Jump to content

New Caledonia south


Damien

Recommended Posts

Hey guys,

Here are some pics of some shrimp from the south of New Caledonia.

The HC 'Cuba' give you an idea of their size. 

Thank you @Matuva for the plants ;-)

_DSC3670.JPG

_DSC3673.JPG

_DSC3684.JPG

_DSC3691.JPG

_DSC3700.JPG

_DSC3720.JPG

_DSC3724.JPG

_DSC3733.JPG_DSC3747.JPG

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is some amazing shrimp.

 

@Damien, do you have any idea what they are called? Scientific name Or Common name?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Beautiful shrimp and fantastic photos. Are they all the same species or is there at least two different species? Did you collect them yourself or buy them?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry for the late reply.

Thank you for your compliment.

@jayc and @Baccus
About the species, I think there is 2 species in those pictures.
Short rostrum should be Paratya caledonica
And the long rostrum Paratya intermedia

I collect them by myself. Done a selection, there are a lot of differents patterns/colors in those 2 species

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure how I missed this topic, those are indeed stunning photos. Imagine the selective breeding potential.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've read a lot of article lately on selective breeding. Those species must be good candidates to that practise. 
But I'm struggle just to get them breed. Have to find the good parameters...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Good luck with the shrimp Damien and thanks for sharing the beautiful images. I was excited when matuva joined our community and it's great to have another New Caledonian with us. A late welcome from me. 

When I visited your beautiful country several years ago I tried to research the freshwater inverts beforehand but couldn't find any information. It's been trickling through more recently and it's awesome to see that you do have the diversity I expected. I hope you have plans to get out collecting more native species. Why don't you show us what's around in the North Province? 

cheers 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 23/07/2016 at 0:27 AM, kizshrimp said:

Good luck with the shrimp Damien and thanks for sharing the beautiful images. I was excited when matuva joined our community and it's great to have another New Caledonian with us. A late welcome from me. 

When I visited your beautiful country several years ago I tried to research the freshwater inverts beforehand but couldn't find any information. It's been trickling through more recently and it's awesome to see that you do have the diversity I expected. I hope you have plans to get out collecting more native species. Why don't you show us what's around in the North Province? 

cheers 

Thank you kizshrimp for your message. Yes Matuva is a friend ;-)

Yes, New Cal is full of endemic species. 
Each species seems to have some coloration differences depending on the rivers. So have a lot to learn. I have explore a lot of rivers in the south. 
East coast is where there is the most diversity but it's several hours drive. 
My plan is to succeed to breed some species of the south then I'll explore farther on the east cost.
Just had my first berried Paratya two weeks ago ;-)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really do like the shrimp you have managed to collect, and by the looks of it they carry some great potential.

I might have some ideas on getting them to successfully breed for you.

One would be to try them in a large planted outdoor tub of water matching as closely as possible the water paramaters you found the parents in. Testing for gH and pH will go a long way in helping with this, also check the types of stones, amount of leaf litter and plants in the area you found the shrimp. Was the water flowing or stagnant or where the shrimp hidden away in out of flow areas prefer gentle water movement?

Just looking at the IUCN Red List it is possible that the Paratya caledonica species will require a brackish or full salt stage in its youngs development. So perhaps reading up on the progress people have made with using green water and stages of brackish to breed/ produce typhus and Amano shrimp will be helpful.

With my native shrimp I have followed the very sound advice of Dave and ensure that there is plenty of mulm in the tank for the shrimp to pick through while adding things like mulberry leaves and Indian Almond leaves for the tannins and extra food sources. I also feed them a variety of shrimp and fish foods. But the main thing that Dave advised was to pre-age any water that is going into the shrimp tank. This generally involves having a suitably sized tub filled with town tap water, with chlorine and chloramine remover added and leaving the water to sit for at least a week to age nicely. Dave always suggest age it in the sun but I find doing it in my shed where the tanks are works well enough. When adding the water conditioner I also run an airstone for a few hours to help mix the whole lot around.

The Paratya caledonica look remarkably similar to the shrimp that I once had from Barney Springs in the hinterlands behind Cairns in far north Queensland.

Best of luck and I really hope you do crack breeding these shrimp.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you @Baccus for your entry. A lot of advice in this post!

Those shrimp come from a clear fast flowing river. And they prefer to stay in gentle water movement area. 
Next time I'll visit them, i'll take some pictures of them, so you'll have a better view.

