Anyone ever bred Harlequin shrimp?

[BiggestShrimp]

Just as the topic says. Anyone have any experience with these little colorful shrimp? Has anyone successfully bred these in a tank and raised shrimplets? I know they are very sensitive and hard to keep alive but thats all I know. Any insight would be appreciated.

[blacksheep998]

There is an article about keeping and breeding them on the planet inverts website. The requirements seem to be the standard for most Sulawesi shrimp.

High temp, 26-29C

High pH, 7.5-8.5

Hardness seems to be open for debate. Most things I've read say you want KH and GH around 4.

[countcoco]

Check out Xema's sticky in the Sulawesi shrimp and Tanks sub forum.

Everything I've read seems to indicate that they're incredibly difficult to both keep alive and breed. Most people seem to lose a high % during the acclimation period. I would recommend paying extra for tank bred specimens and express/overnight shipping.

the Count

[yu390705]

Actually they're not so hard to keep and breed. Just follow 888 rule -> pH8, GH8 and KH8
The key point is that DO NOT keep them with other breeds, otherwise they will feel stressed
Also, most Harlequin are imported so you have only about 3 months to make them multiply, then they will die old.

[BiggestShrimp]

The key point is that DO NOT keep them with other breeds, otherwise they will feel stressed.

I think you make an excellent point here considering that the Harlequin shrimp one of the smallest of the available sulawesi shrimp and its shy. I was thinking exactly this the other day. Do you have experience yourself breeding these shrimp? I see you have a red line in your avatar, have you bred these as well? Thanks for your input!

[msnikkistar]

I believe there are only a handful of people that have successfully tank bred harlequins. From talking to one of my friends who has them at F7-F8 at least, there are some things that are a must for them to breed and keep the babies alive. Since the Sulawesi area seems to be very symbiotic in regards to fauna and flora, I believe that these shrimp require a lot of the flora that is found naturally in the Sulawesi area to survive to adulthood.

[Mac Myers]

My 15.3 cents US adjusted for inflation.
I agree with msnikkistar and Count Coco . Very few people are successful breeding these animals (and often even keeping them alive). Most of the Sulawesi Shrimp (with the exception of the Malawa) are fragile. I was advised by a guy that I respect very much not to even buy the Caridina cf. spongicola that he was selling. They require a great deal of experience and a very stable environment. Most people I have spoken to that have claimed success report poor results just a few months later.

[aelysa]

Hi there. I managed to get f1's from spongicolas, however they are very difficult to take care of. Besides the water issue, you feeding is a fine balance between making sure they eat enough (powder sprinkled all over the tank) and not soiling the tank. During the holidays my colony crashed due to "neglect" - a four day period of not doing a daily light feeding a weekly heavy feeding. It can be done, but for fresh imported shrimp it's pretty difficult. If you can find out who Nikki's friend is that has f8's, I don't think you'll run into that problem as much. Good luck!

[guppies]

I just have some babies F1's hatched a couple of days ago ... not sure they will survive this time. I had some babies several months ago but they just slowly disappeared within a couple weeks. Lacking of food source seemed to be the problem. This time I am growing a lot of diatoms and green algae as well as adding powder food.

[zacks]

I just have some babies F1's hatched a couple of days ago ... not sure they will survive this time. I had some babies several months ago but they just slowly disappeared within a couple weeks. Lacking of food source seemed to be the problem. This time I am growing a lot of diatoms and green algae as well as adding powder food.

guppies you should buy Spongegilla lacustris or any spongegilla other type for food shrimplets.....because sul shrimp will need to eat them.....and for some sul shrimps are depend mutualisme with some snails........shrimps eat snails pup....

if you come to jakarta,indonesia i will help you to find those thing all about sul shrimps.......i have good relationship with one of my LFS......and he can provide anything for SUL shrimps..

[guppies]

Thanks Zacks, are those the sponges growing on the rocks ... I am trying to get them too, they are hard to find and importing them is such a hassle. I have some sulawesi snails but I am not sure they help that much. At the LFS are Jarkata, are they selling them as powder food or live rocks?

My babies made it for another 2 days, I am feeding them sirakura microorganism powder, and phytoplankton powder.

[zacks]

sure guppies they're sell anything for sul shrimps need.....and the water too.......... lol

the owner told me to breeding this shrimp...and i told him my parameter water isn't fit for those shrimps......and he reply me you can buy my water bring your water storage here i will give a free for the 1st storage.......lol

you can see all the type sul shrimp and some of spongila........

here's the source link............open your browser...open google.com ........search aristocrata.....it should be the 1st page at the top.......:)

i'm respect for the rules of this forum ........so i can't post the direct link......hope you understand....don't forget if someday you plan to trip here contact me ...we can trade shrimps........:)

[guppies]

Yes they are big exporter of sulawesi shrimps. I'd would love to trade shrimps but bringing live animals in USA is not like bring in a couple of shirts.

