Aura Blue Shrimp Caridina Serrata

Here's some bad pics of some lovely shrimp.

Caridina Serrata Aura Blue

Amano Shrimp Eats Red Cherry Shrimp

Spotted an Amano shrimp feasting on a Red Cherry Shrimp this morning! I've seen Amanos disappear off carrying food before, but not eating another shrimp! I have no reason to believe the shrimp had died already. It was still in good colour and the Amano was eating it front-end first - perhaps to stop the struggle?

Video below

Caridina cf. babaulti spp. 'green' (Green Neon Shrimp)

Caridina cf. babaulti spp. 'green' (Green Neon Shrimp)

I don't have any of these, but it seems everyone is going shrimp-crazy and saw them in a local shop this morning. I'm waiting for some more Aura Blues, but beyond that I'm watching the pennies for a while!

There's a profile page on ShrimpNow which you can visit by clicking the pic.

Neocaridina Heteropoda var. Rili

Using late 20th century camera-phone technology, he's a bad pic of one of my Rili shrimp! 

Caridina Serrata Aura Blue

More by luck than judgement it appears I acquired quite a nice shrimp in the Aura Blue. I would like to add more to the group, but they were pretty expensive, so I'll have to save my pennies!

Whilst I've got most of my new tanks being set up with Akadama substrate, the Aura Blues were one of my first groups and have settled on the Fluval Shrimp Stratum!

They seem happy enough, but a blue shrimp on a black substrate is headache-inducing! I don't really want to move them, but you have to really study the tank to even get a glimpse.

Doesn't seem to be too much about how the colour holds up when breeding, and not sure I have any females at the moment, but I'll keep the old eyes peeled and if I can add more to the group, it could be an interesting little project.

A Re-Think

I was enjoying the new shrimp arrivals and my early fake-planted Red Cherry tank was quickly becoming the black sheep. Time for a step-up.

I'd seen people talking about Akadama as a shrimp substrate, and ordered myself a big bag to set up some more shrimp tanks. In went some Emerald Eye Rasboro and Ember Tetra to keep the tanks cycled. I also ordered a few basic plants from a 'shrimp friendly' list I'd seen online - although under LEDs we'll see how they go!

I also didn't really want to move the Aura Blue and Orange as they seemed happy and settled on the fluval shrimp stratum. New tanks were set up for the new arrivals.

I ordered...
Rili Red
Caridina Dennerli Cardinal
Neocaridina Var. Yellow
Blue Gabonensis
Neocaridina Red Fire
and some more of the Aura Blue

Once again only 3 types turned up.

Rili Red
Red Fire
and... I must have written down the stock number wrong as my 'Yellow' came in as Amano/Japonica (Caridina Multidentata). They're a nice shrimp, but require brackish water to breed. I've kept brackish tanks before, but replicating the movement from fresh to brackish.... hmmm, maybe a bit early for me!

I also shut down my red cherry tank and prepared it more suitably - although no sooner had I done so and some really nice red cherries were in a local store so I grabbed a dozen (which reminds me, I still haven't paid for those!). The new red cherries went in with the Japonica, but everything else has it's own tank.

So now I have....
Aura Blue - hopefully more arriving in a week or so to bump the numbers
Neocaridina Var. Orange
Rili Red
Red Fire
Red Cherry in with Multidentata

It's a lot of red, and still nothing uber-challenging, but I'm enjoying my baby-steps!

In At The Deep End

Maybe not the deep end for some of the experienced shrimp keepers out there, but for me - it was quite a jump. I ordered 6 different types of shrimp (all pretty basic) and sat back and waited.

In the end, only 3 arrived. They were Aura Blue, Crystal Black and Neocaridina Var. Orange! And only a few of each (some are quite expensive!).

When you have a search around the internet for 'shrimp substrate' etc, there are a few products that pop up. For example, I found myself buying some Fluval Shrimp Stratum. Subsequently, I joined some of the forums and the such and perhaps such a substrate is not warmly received. 

A bit late for me, I had 3 new lots of shrimp - and tanks were set up with the Fluval stuff and little moss pads.


I'll be happy to share my good experiences as a new shrimp keeper, but I'll also be honest when things don't go quite so swimmingly.

I killed the Crystal Blacks! Maybe it was a step too far, too quickly for a shrimp noob?


The Aura Blue seem to have settled, but I've not seen anything even resembling courtship or even a saddled female.

The Oranges have settled and are breeding like crazy.

The Shrimp Blog

I keep fish, have done for way too long, I also have the attention span of a gnat. Thankfully there are so many different fishes out there in so many different types of water, that it's somehow managed to keep my attention while other hobbies have been and gone.

I bounce around different niches within the hobby, I've kept fish from all over the world, and even imported some oddballs myself from South America. I was in a shop a couple of years back and the owner was cleaning out one of the systems and a filter sock was absolutely stuffed full of Red Cherry Shrimp. Can't quite remember the deal, but the sock was emptied into a bag and the shrimp were taken home and thrown into a 12x12x12" cube tank with some nasty red gravel and some even nastier fake plants.

Even then I knew they weren't the best quality, but they seemed happy and although I never caught a shrimp to sell or use as food, they bred well and seemed to have a self-sustaining population. In 2011 I cleared a tank for a local council after the tenant had died and the tank included a population of Red Cherries - far nicer than my own!

Late in 2011, I thought perhaps I'd investigate what else is out there in the way of shrimps and, with baby steps, I started to keep some different types. This blog is just a bit of fun as I find my feet, often learning the hard way in what it takes to be a proper shrimp keeper!

Fox