I'm sure the ones i've collected are doing their entire cycle in freshwater. There's a dam in the river with no way to pass it. So it should be easier to breed them.
I've made a lot of research on breeding caridina japonica just in case.

I only clean the front glass of my aquarium now so larvae should find some food.

Thank you for the pre-age tip! Just started doing it last week. I was just putting some
 chlorine and chloramine remover 10min before filling my tank. It should be better now.


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most of the fully freshwater Paratya populations I've seen in southern Australia still have a tiny planktonic larval stage, including fully landlocked populations in lakes. They're incredibly difficult to raise deliberately, ie in numbers. I've only ever found one population with direct-developing larvae. 

It will be interesting to see how the NC species go! 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Just wondered if there where any updates on these lovely shrimp?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Yep, I have some very interesting specimen to show you!
I'm thinking about doing a photoshoot the coming week :)

On 02/08/2016 at 5:08 PM, Kaylenna said:

Are these ever available for sale??

No. 
I first need to be succesfull at making a strong population.
Then I need to obtain a permission from the government to export them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 02/08/2016 at 4:08 PM, Kaylenna said:

 

Are these ever available for sale??

 

You DO realise Damien is in New Caledonia,  don't you? 

Getting it into the country will be illegal. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, jayc said:

You DO realise Damien is in New Caledonia,  don't you? 

Getting it into the country will be illegal. 

Yes, I'd noted his location.  I've actually been there for a few days (but before I started this current shrimp binge, so it hadn't occurred to me to peer into their streams). 

I was more hoping they were already in AU/ there are similar AU native species.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't know if these are available in Aus. Our natives are not as colourful. Unless they are well hidden and no one has caught one yet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Here is a full picture of my aquarium :
_DSC2672.JPG

Aquarium size : 20L
Pressurized CO2 to keep the Ph around 7
TDS : 120
The aquarium temperature is between 25-26°C all day long (thinks to my DIY chiller)
GH and KH around 5

I just clean the front glass every week. All the others are mulm culture :)
I always use aged water (1week or more) during water change.
I'm monitoring TDS and Nitrate to see if a water change is needed.

I have shrimplet now, they are less than 1 week old. Didn't get a chance to take a shot of them yet.

One of my new shrimp (sorry for the bad pic, need to take a decent shot of such a beauty) :
_DSC2666.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 28/10/2016 at 6:20 PM, Damien said:

One of my new shrimp (sorry for the bad pic, need to take a decent shot of such a beauty) :
_DSC2666.JPG

Looks almost like a Crystal Red.

 

Wow, New Caledonia sure has a lot of nice native shrimp.

That could be my next holiday destination.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder if because New Caledonia is basically on our doorstep and that there is a good chance of any larval young species of shrimp making their way over to Australia in ocean currents any way, if the government would be any more lenient on letting in New Caledonia species of shrimp?

Bob was often finding interesting things up around Cairns and further North (also the Gulf) so I really would not be surprised if there is some similar stunning shrimp in our waterways, but because of the lack of easy access, nasty water inhabitants (yes crocs) and annoying weather conditions (its either too dry and creeks are dwindled to next to nothing or everything is flooded in the wet season) it would be very easy to miss something as small as a shrimp especially if all your interested in is edible sized fish in far off locations. Plenty of people I know at work can not understand the fascination I have for shrimp, native snails and small native fish, they think the only "useful" things our waterways hold are Barra, Golden Perch or even Jungle Perch, and the odd Red Claw.

I am really enjoying seeing your native shrimp and wish you the best of luck with breeding them all, I also look forwards to seeing any more native snails you might stumble across.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Baccus, always a pleasure to read you.
I have follow your tips. Here is the result :
_DSC2798.JPG

Can you see the eggs? :) Fully developed in my aquarium. Have this shrimp for a month now, spotted the eggs a couple of days ago.

I have 2 new snail species too. Didn't take good pics of them yet.

Here are some other pics :
_DSC2775.JPG_DSC2766.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's great to see that they are breeding, by the looks of the size of the eggs the young should be able to be raised in a fresh water tank. From memory a rough rule of thumb is large eggs = breedable in fresh water small eggs often indicates larval and possibly brackish stages.

It will be great to see if the babies turn out having similar markings to the parents or if being in a tank situation they tend to take on certain colours/ patterns.

Really taken by the gold flecks on the chocolate coloured shrimp and the one that is so similar to a crystal red.

I can see that with so many potentially amazingly coloured/ patterned shrimp you could fill a house with tanks, keeping each creek systems particular variants separate from each other to keep their lines pure. Much like with Rainbow fish and some species of Blue Eye.

Man you make me wish I didn't have to spend my days at boring old work, I would much rather being out exploring waterways and seeing if there is any shrimp or snails compariable to your native beauties. I am sure that some where in our creeks there is going to be some amazing critters secretly going about their lives, there just hasn't been enough investigations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Join Our Community!

    Register today, ask questions and share your shrimp and fish tank experiences with us!

  • Must Read SKF Articles

  • Posts

    • beanbag
      Update to say that after a few gravel vacs, front wall scrub, moss / floating plant trim, that the condition seems to have improved.  My current theory is that it is due to waste / debris management, where "stuff" like that brown mulm accumulates in the substrate and behind the HMF filters.  Maybe some tanks can somehow deal with it, but mine can't.  Also another experienced shrimper suggested that maybe those "shell bugs" don't just live on the shrimps but also in this debris.  Maybe this is the reason some tanks fail due to "old tank syndrome" where all they need is a good gravel vac? Also, I am guessing that plant trim helps too because now more of the nutrients and light go into growing algae instead of more plants? Well anyway for this tank I will try weekly water change and monthly gravel vac / plant trim.  For my next tank, I'm thinking of something like an under-gravel system where this mulm can fall down and I vac it out.
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Good to have an update and good to hear you are getting shrimplets, so hopefully your colony will continue and you may not get to the point where you have to cull some to stop over population. These type of shrimp only live 12 - 18 months so the adult deaths may be natural? If you have the time I would do weekly 25% water changes, adding the new water via a drip system and do some vacuuming clean of the substrate each week, even if only a different bit each week! See if that helps in a few months and if it does then stick with that regime? It should help reduce any build-ups that may be occuring!
    • beanbag
      Hello again, much belated update: The tank still has "cycles" of 1-2 month "good streaks" where everybody seems to be doing well, and then a bad streak where the short antenna problem shows up again, and a shrimp dies once every few days.  I am not sure what causes things to go bad, but usually over the course of a few days I will start to see more shrimp quietly standing on the HMF filter, and so I know something is wrong.  Since I am not "doing anything" besides the regular 1-2 week water changes, I just assume that something bad is building up.  Here's a list of things that I've tried that are supposed to be "can't hurt" but didn't prevent the problem either: Dose every other day with Shrimp Fit (very small dose, and the shrimp seem to like it) Sotching Oxydator Seachem Purigen to keep the nitrates lower Keeping the pH below 5.5 with peat Things that I don't do often, so could possibly "reset" the tank back to a good streak, are gravel vac and plant trim, so maybe time to try those again. One other problem I used to have was that sometimes a shrimp would suddenly stop eating with a full or partially full digestive tract that doesn't clear out, and then the shrimp will die within a few days.  I suspected it was one of the foods in my rotation - Shrimp Nature Infection, which contains a bunch of herbal plant things.  I've had this in my food rotation for a few years now and generally didn't seem to cause problems, but I removed it from the rotation anyway.  I don't have a lot of adult Golden Bees at this point so I can't really tell if it worked or not. Overall the tank is not too bad - during the good streaks occasionally a shrimp will get berried and hatch babies with a 33-50% survival rate.  So while there are fewer adults now, there are also a bunch of babies roaming around.  I guess this tank will stagger on, but I really do need to take the time to start up a new tank.  (or figure out the problem)
    • jayc
      If that is the offspring, then the parents are unlikely to be PRL. I tend to agree with you. There are very few PRLs in Australia. And any that claim to be needs to show proof. PRL genes have to start as PRL. CRS that breed true after x generations doesn't turn it into a PRL. Neither can a Taiwan bee shrimp turn into a PRL despite how ever many generations. I've never seen a PRL with that sort of red colour. I have on Red Wines and Red Shadows - Taiwan bee shrimps. So somewhere down the line one of your shrimp might have been mixed with Taiwan bees and is no longer PRL. It just tanks one shrimp to mess up the genes of a whole colony. 
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Sorry, missed this one somehow! The PRL look fantastic and the odd ones look part PRL and part Red wine/Red shadow in the colour. They are still very beautiful but ideally should be seperated to help keep the PRL clean if you can do that.  Nice clear photos!
×
×
  • Create New...