Now a shrimp I'd like to have

This shrimp is beautiful. My favorite color of blue. I might have to consider learning and raising shrimp just to have a few of these at some time in the future...hopefully they will become more available with time.

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More available? pfft. Been in stock at the shop pretty much always since I've opened. Blue velvets are what they're usually called here state side.

yeah thats what i thought.. arent they some kinda weird variety that wont throw solid blue on all offspring? might be OEBT shrimp im thinking of.

Aquarium Co-Op wrote:More available? pfft. Been in stock at the shop pretty much always since I've opened. Blue velvets are what they're usually called here state side.

Oh...they said it was new so I assumed it probably wasn't readily available. I love that blue. Are they the same Cory...the "blue velvet" and the "sushi blue"?

and goes to show you what "I" know about shrimp...nada!

Those two shrimp should be the same. and I think OEBT throw normal tigers as well. Not sure if the liens are stable enough now that they always throw blues.

They are definitely worth checking out, I have been thinking of trying some of Cory's Blue Velvet out but have been too worried that I will just kill them. They are a little pricey to buy not knowing if they will survive or not. I have at least 1 fish in both the tanks in which I keeep shrimp, so there's also the fact that I haven't seen any babies because the fish eat them. I'm thinking I might turn my little 4 gallon cube into a shrimp-only tank and stock it with those or just Red Cherry Shrimp

Shrimp are definitely fun to watch and keep, but I have heard that some are a little more finnicky than many fish as far as water conditions, so just be aware of that

It would definitely be nice to have some little blue shrimp roaming around my tank for the color variety. Too bad I can't tell my neocaridina to not interbreed based on color!

In my experience blue velvets are just as robust as red cherry shrimp, and just as prolific.  Their coloration does vary a bit and they only color up like that "sushi blue" shrimp when they get older.  They'll throw shrimp with some red markings on a fairly regular basis; I've even seen some green ones.  

But they do breed more true than OEBTs (caridina sp.) do - OEBTs throw "blondes" in every batch and they're significantly harder to keep than BVs are.

BVs are derived from "red rilli" which were derived from Taiwan Red shrimp which were derived from Taiwan neocaridina wild type shrimp.  The Taiwan shrimp have more solid coloration in the wild than the wild neo that red cherries were selected from.  There was a recent Amazonas article all bout them

Very cool looking blue shrimp.

I like them!

One day... though I'm looking at getting orange ones.

Well, I have another 20G tank that is empty now and I have a HM filter that could go into it (I understand that those work pretty well with the shrimps). But I know nothing about shrimp. Time to do some studying I think and get shrimpified...yes...

Can someone link me a great shrimp setup and care page or pages?

Shrimp aren't terribly demanding, really.  Planted tanks are definitely good for them - the more surface area the better since they feed on biofilm that grows on tank surfaces.  

I've successfully kept them in tanks with canister filters, hobs, internal filters, power heads, and sponge filters.  The two bonuses of sponge filters (HMFs included of course) are more surface area for bio film and you don't have to worry about a foam or mesh screen on the filter intake to avoid sucking in shrimp.

Above all - no ammonia and no nitrite.  All of my tanks have little to no nitrates on account of plants, so I really couldn't speak to their effect.

Shrimp don't need to eat a lot and they'll thrive just fine on whatever's left over from feeding any fish that might be in the tank.  If they're in a dedicated tank then limit feedings to every 2 or three days - and pull the food out if it isn't eaten within a few hours.

I feed Ken's veggie sticks with calcium and dried nettle leaves in my shrimp-only tanks, but they live off extras in several of my other tanks.

pbmax wrote:BVs are derived from "red rilli" which were derived from Taiwan Red shrimp which were derived from Taiwan neocaridina wild type shrimp.  The Taiwan shrimp have more solid coloration in the wild than the wild neo that red cherries were selected from.  There was a recent Amazonas article all bout them

This is great info, it actually makes me want to find some wild type Taiwan shrimp and start breeding those. Has anyone tried this out or know of anywhere to get some kind of wild caught neocaridina?

It would be sweet to have a big shrimp tank just breeding like crazy with wild shrimp, just waiting for a new color morph to show up so it can be bred out.... although this is way over my head at the moment, it would be a cool thing to strive toward. Are wild-type shrimp available in the hobby, or do the overseas producers only send over the various color morphs?

Wild-type neo are relatively easy to find, but wild-type taiwan neo aren't so much. I haven't ever seen any for sale...

Hmm, shrimp are so confusing, is Taiwan neo a different species? Or just a color morph again?

Also, do you know of any online literature which I could just read to clear this up, so I don't have to clutter up this thread any more than I already have?  

Sorry cichlid-gal!

They're a different variety of the same species - from a different area, as far as I understand.

Grab yourself a copy of the July/Aug 2013 issue of Amazonas and read all about it.  It's a fantastic magazine, really, though not terribly cheap.

It's quite relevant to this discussion as it talks about development of the all blue rilli (blue velvet) shrimp.

LuminousAphid wrote:Hmm, shrimp are so confusing, is Taiwan neo a different species? Or just a color morph again?

Also, do you know of any online literature which I could just read to clear this up, so I don't have to clutter up this thread any more than I already have?  

Sorry cichlid-gal!

Don't worry you are not cluttering up the thread. This is shrimp learnin' so share away and ask away. I'm learnin' right along with you.