Having trouble finding info for Cardinia sp WA4, North Australian Chameleon shrimp

[Jenbenwren]

Hi everyone,

I'm a noob and I'm setting up my first ever shrimp tank to save my Red Cherry's, which I was told would be fine in our community tank with guppy's, ppfff yeah right. I've got a 61cm l x 46cm w x 36cm h tank, 4+Kg of fluval shrimp stratum, a sponge filter, an internal corner filter (until I can find something that's cheap & takes less space), heater, and lots of plants and driftwood and other odds and ends. I recently spotted some pics of a native purple Chameleon shrimp and I would like to put them in with my Red Cherry's, if they do well in the same conditions and won't cross breed (Idon't think they can). The first things I'd like to find out are:- the water parameters for these guys, where I can find more info about looking after and breeding them, if there is anything different they like to eat or have added to the tank, and is it possible to purchase only or mostly purples?

Thank you in advance everyone :-)

[Baccus]

The reason that they are called chameleons is because they do just that, change colour all the time, so even if you did find some mostly purple chameleons they will not stay that colour. If you put them with red cherries (and provided the chameleons are happy about the water chemistry) then the chameleons will most likely be red to blend in with the crowd or some dark colour to blend in with a preferred hiding spot they have found.

You can put chameleons in with cherry shrimp and you are right they can not cross breed, however don't expect the chameleons to really thrive with the cherry's. Cherry shrimp are much bigger than chameleons and more robust in an aquarium environment. Also it is strongly suggested that any water to be used in a tank containing chameleons be aged in advance. Chameleons will not do well if you do water changes straight from a tap and then add some declorinator as an after thought. I always age any water going into my native tank for at least 4 hrs (but usually at least a day) with declorinator and an airstone bubbling away, but the longer you can pre-age the water the better.

Food wise chameleons will happily except most prepared fish foods, be it tropical flakes, sinking pellets, or algae wafers. But the main thing they are going to want to nibble on is tree leaves and the preferred type is Indian Almond, they will also eat mulberry and Ice cream bean leaves.

I was sure I had seen somewhere the preferred pH, gH and temp for these guys but I cant find it right now.

[Jenbenwren]

Thank you.

I thought that might be the case with their colors. I would still like to add them or set up a native tank for them in the future. If I came across them first I would've gone for them instead of the RCS.

I searched for over an hour but didn't have any luck other than for Zebras, (are they the ones with purple stripes?), and their tds didn't overlap with RCS.

[fishmosy]

Thank you.

I thought that might be the case with their colors. I would still like to add them or set up a native tank for them in the future. If I came across them first I would've gone for them instead of the RCS.

I searched for over an hour but didn't have any luck other than for Zebras' date=' (are they the ones with purple stripes?), and their tds didn't overlap with RCS.[/quote']

Zebras are black and white striped. They require really low TDS and are definitely not suitable for use with RCS.

[Jenbenwren]

Thanks :-),

I did see pics and some info the other day of a dwarf shrimp that was white with purple stripes and it was some sort of Zebra shrimp, can't remember where it was from though.

[Baccus]

I believe Northboy (Bob) was breeding some blue and white zebras, so that may have been what you saw.

I love the zebras but they really are a specialised type of shrimp.

[Jenbenwren]

From what I've read they sound it. But I would love to give the Purple Zebra a go if it ever becomes available here, once I have a lot more experience.

I found the link to the Purple Zebra and its found in Asia and probaly not available here. I'm not sure if this is allowed but I'll paste the link and if its not allowed please delete admin.

http://www.planetinverts.com/Purple_Zebra_Shrimp.html

[FishBeast]

I keep my Chameleons in 200 GH. I was talking to Dave yesterday and he reckons that they would be happy between 100-300 GH. They like very warm water, between 28 and 32. They will handle 34 but I don't know if they could handle it for extended lengths of time.

Mine are currently outside in my Iriatherina Weneri breeding tank so naturally their numbers aren't increasing very fast LOL. I a cycling another tank at the moment for them to breed in. I will take a heap of photos for you to look at.

[Baccus]

My Chameleons are in with Blackmore River Shrimp, Darwin Red Nose and what appears to be some sneaky Darwin Algae Shrimp, fish wise there is only spotted blue eyes in with them. But that will change if my Strebia eggs hatch in the tank, after I rescued them from another tank where they would never stand a chance. Because the tank is mainly set up for the Northern natives the temp is set highest of all my tanks at 28 and believe me it got a lot hotter than that during summer, well into high 30's.

[Jenbenwren]

Wow, great pics. I'll have to write those down and wait till I can get another tank for natives. I love the threadfin rainbows and wish I knew about them and some other natives when I first set up the community tank.

I nearly bid on some Blackmore River Shrimp on Saturday at a cichlid auction. The 2 sites I read on google had extremely different water parameters and they sold before I could find any other sites to check

[Baccus]

The site I would tend to follow with advice on Blackmores and a few other native shrimp/ fish has the name aqua + green in its title. Dave from this company breeds many northern natives, usually in artificial ponds in the NT, so he has pretty extensive knowledge of the subject.

Believe me, although at first glance the natives (well some of them) may seem boring, they are far from it, and they have amazing potential for colour development perhaps even better than what has been achieved with cherry shrimp.

And because many of our natives have such tiny offspring its an interesting challenge being able to raise them to adulthood.

[Jenbenwren]

Aquagreen was where I first spotted natives for sale, when I was looking at their plant list, but I didn't think of checking there when I was at the auction

[Dave]

Here is a chameleon shrimp.

[Jenbenwren]

Gorgeous, they are definately on my shrimp I'd like to keep list.

Wish I could set up another tank, but I don't like my chances of having 3, yet lol.

Shame the kids have their heart set on getting some crystal reds for our new tank. I've been seperating our male and female guppies and have a friend that's interested in getting some as feeders, so hopefully they stop dropping fry and die out soon then I can turn our main tank into a native shrimp tank with maybe some honey and spotted blue eyes or threadfins. Quite a few people have recomended them as being pretty shrimp safe, except for the occasional shrimplet, in a well planted tank