Indian dwarf shrimp?

JK · Post by JK » Sat Oct 14, 2006 8:16 am

Finally managed to get a decent picture of my Sri Lankan shrimps.

They look very similar to Mustafa's Indian dwarf shrimps on the shrimp varieties page.

I love the green polka dots

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 8:36 am

Very nice, the green dots really stand out

! How many do you have and where do you keep them/it?

JK · Post by JK » Sat Oct 14, 2006 8:56 am

Hi Neonshrimp,

These are the ones I have had for about 5 years now. They have always been kept in the same 30 x 20 x 20cm tank.

I only have about a dozen adults, with I guess 20 or so tiny ones now mixed in. I think the reason they have never increased further has something to do with the box filter I'm using. Tiny shrimps can certainly find their way in, but I'm not sure they can get back out. Anyway I'm now maturing a new sponge filter and will soon remove the box one.

Post by **Mustafa** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 9:15 am

Nice shrimp. I don't think I have seen this variety before. What I had listed as "Indian dwarf shrimp" turned out to be a mixture of shrimp from India anyway, but this one was not among them. Are you sure these guys are from Sri Lanka? If so, then they might be one of the endemic species there.

Are the dots on the shrimp recognizable with the naked eye. I'm just asking because I have a shrimp species here that displays wonderful neon blue dots on pictures but you can't really see the dots when you look at the shrimp directly (it has an olive green).

JK · Post by JK » Sat Oct 14, 2006 2:24 pm

Hi Mustafa

Yes these were definitely imported from Sri Lanka, they were simply listed as green Sri Lankan shrimp.

I deliberately chose that pic because its the closest to nature. With flash photography its possible to make them look almost fluorescent. In darker females like this one the spots are clearly visible to the naked eye. This is even though the largest individuals are only a maximum of 20mm
Base colour does vary from olive to greenish to the one above. The olive ones do have the spots, but without the contrast, therefore they are not so noticeable.
I also get the occasional albino looking one with green eyes, but these have no visible spots, to the naked eye that is. If they are a new species it may explain why they have never grown beyond 20mm.

They seem to be quite rare, being only available twice over the last five years.

This is one of the olive females.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 2:40 pm

I wish we had these shrimp widely available in the US as you do in the UK. Again, great picture of a beautiful shrimp JK.

The Fisherman · Post by **The Fisherman** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 6:10 pm

Wow, nice shrimp. Very cool.

Thanks for posting the pictures.

-John

Post by **Mustafa** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 9:42 pm

JK wrote:They seem to be quite rare, being only available twice over the last five years.

So, get cranking on these shrimp and build up that population!

We need to work on establishing pretty much every shrimp species that gets imported in the hobby as you never when they will get imported again or if they will even survive in nature. Many of these species are rare in their biotopes to begin with. And once you have enough you can exchange with hobbyists across the atlantic.

This would be a great shrimp to add to the hobby.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 8:18 am

Hi Neonshrimp,

These are the ones I have had for about 5 years now.

Are you saying you have had the individual shrimp for 5 year?!

If, so these shrimp have a pretty long life span compare to most of the other dwarf shrimp! Are all shrimp from Sri Lanka this long lived?

JK · Post by JK » Sun Oct 15, 2006 1:15 pm

I actually have no idea how long any individual shrimp has lived.

What I can say is they are not very productive. For a very small shrimp they have rather large eggs, but sadly this seems to mean there are less of them.

This pic should give you some idea. Just caught her cleaning them.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 1:43 pm

I see what you mean, the eggs are large but I can only count about 7

At least they are still reproducing for you

JK · Post by JK » Sun Oct 15, 2006 1:58 pm

I think a dozen of so is about the maximum.

When I have a spare tank, I think I'll try and separate the darkest female.
Who knows, in time it may be possible to select a near black shrimp with those polka dots.

Nice thought anyway.

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 2:33 pm

Who needs red colored Shrimp.

When you have a Shrimp that looks like that, solid colored Shrimp have nothing on this Shrimp.

JK
I hope you can keep them breeding.

This may be a dumb question, Where is Sri Lanka ?

John

The Fisherman · Post by **The Fisherman** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 2:48 pm

Newjohn wrote: This may be a dumb question, Where is Sri Lanka ?

John

A quote from Wikipedia:

is an island nation in South Asia, located about 31 kilometres (18½ mi) off the southern coast of India.

-John

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 2:51 pm

The Fisherman
Thank You for the information.

That will have to go in,
The Great Big Book of Everything.

Sorry, My children have me watching to many Cartons.

John