Newest Additions - my first Caridina

The new thing for me has been my Caridina cantonensis tiger shrimp. One of my favorite online shrimp breeders had a sale and I could not resist. I just wanted to share some pictures of my new little beauties.

Aqua67 said:

The new thing for me has been my Caridina cantonensis tiger shrimp. One of my favorite online shrimp breeders had a sale and I could not resist. I just wanted to share some pictures of my new little beauties.

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Here are some of my guys.

I love your shrimp. I could look at shrmp pics all afternoon.

I’m excited to say that I now have two berried females and I’m looking forward to seeing my first batch of baby “super tigers” grow. These berried females stay hidden and don’t swim around much as compared to my neos. I can always find at least one of them hiding under leaf litter, a good spot to hatch out little ones too, I suppose.

I got a pic of one of the berried females yesterday.

Aqua67 said:

The new thing for me has been my Caridina cantonensis tiger shrimp. One of my favorite online shrimp breeders had a sale and I could not resist. I just wanted to share some pictures of my new little beauties.

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I love that shrimp! I read those are more difficult to keep than neocardina- have you found that to be the case?

MuddyWaters said:

I love that shrimp! I read those are more difficult to keep than neocardina- have you found that to be the case?

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No, I haven’t found they are any more difficult. Some differences that I have noticed though is that they seem more aggressive than the neos. They will beat down any neo coming to share their piece of food and I ended up putting them in their own tank. It also seems that the berried females stay in hiding. I’ve only got 10 shrimp in a little 3 gallon but I’ll be darned trying to find the berried females. They hide under layers of leaf litter. That was how I got her picture, I had to lighten the exposure which is why the pic looks kind of washed out. She was hiding in the dark. I put most of the tiger caridinas in the brand new 3 gal aquarium when the tank was less than one week old. I held the tigers in my neocardina tank until I had the 3 gal tank ready. I used dirty filter floss, sprinkled Bacter AE on the inert substrate, added beneficial bacteria each day, added plants and decorations - some new, some from a mature tank, added a few ml of household ammonia after a few days, did a small water change and after a few days put the shrimp in. Everyone survived. No heater, temps around 67 in the tank. In less than 2 months I had 2 berried females and now I’m just waiting for the babies to become visible. I was thrilled as I seriously thought all I had were females. I use RO water and remineralize so that part hasn’t been challenging. This little 3 gal tank has no scuds thank goodness (but does have a few limpets), so that hasn’t caused problems. I don’t find them any more difficult than the neos, but I’m still rather new.

Do you use Bacter AE a lot? I put some in the water- more like ON the water- it doesn't like to dissolve. I think it says to put some in regularly, but to me it's a PITA, so I did it once on top, then I mixed some in water and put it in, but it seemed to litter all over everything.

I do add a tiny amount of Bacter AE to my shrimp tanks when I see berried females or new baby shrimp. I put a tiny amount in a very small solo cup, mix in some tank water, stir with my turkey baster and then pour it into my shrimp tank making sure to pour it over the plants. Within minutes, dozens of baby shrimp are grazing all over the leaves. Before I administered it this way, I would sprinkle it across the top of my aquarium and you’re right, it basically just swirls around on the surface and until it near the filter over flow it wouldn’t sink and spread around in the water. When I used to administer it that way, all the shrimp would swim to the surface and hang upside down grabbing the powder and biofilm on the water’s surface. To me it is a little extra baby “insurance” that they’re getting enough food to grow.

I am still waiting for my 2 berried females to release babies, but most of the 10 shrimp in this tank are visible in this one picture, including the one orange-eyed blue tiger which must have been an accident. I wouldn’t mind dropping in 5 more OEBTs.

It has been 6 weeks and I am still waiting for the babies to hatch. I’ve heard these shrimp can take 50 days to hatch. I’m sure my keeping the tank at room temp (68F) plays a role. I am anxiously awaiting.

Aqua67 said:

It has been 6 weeks and I am still waiting for the babies to hatch. I’ve heard these shrimp can take 50 days to hatch. I’m sure my keeping the tank at room temp (68F) plays a role. I am anxiously awaiting.

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Why are you keeping your water temperature so low?

gwand said:

Why are you keeping your water temperature so low?

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Caridina shrimp are colder water species that prefer high 60s to low 70s as opposed to tropical fish.

Aqua67 said:

It has been 6 weeks and I am still waiting for the babies to hatch. I’ve heard these shrimp can take 50 days to hatch. I’m sure my keeping the tank at room temp (68F) plays a role. I am anxiously awaiting.

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I'm also doing a caridina journey and I've just hit the phase where the females are spreading the pheromones. Good luck with your tank!

It has been 49 days with 2 berried shrimp in my 3 gallon unheated aquarium and today was the day!! I saw 2 babies this morning. The females are still berried, so the fun is just beginning. I am looking forward to watching them grow and color up.