Nice, large female with light green eggs. Some young can be seen in the foreground.
A female with dark green eggs.
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Common Name: |
Sri Lanka Dwarf Shrimp |
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Scientific Name: |
Caridina simoni |
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Size: |
2.5-3cm |
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Temperature: |
tropical species, best kept at 72°F-82°F |
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Food: |
Algae, fish food (flake, pellets etc.) |
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Origin: |
Sri Lanka |
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Larval Development Type: |
Abbreviated: Larval planktonic stage only lasts a few days (maybe even only a few hours) before larvae metamorphose into post-larvae (miniature shrimp) and assume a benthic lifestyle. C. simoni simoni larvae do *not* need brackish water for this process and develop into post-larvae and adult shrimp in complete freshwater. |
This shrimp is one of my favorite shrimp. It is an extremely lively shrimp zipping around the tank and not behaving shy at all. They are constantly picking at algae all day long. Their coloration is usually transparent with or without a line down their back, but they can be variable in color with hues of different colors showing up in various shrimp. When the females are carrying eggs, they look especially nice, since the eggs are varsious shades of green, yellow or brown in a see through body. Although there are more colorful shrimp out there, this shrimp is highly recommended because of its interesting and active behaviors. This species can be distinguished easily from many other shrimp species by the fact that it has a very curved back as opposed to the more or less straight back of most Caridina species.
Sri Lanka dwarf shrimp breed readily and prolifically in home aquaria. Water parameters are not important as long as you have clean, dechlorinated tap water and a cycled and *mature* tank I keep and breed them in San Diego tap water, which is probably the hardest, highest TDS water anywhere in the country. Although they produce very large larvae at a very advanced state of larval development, the vast majority of hobbyists will not notice any offspring until they see tiny, fully developed shrimp walking around in their tanks. The larvae usually do not float around in the water column, but sit on objects in the tank until they morph into postlarvae (= tiny, almost fully developed shrimp). They are very difficult to observe. The larvae do not need any special care or food. For all practical purposes this shrimp can be bred just like shrimp with direct development (= suppressed larval development type) such as the red cherry shrimp.
The Sri Lanka dwarf shrimp was brought back to Germany from Sri Lanka by German hobbyists only a few years ago, and was very successful in finding a home in shrimp and planted aquaria there. I have been making this shrimp available to the public in North America on a periodic basis since 2005.
The Sri Lanka dwarf shrimp will not interbreed with any other shrimp in the hobby.
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