The Store is OPEN!

Just wanted to announce that the store is now open!

TheShrimpFarm.com currently has the following shrimp for sale:

• Crystal Red Shrimp (Hino Grade)
• Golden Bee Shrimp
• Yellow Shrimp
• Tiger Shrimp
• Red Cherry Shrimp

Head on over to The Dwarf Shrimp Store and get yours now!

In an attempt to explain some of the blue colored shrimp being sold in the hobby recently an experienced shrimp keeper came up with the following hypothesis:

“What differentiates most of our aquariums from the actual streams, creeks, and puddles our shrimp live in naturally? Heaters of course, DUH. What occurs naturally over the year in most places? Seasons with temperature changes… DUH.

What produces intense dark coloration in many shrimp that last for life? Cold water.

What have I done this with? Cherry shrimp, repeatedly, and never made the comparison to the purple toned cherries I’ve had in the past to blueberry shrimp. This is also because I believe that each year the seasonal changes are required to enforce the color change.”

My Thoughts:

The Neocaridina heteropoda (wild form of Red Cherry Shrimp) comes from South China and Taiwan. This area is Sub-Tropical and does not have seasons in the way that most American States have. The average highest air temperature is right at 90 and the lowest is just above 50.

The 50 degree temperatures are only experienced late at night and do not last long. This climate leads to fairly stable water temperatures with a summer average and winter average water temperatures only being about 15 degrees different.

None of my aquariums have heaters in them. I have the fortune to live in Central Florida where my average temperatures are very similar to that of Taiwan. It gets a little hotter here and also a little cooler, but because of this stable temperature range I have never had a need for aquarium heaters.

My aquariums tend to run 10-15 degrees cooler in the winter than in the summer (just like the air temps in my house). I have never noticed any difference in color in any of my shrimp during winter.

What causes the colors?

I am a firm believer that any shrimp that is caught in the wild that has a blue color that does not pass to its F1 offspring is caused by a food source available in the wild that is not replicated in captivity.

What are your thoughts?

It has been recently brought to my attention that most (if not all) species of Dwarf Shrimp are illegal in the state of Maine. But why and should they be?

Why?

The State of Maine has a very strict rule that does not allow any non-native species to be imported until it has been proven to be non-harmful to the native species.

I whole heartily agree with this stance, but what I don’t agree with is there is no real process to get non-natives approved. There is a shortage of staff and the staff that works for the Fish and Wildlife division are already overworked. So Dwarf Shrimp are not to be likely to be approved any time soon.

Should they Be?

Short answer is NO! Most Dwarf Shrimp that are kept in the aquarium hobby will not survive the cold experienced most months in Maine. They are also not suited for the wild because of their bright colors would allow predators to find them rather quickly.

BUT, they do need to be proven to be safe!

So, is Maine over restrictive, in my opinion they are not! But what they are is inflexible due to lack of resources!

Yahoo News has recently posted an article about “King Kong Shrimp” and how expensive they are in Japan. The article doesn’t really go into much depth about the shrimp, other than it has a short life span and it is difficult to breed successfully, but it did mention many times how much the shrimp costs.

Article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091106/lf_nm_life/us_taiwan_shrimp

King Kong Shrimp Info:

The King Kong Shrimp is a selectively bred strain of the Bee Shrimp (Caridina cf. cantonenis) that has been bred to be almost pure black. The reason they are difficult to breed is because they have been so highly selectively bred causing genetic issues.

What do you think of the King Kong Shrimp? Would you pay thousands of dollars for a shrimp?

As the Dwarf Shrimp hobby continues to grow more and more people are becoming interested in the hobby. I have noticed that many people in Puerto Rico have started to collect some of their native species, and they are blessed with some great looking species there!

Some of the shrimp being collected are Filter Feeding Shrimp, some are Caridina looking shrimp (there are no native Caridina spp. in this area but many look very similar) and there are some strikingly colored shrimp as well.

I am guessing that many of these shrimp have a larval stage based on their proximity to the ocean. While this can be a problem when it comes time to breeding the shrimp for distribution into the hobby, it will only help perfect the techniques required to do so!

As more shrimp are collected and described it will only help the hobby grow. An exciting time!

Have you ever collected native species?