis water and an appropriate mineral salt for bee shrimp and other shrimp from soft water. An active substrate can help stabilize the desired water values.

We recommend for the very shy and in the hobby really rare Amazon leaf shrimp a species tank from 20 liters capacity. With enough foliage the keeping of 2 males and 2 females is possible without any problems. Provided the water is suitable for any tankmates, socializing the Amazonian Leaf Shrimp with very small, peaceful fish may be a possibility. Snails in soft water aquariums often have housing problems, so keeping snails should be considered carefully. Smaller snails without lids may also be eaten by the Amazonian Leaf Shrimp. Euryrhynchus amazoniensis should not be kept with crayfish, crabs or other shrimps. With crabs and shrimps it would come to deadly fights, other shrimps would disturb the shy animals too much.

Our food recommendation: The soft granulate of the Natureholic MacroFeed consists of biologically balanced animal components that the large-armed shrimp would find in nature in this or a similar way. This supports  in a completely natural way the moulting, the development and a healthy growth of your fascinating large arm shrimps in the aquarium.

Our plant recommendation: For planting, use NatureHolic InVitros. These are free of snails, planarians and other unwanted co-inhabitants. Also free of algae spores, bacteria and fungi.

Expert Tip: We recommend when keeping fish the NatureHolic 3 Phase Liquid. The care set offers the best all-round protection for your animals. It ensures optimal conditions for successful breeding and keeping.