[zacks]

Yes they are big exporter of sulawesi shrimps. I'd would love to trade shrimps but bringing live animals in USA is not like bring in a couple of shirts.

lol that's right.......it need 20 hours to go in here..........lol

but don't worry you need breathing bag to keep them survive much better..

[BiggestShrimp]

Hey guys, so I purchased some harlequin shrimp and most of them died out of 16 only 3 remain. of the 3 left one of them was berried last week I think I have 1 female and 2 males. Earlier this week some of the eggs were dropped and today there are no more eggs. I have since gotten a reverse osmosis filter because my high TDS municipal water I feel is to blame, who knows what else is in there. I changed out the water earlier this week so I dont know if the water change caused the drop in eggs. I have a 180 TDS tap water that tests out to 9gH and 6 kH. which is kind of weird because 1 degree of hardness is ~18 ppm. My new RO filter gives me 6ppm water so im pretty happy with it and I have since done water changes to my tanks and the shrimp seem happy with it no deaths since then. I have several mini golden snails and rams horn snails in the tank and they are thriving. I hope it gets berried again soon as I can see the saddle developing in the female. Thanks for all your inputs guys and gals.

[SeahSengYong]

I have them in my tank.
Most of them had died.
No bodies left I believe is the sulawesi snails who ate their dead bodies.

I have some sulawesi babies, but not sure which type yet, cause I have many different types in my 2ft tank.

[Slayer213]

Hi all, i have tried harleys a couple of times, none made it... Recently just added 20 more, only left one... I believe its the food source thats contrubuting to its high mortality. I once read that they survive in the wild exclusively hanging on to freahwater sponges, hence the name spongicola. I am keeping cardinals, starry night and blue leg poso which are breeding very well. Im still trying to get my hands on some freahwater sponges and sulawesi plants, but have since failed to find any... Aristocratama refused to send small quantities to private collectors without import license... So im at the dead end. Anyone can help with this?

[Lexinverts]

Hi all, i have tried harleys a couple of times, none made it... Recently just added 20 more, only left one... I believe its the food source thats contrubuting to its high mortality. I once read that they survive in the wild exclusively hanging on to freahwater sponges, hence the name spongicola. I am keeping cardinals, starry night and blue leg poso which are breeding very well. Im still trying to get my hands on some freahwater sponges and sulawesi plants, but have since failed to find any... Aristocratama refused to send small quantities to private collectors without import license... So im at the dead end. Anyone can help with this?

Hello Slayer,
What do you feed your "starry night" (White orchid) shrimp? Some breeders have told me that these shrimp prefer eating meatier foods more than vegetable foods. Is this your experience too? Do you mind sharing any tips for keeping these shrimp? I have found Cardinals to be relatively easy, but I have heard that starry nights are more dificult.
Thanks very much!

[Slayer213]

Hi Lex! i feed my SN the same food that i feed the rest of my shrimps. i keep them all together in a 2ft tank. In my experience, SN is almost as easy as Cardinals. the first time i bought 5 of them, 2 males and 3 females, 1 month ago, all 3 females have been berried and given birth since. i now have dozens of shrimplets in my tank, and more to come as they are still berried. i figure they give birth in batches(?) they are also not shy picky eaters, often they are the first to approach food when i feed. And they seldom hide, usually out in the open. in case you ask, these are the things i feed my shrimps :

Mosura tonic pro
Mosura gravidas ( for shrimplets )
Mosura bioplus
Mosura specialty food ( for snails and shrimps )
Cruscuisine
Hikari algae wafer ( for snails and shrimps )
Hikari frozen bloodworms ( for berried females, dont use live worms as they might harbour parasites )
Indian almond leaves ( occasionally one or two cut strips, so as to not stain the water and mess with the PH )
Spirulina powder

I hope these helps, please feel free to ask anything. Thanks!!

[Soothing Shrimp]

Any more successes with harlequins?

[Slayer213]

Hi, i have just got into harlequin again! Despite failing countless times... Im going to try it once more. Just got 20 pieces, lost 2 on my way home! It haa been 3 days, so far the rest has been doing well. But then again, they are notoriously unpredictable... Fingers crossed. Will post some pics soon... Stay tuned!

