Shrimps commonly used in tanks

The Tiger Shrimp, as the name suggested, is easily identified by its beautiful tiger-like black or dark brown stripes against the transparent body. Often, it is confused with the Chinese Zebra Shrimp which also has stripes on its body besides white spots. Growing to a maximum of 3.5 cm in adulthood, this shrimp is an excellent algae feeder, although it has a soft spot for fish food such as flakes and pellets.

As the Tiger Shrimp belongs to the Caridina serrataspecies, it has very similar habits and morphology as the Bee family, surviving and breeding best in soft, acidic water with a temperature of between 23-28 °C. Once hatched, the young is exactly a miniature version of the adult, hence it does not go through planktonic larval stage.


Crystal Red Shrimp (AKA CRS, Red Bee Shrimp, Scientific name Caridina sp. "bee") is a breed variant of the freshwater Bee shrimp. Normal Bee shrimp can be found in Southern China or South East Asia. Because the breed form is more intense and vibrant in colour, it has gained popularity in Japan and is now greatly sought after by aquarium hobbyists around the world.

In 1991, Mr. Hisayasu Suzuki of Japan started breeding normal bee shrimps, which are banded with black stripes. He noticed a single red bee shrimp in a batch of about a thousand shrimps and was fascinated by it. This first red bee died but three generations later, he discovered 3 red bee shrimps among the thousands he had bred. After many cycles of selective breeding from redder offspring, he finally arrived at the true red bee. In 1996, he named it "Crystal Red Shrimp" and has been awarded a patent for this recessive red mutation of the normal bee shrimp. Since then Crystal Red Shrimp has been further refined by the founder and other breeders to produce specimens with larger white patches and intensified red.

Characteristic
Crystal Red Shrimp is a fairly small shrimp, growing to about 2.5 cm in adulthood. However, it is very active but remains quite peaceful towards other tank mates. The average lifespan is about 1.5 to 2 years but the gender is hard to differentiate, especially during juvenile stage. Between the ages of 4.5 and 5 months with a size of at least 2.2 cm, it is ready to reproduce in tank. As Crystal Red Shrimp can crossbreed with normal Bee shrimp and Tiger shrimp which are also of the Caridina species, it is highly recommended not to keep them in the same tank.

In the Aquarium
Crystal Red Shrimp is currently the most favorite freshwater aquarium shrimp. It's unique and distinctive red and white color is unlike any freshwater shrimps. Hobbyist have even refine the species to make it more intense red and white by going through selective breeding. They even grade the shrimps according to the intensity of the white and red patterns on the shell.

Food
Probably due to its size, it is not a particularly great algae consumer; preferring soft mosses and a rich vegetable diet. Some hobbyist even go to the extreme of feeding them with boiled organic spinach. There are a lot of variety of flake/dry food made specially for the Crystal Red Shrimp, but make sure the food does not contain Copper. Copper is a heavy metal and even a small dose is enough to kill any freshwater shrimps!

Water Conditions
Crystal Red Shrimp is the most sensitive freshwater shrimps, due to the small shared common gene pool of the original 3 bee shrimps. Hence, maintaining a proper environment condition is utmost importance for keeping and breeding Crystal Red Shrimp. Although it may seems difficult to keep, it all drill down to the water conditions.

After years of keeping and breeding Crystal Red Shrimp, we have derived the following chart that shows the optimal water parameters for Crystal Red Shrimp. These are the water parameters that you can easily measured with available test kits from your local aquarium shop.
Water Temperature 23 ~ 24ºC
pH - Acidity 6.4 ~ 6.8
GH - General Hardness 3 ~ 6dH
KH - Carbonate Hardness 1 ~ 2dH
NH3 - Ammonia 0ppm
NO2 - Nitrite 0ppm
NO3 - Nitrate <15ppm
TDS - Total Dissolved Substance 90-120

The most common problem overlooked by most hobbyists is the dissolved substance in the water. You can have all the water parameters correct, but the Crystal Red Shrimp keeps dying. This is because of the different pollution factors or chemicals added by the source of the water. You can buy a TDS meter to measure the amount of dissolved substance in your tank. If the TDS exceeds 150 and your pH is on the higher range, nitrogenous waste in the tank can turn toxic.

Another important factor is the biological filter media in your filter system. A canister filter system is recommended for keeping Crystal Red Shrimp, as it provides the best mechanical and biological functions. A good biological filter media helps to remove organic waste from the tank and provide a balance in the ecosystem within the tank. Most of us at home cannot measure the amount of nitrifying or beneficial bacteria in the tank. Hence, investing on a good biological filter media is important. When choosing the biological filter media, it is important to compare the media surface area. The higher the surface area, the more bacteria will thrive and grow inside