Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

About 6 or 8 weeks ago I got in on some of Mustafa's first available Malawa Shrimp (Caridina pareparensis parvidentata) These shrimp were imported from Malawa Spring in Sulawesi by Mustafa and there is more info here, http://www.petshrimp.com/malawashrimp.html



I have these shrimp in a very well matured 10 gallon tank with a single AZOO 3 sopnge filter and some moss. Water parameters are PH-8.0 with temp around 78 degrees F. TDS 220ppm last measurement. Substrate nis fluorite and black gravel of some sort. Also I use lava rock in my shrimp tanks to give bio film more area to colonize. I have found keeping these shrimp so far to be the same as with any of my other species and I feed them the same as well.

One neat thing is these shrimp behave somewhat differently than most other species I keep in that they are very active not only foraging and picking at the substrate, but also swimming around the tank. It is interesting to watch as they lazily sort of swim/float about the tank. My Sri lanka as well as some of my as yet unidentified Sulawesi species also show this behavior more often than other more common shrimp in the hobby.

On the 16th of November I noticed a saddled female among the 20 shrimp in the tank and to be honest was surprised by this since these shrimp are only around one half inch in size at this time.



This morning I was doing my usual weekend work in the shrimp room when a odd looking Malawa caught my eye... BERRIED she is and what a great thing to see for a full fledged shrimp nerd!



So now I am counting days and as long as all goes well soon little Malawa Shrimp will be joining the originals... I will add more info as I gather it, but I am surprised by one thing. I was originally attracted to these shrimp due to their blue color in the photos at the varieties page here at PetShrimp, but my shrimp are showing reddish hues as well as some bluish. I am now very curious to see the coloring as adults.

Thanks for the information and nice photos Bill. Congratulations, it is good to hear about your success with these shrimp.

I will add more info as I gather it, but I am surprised by one thing. I was originally attracted to these shrimp due to their blue color in the photos at the varieties page here at PetShrimp, but my shrimp are showing reddish hues as well as some bluish. I am now very curious to see the coloring as adults.

I too am curious and look forward to hearing more about you experiences.

Thanks for your initial report. These shrimp, like many other wild shrimp, can take on all kinds of colors and hues depending on the background, mood and other environmental factors. In many tanks these shrimp display bright white stripes, not just faint ones. In others they become extremey dark with a pitch black band on their sides. The more pictures people take of these shrimp and post them, the more we will see about their color changing abilities.

By the way..I did not import them from Sulawesi directly. Another German hobbyist is responsible for that. I just introduced them to the North American hobby.

I see I misunderstood and thought you had been able to collect them. I sure would love to visit Sulawesi to see the amazing variety of shrimp and other inverts myself one day.....

I'm so excited that Mustafa has these available at this time in the PetShrimp.com Store - just placed my order, very excited and hope mine breed!

Thanks to Mustafa!

My Malawa shrimp shipped today.