[imke_j]

@Slayer: good luck with your new shrimp! Sometimes I wonder, if all sold harlequin shrimp are c. woltereckae, or if they are mixed with the symbiotic spongicola....
http://atyidae.wordpress.com/spongicola_woltereckae/

[guppies]

@Slayer: good luck with your new shrimp! Sometimes I wonder, if all sold harlequin shrimp are c. woltereckae, or if they are mixed with the symbiotic spongicola....
http://atyidae.wordpress.com/spongicola_woltereckae/The picture of the c. spongicola looks like red tigri.

[Ray_075]

I just have some babies F1's hatched a couple of days ago ... not sure they will survive this time. I had some babies several months ago but they just slowly disappeared within a couple weeks. Lacking of food source seemed to be the problem. This time I am growing a lot of diatoms and green algae as well as adding powder food.
I think some babies beware of chemicals into the water, I have 5 children, then I do not put any chemicals into the water. I have nothing but moss by special container and stone.

[Summit MicroFarm]

I find this thread very interesting. I wish the parameters and food sources were more documented.

:alien:

[Ray_075]

I find this thread very interesting. I wish the parameters and food sources were more documented.

:alien:
My Tank
http://www.shrimpnow.com/forums/showthread.php/8630-Easy-Surawesi-Tank-Thailand

[Scorpio]

The picture of the c. spongicola looks like red tigri.

Completely agree with you. I'm trying to investigate C. spongicola at uni, but Aristocratama says they have never found it... And whilst I think C. woltereckae looks distinct, Tigri has a suspiciously similar pattern. Of course, it's possible the three species are just closely related, but I'm not certain C. spongicola is yet a definite species.

[grottbert]

Maybe it's really somekind of hybrid between wolt and tigri?

[Scorpio]

It's possible. It's always risky to classify by colour patterns, however. Colour patterns are useful tools for recognising species, but terrible for classifying; as can morphology in general when it comes to such similar species.

[grottbert]

Pretty safe to say that spongicola is uncommon atleast. If it's because it's an hybrid or not doesn't change that fact.

[Scorpio]

It must be uncommon; not that I've ever been to Sulawesi :P I might be going there in Summer so I'll go hunting for it and try to find out what the hell it is!

[grottbert]

I read an .pdf about sulawesi and where they found the different species. In that case wolt. was found all over lake towuti but spong. was only found in one instance at the mouth of an intake to towuti.
Maybe it's because only the sponge grows there or something else but maybe it's not an coincidence that they only found them in one instance.

[Frits]

Im going to try it once more.
My setup:
http://http://www.mijnalbum.nl/GroteFoto-ZHLAA6IN.jpg (http://www.mijnalbum.nl/GroteFoto-ZHLAA6IN.jpg")
On the left Caridina Woltereckae (harlequin), on the other side Caridina Striata (blue dot red line)

[Scorpio]

Im going to try it once more.
My setup:
http://http://www.mijnalbum.nl/GroteFoto-ZHLAA6IN.jpg (http://www.mijnalbum.nl/GroteFoto-ZHLAA6IN.jpg")
On the left Caridina Woltereckae (harlequin), on the other side Caridina Striata (blue dot red line)

Cool, keep us updated!

By the way, Blue Dot Red Line shrimp are actually more likely to be Caridina glaubrechti than C. striata. C. striata is referred to as Red Line Bee shrimp by wholesalers.

[Frits]

Thanx!
This is the shrimp:
http://members.ziggo.nl/fbahlmann/Garnalen/Blue%20dot%20red%20line%20bee%20%282%29.JPG

http://www.mijnalbum.nl/GroteFoto-ZHLAA6IN.jpg%22

[Scorpio]

No problem :D

This shrimp is definitely not C. striata, the rostrum is far too long. It is very, very similar to C. glaubrechti (Red Orchid), but there are differences in colour pattern. This might just be variation, but it is possible it is a hybrid.

Have you bred this shrimp? They might produce offspring with the typical appearance of C. glaubrechti.

[Frits]

I have had this shrimp a couple of years ago and bought them at a local fisch shop.
According to them is was a blue dot red line. They lived for a long time, unfortunately no offspring.

[Scorpio]

I have had this shrimp a couple of years ago and bought them at a local fisch shop.
According to them is was a blue dot red line. They lived for a long time, unfortunately no offspring.

This IS a Blue Dot Red Line, but that name might indicate the same species as Red Orchid. Red Orchid and Blue Dot Red Lines are sold as different shrimp, whereas they may just be the same species showing different patterns. Just like selling S grade Red Bees as a different shrimp to B grades. It's a shame they've had no offspring; that is a trait of hybrids, curiously...