Thornfoot mountain water shrimp - Atyopsis spinipes

The spiny-legged mountain shrimp Atyopsis spinipes is a close relative of the Moluccan fan shrimp Atyopsis moluccensis. Its size, spiny, powerful legs, and graceful fans with which it catches small suspended particles from the water are all in all bizarre and impressive. The fans are attached to the first two pairs of walking legs and are extremely delicate. The spiny-legged mountain water shrimp grows up to 10 cm long.

The spiny-legged mountain shrimp originates from the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan, so it has its distribution in Southeast Asia. Usually this fan shrimp has a very similar coloration as the Moluccan fan shrimp: it is finely light brown, reddish brown to dark brown and light beige striped lengthwise. The animals also often have a lighter dorsal stripe. Older males have particularly strong spiny forelegs, the legs of younger males and females are somewhat more slender.

In nature, the spiny-legged mountain shrimp is found in waters with an extreme, very strong current, often sitting in the white water of rapids . There they claw with their strong legs on stones or driftwood and hold their fan hands into the current to filter passing food from the water. In the aquarium, the spiny-legged mountain shrimp also needs not only a very strong current, but also a very high oxygen content.

Feed with fine flake food or our special fan shrimp feed from NatureHolic. Also fine frozen food, stinging nettle ground to powder or spinach powder are suitable food for fan shrimp.

Mountain shrimp like to sit on roots and stones in the middle of the strongest current and filter their food from the aquarium water with their fans. The filter current alone is often not sufficient, it is usually too clean and does not contain enough suspended particles, or it is simply not strong enough. For the species-appropriate keeping of Atyopsis spinipes we therefore advise an additional flow pump for the aquarium.

The peaceful, sociable Thornfoot Mountain Shrimp feel comfortable in a group of three or four specimens or more. These fan shrimp can be socialized with other freshwater shrimp, provided they can cope with the somewhat higher nutrient levels provided by the dust food - Neocaridina or Amano shrimp would be a good choice here, for example. It is also possible to keep fan shrimp in the aquarium with peaceful fish that are not too large or too curious, provided that the fish can cope with the strong current. Snails or mussels are also suitable aquarium mates. Crabs and crayfish, on the other hand, often attack the defenseless fan shrimp and can seriously injure or even eat them.

The breeding of the thorny-legged mountain shrimp is not very easy, because the larvae, which hatch from the small eggs of the fan shrimp, cannot grow up in fresh water. The female of Atyopsis spinipes carries about 2,000 tiny eggs under her abdomen for about 40 days. From them hatch tiny larvae suspended in the water, which in nature are driven by the current into areas of brackish water. After about 70 days, the larvae are developed enough to molt into juvenile shrimp. The breeding of fan shrimp in the aquarium works similarly to the Amano shrimp, it just takes longer. The breeding of Atyopsis spinipes has been done successfully several times in the hobby.

Fan shrimp in the trade, however, come practically exclusively from the wild. Therefore it is really important that they come into a suitable aquarium with a lot of current and into aquarium water with particularly much oxygen

Our feed recommendation: The biologically valuable complete feed NatureHolic Fan Feed Fan Shrimp Food is a finely ground dust food especially for fan shrimp. It contains krill, spirulina, moringa and Dunaliella salina and a special blend of immediately bioavailable organic mineral compounds.

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

Expert Tip: We recommend for fish keeping 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.