Barney Springs Shrimp

[Baccus]

I could have sworn I had already posted some pictures of these guys, but here is a couple of shots I got this afternoon. They have fine spots all over them a lot like C. confusa.

[Squiggle]

Very cool, getting some great shots with the new settings, well done :victorious:

[Baccus]

I finally decided to catch some of the Barney Springs shrimp to take some photos of them from the side rather than just from above since they invariably hide either deep in the thicket of weed or hang out near the surface of the tank but not near the glass. One of the shrimp had quite a greyish/ bluish tinge to it that didn't show up in the pictures while the others had various shades of orange/ yellow. I have not seen any signs of berried females, although that is not really surprising since the tank is 4ft and pretty over grown with plants. But when catching these guys for the photo shoot I did notice that I have smaller (younger?) shrimp and others that I would guess are full grown. The first two picture is once again taken from the surface looking down on the shrimp.

[Squiggle]

Nice shots, awesome looking shrimp too, very cool! :victorious:

[MrShrimp]

Thanks for sharing, I hope you can breed these shrimps soon as they look pretty cool.

[Baccus]

Thanks, I am mainly chuffed that they are still alive after a long road trip home and then adjusting to totally new water parameters. The real test will be how they handle our summer but at least that's a few months away and they should have plenty of time to acclimatise to the gradually warming days.

[ineke]

They just seem to get better and better:)

[northboy]

Mine are both colours to and when we caught them there was the two colours, I was going to say Males Blue and Females Red, but in you last shot there is a Blue Female up the side of the class, or at least it looks Female? I have one carrying eggs I will have to take closer notice.

Good shots at least people are getting to see them.

Bob

[Baccus]

I would like to know why the ones that where lower down / closer to the first pond where so dark. It doesn't appear to be a response to predators, unless these shrimp just don't view cory catfish, Borneo Suckers and threadfin rainbows as threats. Unless its to do with the light, because lower down it was more shaded by the large trees and the jammed timber (stick) piles where pretty dark. So maybe its just a surroundings thing. The two main plants these guys like to hide/ feed in (aside from a huge java fern) gets reddish leaves one when its leaf is old the and the other when its got new growth. So perhaps these guys are just trying to blend in with the plants with their golden colours, they certainly can be incredibly hard to spot.

[Baccus]

Just wanted to add a new picture of these shrimp. Some of them are getting a faint banding across their backs but the spots are still the dominate feature.

[Baccus]

So today I decided to do a major overhaul on my cory/ Borneo sucker and Barney spring shrimp tank (yep they all live together and it seems to suit them all fine), since it was so over grown and it looked like there was no fish in there only plants. I did my usual habit of putting all plants and things in a separate bucket of water after giving them a good swish about in the tank, and still found some hitch hiker Barney Springs shrimp in the buckets of weed when I had finished putting the plants back into the tank. While doing the water change I decided to catch as many of the Barney Springs shrimp as possible, partially because I wasn't sure how many where still in the tank. The good news is I still have quite a lot from just the ones I was able to hunt down and actually catch. I even found at least one female shrimp that has a saddle so hopefully that means they are breeding or about to start. The tank has been running pretty cool (possibly down to 16degree cel some days/ nights through winter but getting up to 22 degrees cel on warmer winter days), throughout winter. I also noticed even the biggest of these I guess female shrimp are still quite a bit smaller than adult cherry shrimp. I will be interested in seeing if in time with tank breeding these shrimp get to a slightly bigger size. Last time I "attacked" the tank I came across a bluish shrimp as well as orange ones, this time I only located orange or extremely pale yellow ones, although I have seen one in the tank that looked to be developing some faint barring across its back. These shrimp seem to adore roots of plants like java fern and timber, well that seems to be where they can always be found in my tank at any rate. Also they don't tend to come out when treats of food are put in the tank, its either just not worth the effort (what they currently find suits them), or they just don't trust my corydoras catfish. Anyway here is some pics I took last time of the shrimp, I haven't taken any this time round because the water is still murky after the overhaul. And there is also one riffle shrimp in with these guys, I must have caught him at the rapids between ponds at Barney Springs, he seems happy enough in the tank with the other shrimp and fish..... well he hasn't wondered off at least.

[ineke]

great stuff Baccus at least they are all still nice and healthy for you:encouragement:

[Baccus]

Amazingly these guys seem to be doing well in this tank, while the zebra shrimp never thrived. But summer will be the greatest test. When the tank gets up over 30 degrees for days on end. Managed to get some photos of these guys, although they aren't usually too interested in prepared foods, before I gave them an algea wafer and they went nuts for it. Leaves off trees I think is also the trick for these guys. I often have mulberry leaves and or IAL as well as icecream bean tree leaves in the tank which they seem to really like.

[Squiggle]

Awesome pics Baccus, they look happy & healthy, good luck for summer, hope everything goes well :victorious:

[northboy]

I have been treating mine like KRAP and have not lose one, so they are WAY tougher than Zebs, so my guess is they will go through summer AOK

If you get young ones you will beat my, good on you. These are one of the ones I think are going to lead the way with new colours for the Australian hobby.

Talking Ben Fishmosy to Barney spring tonight and we are just about to leave to go to Zebra country and Ben has taken lots of photos for all to see

Bob

[Baccus]

I may have already beaten you to the punch line of breeding these guys Bob, but I can not be 100% sure. Its not like I have seen any sign of shrimplets but after catching the bulk of the shrimp yesterday I did see some obviously sub adult shrimp in the pack. So I am not sure if they bred in the tank or if they are still juvi's growing up from the April expedition. The tank has been running cool all winter so that would slow down their growth and possibly any breeding. I will have to wait till summer when the tank temp naturally rises to see if I can spy any obvious signs of them breeding. What temp are your ones living at Bob? I am tempted to catch a couple and put them in with my other caridina species from the NT which is a much warmer tank then all my other ones. I don't know if these guys would or could breed with the blackmores or chamealons but it would open up a world of possibilities colourwise if they did cross.

[northboy]

They wont cross with the others and the closest at the moment is Zebs, as for temp ? out side LOL, Try them in a warmer tank and see.

Bob

[Baccus]

I made a more determined effort today to A thin some of the wild jungle in my cory tank currently housing my Barney Springs shrimp, and B try to locate any shrimplets or at least the adults. I never see them so I wasn't sure if they where even still doing well. Turns out the little dears had just found an even better hidey hole on another lump of timber that has narrow leafed java fern on it as well as moss and algea. The exciting thing I did discover was at least one shrimplet . Sadly he did the bolt before I could get my camera, but I figure where there is one there should be more.

So instead of some happy snaps of the shrimplet, will just have to make do with some of the adults as they began getting back out of the temp holding net I had them in while mucking about with the water and plants.

These guys seem to have a bit of chameleon abilities about them, since when I first caught them this morning there where some showing a rusty red colour, but after being in the holding net they dropped the redness and went back to clear or very pale almost yellow.

[Squiggle]

Awesome stuff, you're definitely starting to lead the way with breeding native shrimp, well done! :victorious: