Jump to content

Tiger shrimp confusion


Recommended Posts

Good morning all,

 

I am new to this (forum and shrimp keeping) and this is my first post! Thought I would start off by clarifying some of my confusion about tiger shrimp. I was initially under the impression the tiger shrimp was a Caridina Cantonesis shrimp (along with Bee and Crystal shrimp). If I am not mistaken that is the case with all tiger shrimp except tangerine tigers who are Caridina Serreta? Recently I have found some information online that said tiger shrimp are Caridina Mariae instead and are different than Caridina Cantonesis. 

 

On a separate note is there a simple explanation for the different between different tiger types, like Royal vs Fancy. 

I don’t even know where to start to figure this out, it’s hard finding this information online. Any help would be much appreciated!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Mdindy said:

Recently I have found some information online that said tiger shrimp are Caridina Mariae instead and are different than Caridina Cantonesis.

Your initial impression that Tigers are Cantonesis might be because they were all classed under this name a long time ago. Recently, (I say recent, but it has actually been 5+ years now), evidence has shown that Tigers are a different sub species and therefore given a new scientific name of Caridina Mariae. 

 

10 hours ago, Mdindy said:

different between different tiger types, like Royal vs Fancy. 

I'll try to give you an simple explanation.

 

Fancy tigers are hybrids. The term "fancy" is just given as a name to indicate that the Tiger has been breed with another species to produce a different pattern. It started with crossing Crystal Red Shrimps(CRS) and Orange Eye Blue Tiger(OEBT). And has now evolved to crossing with a Taiwan bee to produce a splotchy pattern. You can get a variety of colour like Red, or Black Fancy tigers being the most common. They are still essentially Tibees. But they have a distinct splotchy pattern.

Fancy_Tiger_Black_1024x1024@2x.png?v=1537414760

Red Fancy Tiger Shrimp (end 12/7/2020 12:15 PM)

You still get the distinct tiger stripes but they are a lot fancier in colouring.

Compare this to the original tiger shrimp Caridina Mariae below ...

Supertiger, Caridina mariae var supertiger orangetail ...

 

This one below is of an extremely high quality Fancy Tiger. Full colouration, no clear spots. The lines between red and white are clean and crisp, no blending of colours. The red and white colours are rich and intense. Legs are also coloured in red and not clear. This one is almost certainly a PRL cross Tiger.

Hidden Gems by KK Lam - MADSHRIMP

 

 

Blue Tigers are a bit easier to explain.

Royal Blue is a colour variation name. It's just a name to distinguish it from the normal Blue tiger.

Blue Tigers are ... blue with the trademark tiger stripes.

Royal Blue as an extremely dark blue colouration, the stripes almost disappear in the intense dark blue.

 

Pictures speak a thousand words ...

"Normal" Blue tiger.

Blue Tiger Shrimp Information | Aquatic Mag

 

VS

Royal Blue

Royal blue tiger shrimp | Aquariums and natural habitats ...

 

 

Anytime you hear of a term added before the name of the shrimp, its usually a colour variation.

Hope that helps.

Edited by jayc
  • Like 3
  • Thanks 1
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

    • 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!
    • GtWalker97
      Hi SKF!   So I bought some PRL (or at least they were sold as such. These claims are dubious in Australia as people don't know much about the genetics, nor do they care as long as they can make a quick buck). After 8 generations of breeding true, I'm having around 1 in 200 throw a much darker red. They almost look like Red Shadows, but I don't know too much about those types of hybrid. Can anyone help with ID'ing the gene?   TIA (First 2 pics are the weird throws, second photo is their siblings and the last photo is the parents)
×
×
  • Create New...