Bamboo shrimp
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 Atyopsis moluccensis
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Bamboo shrimp, are any of several species of the genus Atyopsis. They are filter-feeding shrimp, three to five inches long, which are sold in the United States as community tank invertebrates. They are absolutely harmless to tropical fish in the same tank, because they have fans for gathering microscopic bits of food, instead of claws.
In the wild they eat phytoplankton and zooplankton, but in fish tanks they can be fed the algae wafers sold for plecos, which they eat after the wafer dissolves, or Daphnia, or newly hatched brine shrimp, or in a pinch some finely ground up flake food, once it softens and disintegrates.
These shrimp can be found feeding near filter outlets in fish tanks, where they find the strongest water flow to filter and feed off. When keeping these shrimp as pets, position rocks and/or a tall-growing plant or two close to the tank's filter outlet. Bamboo Shrimp will climb objects to get close to the strong-flowing current to filter for food. The shrimp moult fairly often, the moults often induced by water changes. For about a week after the moult the fan shrimp will hide while its skin hardens.
[edit] Bamboo Shrimp as Pets
As aquatic pets, bamboo shrimp require extremely low maintenance. They are filter feeders, and collect food from the detritus that results from other fish in the tank, once washed through a common aquarium filter. As a result, the pets are only recommended for tanks with filters in them.
Bamboo shrimp can be large, and require about two gallons of their own space. Their tank should be treated as a tank for freshwater tropical fish, and heated accordingly.
Bamboo shrimp get along with Betta fish. A pair may occasionally fight, but conflicts should decrease after the first day the animals have lived together, so long as the animals have significant space, so as to avoid territorial clashes. Four gallons is sufficient for the two to live happily together.
