Ask about Princess Bee Shrimp.

[baosieuquay1990]

I want to raise shrimp. Does anyone know about this species.
PH: ?
Temperature:?
...
Thanks for sharing experience.

[imke_j]

Hi, I have been keeping this specie for now around 6 months. My first batch of PB came from a Vietnam import, and all 20 shrimp died. My second batch was bred in my country, and I still have around 10 and 4 juveniles raised in my tank. My advice is, to start with a breeding group of 10 minimum, however – 20 are even better.

The German name of this beautiful paracaridina shrimp is ‘Princess Bee’, while it is called ‘Hue Bee Shrimp’, ‘Tép ong Huế’ or ‘Honey Vietnamese’ in Vietnam. The scientific name is paracaridina sp. (LIANG, GUO & TANG, 1999).

This tiny shrimp with maximum size of 3 cm is non-aggressive and needs freshwater to breed. Due to his size, it has a fewer number of offspring, and gives life to around 15-20 shrimplets. (Cross-) breeding is suspected to all paracaridina and caridina species, like Blue Bee, Tiger, and Red Bee / Black Bee. As the wild form shows a broader variety of coloration density, breeders still can focus on breeding better colors and pattern. A red Princess Bee has been already shown.

Like other paracaridina, the Princess Bee is mostly shy within the first time. It loves shrimp-only, well planted tanks with moderate lighting, and a lot of hiding places. Dried stinging nettle or walnut leaves are recommended diet, if they are not already used to commercial shrimp food pads.

In the native biotope, it lives in small, sandy creeks, with lots of leaves, dead branches, big stones and little water vegetation. The water parameters from the habitat in Vietnam are: pH 5.8-6.2 / 10-20µs / 19-25° Celsius.

The water parameters in my tank (with Akadama) are: pH 6,4-7,0 / 200-300µs / 21-23° Celsius. There are reports that this shrimp breeds in hard water also (500µs, pH around 8.0) and that offspring grows quicker in harder water. I do moderate water changes only, 9L a week in a 54L tank.