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This article was written by Werner Klotz, the scientist who authored the recent description of CRS and tigers from Southern China. I have written permission from the author to translate and reproduce the article here. I thank the author for permission to post this information here. I apologise in advance if my translation differs substantially from the original. The original article can be found (in german) here: http://www.wirbellose.de/klotz/neocaridina.html Caridina or Neocaridina? © Werner Klotz Many of our dwarf shrimp do not have a scientific name and are instead referred to as Caridina sp. or Neocaridina sp.. In aquarists literature - (I believe the author is referring to online forums, magazines, ect., but not scientific literature), one occasionally finds the idea that species with large eggs and direct-developing larvae (larvae that essentially hatch as mini adults) belong to the genus Neocaridina, whilst species that have planktonic larvae and small larvae belong to the genus Caridina. This is incorrect. The type of larval development has nothing to do with which shrimp belong in which genus. In 1938, the genus Neocaridina was divided from the genus Caridina by Japanese scientists (1). The separation of the two genera was based on the inner branch (Endopod, En) of the first swimming leg pair of male animals. In species of the genus Neocaridina, this has a pear-shaped, distally broadened shape. The internal appendix (ai), a small appendage on the inside of the endopod, is found (if present) always in the basal region (bottom) of the endopods (Figure 1). Figure 1 In the species of the genus Caridina, the endopod has an elongated, sheet-like, distal, narrow shape. An internal appendix is found (if present) near the distal end (the end furthest away) of the endopods (Figure 2). Figure 2 Another thing which differentiates Neocaridina and Caridina can be found in females as well. On the first maxilliped (the legs around the mouth that assist in feeding), many (but not all) species of the genus Caridina have an exopodite (a finger like spur). This is absent for species in the genus Neocaridina (Figure 3 & 4 - arrow). It should be noted that the separation of the genus Neocaridina has been opposed by some taxonomists. In their opinion, the term Neocaridina is just a synonym for Caridina (2). The genus Neocaridina was recently reviewed by Cai (3) who confirmed the genus as being separate to Caridina. Literature cited: 1) I.Kubo, J. Imp. Fish. Inst. Tokyo 33:67-100,1938 On the Japanese atyid shrimps 2) MS Hung, J. of Crustacean Biology, 13(3): 481-503, 1993 Aytyd shrimps (Decapoda: Caridea) of Taiwan, with descripitons of three new species 3) Cai, Y, Acta Zootaxon. Sinica 21: 129-60, 1996 A revision of the genus Neocaridina (Crustacea: Decapoda:Atyidae) Text and photos © Werner Klotz 2003

If you are looking for a buce to start, I'd highly reccomend kedagang. Its one of the cheapest available, seems to be very hardy and IMO has the most colourful leaves. Between $20 and $50 is cheap for buces. I've paid $100's for mine. Still think they are worth it and would pay that amount again for a variety I really want. Unfortunately photos never show the true beauty of buces.

Most likely the fry was dead before the Paratya got to it. From what I have observed, they tend to be grazers.

Looks great,

Looks pretty awesome & your yellows are gorgeous

I've managed to talk OH into letting me build a rack that has the sump in cupboard on the bottom, then 3 x 2ft divided tanks on top so I can start seperating the panda, tibee, kk or RR, snow white shrimplets that are now popping up in the tank. But after I finally managed to draw up some designs and worked out the measurements I realized a 4 tier rack just wasn't very maintenance/viewer friendly. So I've changed the plans a little to a cupboard with a sump with 2x2ft divided tanks on that then another shelf with 2 x 2ft divided tanks. He doesn't know yet, and won't know until I've finished it and set it all up, that way he has no chance of stopping me from doing it. Luckily work has him away from home for days to weeks at a time so I can set it up without him knowing lol

Nice cascade king :)

Hmmmm… the more I read, I wonder if some of this is an evaporation issue? The air is incredibly dry here and I lose several inches of water out of each tank between water changes. Ah! Of course! I add a lot of AQ salt to these tanks. What was I thinking? Phew. That problem may be solved.

As I see it, there are two issues surrounding hybridisation. The first is the idea of keeping species pure for conservation. In our case, shrimp we have today are far from the original variants that were originally kept, not to mention the line breeding, in-breeding ect. that further changed the genome (genetic structure) of the shrimp we keep today. Not to mention many shrimp in Aus came from a few individuals that came into the country, so only have a limited genetic diversity anyway. Either way, should anything happen to wild shrimp stocks that would require the use of aquarium kept individuals to be returned to the wild, the individuals we have in aquaria are far too different from wild ones that it would just pollute what little wild stock remained. As far as I am aware the collecting sites for original shrimp strains were within protected areas, kind of like our national parks, or were in very remote places that are protected by that remoteness. In either case there is no reason to prevent hybridisation based on conservation. However keeping shrimp pure may still be a valuable tool for conservation so shouldn't be written off completely. I have heard that shrimp collectors poisoned sites once competitors found their secret spots to prevent the competitors accessing those shrimp. However I doubt the collectors kept those strains pure by breeding only shrimp from one collection site/stream. In a country with rainfall as variable as ours, there may be the need to keep shrimp in captivity if their river/waterhole/spring-fed puddle dries out. Look at the red-finned blue-eye, a species of fish found only in a few spring-fed puddles in QLD. I see no reason why this couldn't occur for shrimp. The problem with keeping shrimp pure for conservation is then, where do you set the level of what is hybridisation? Whilst not technically hybridisation, is crossing the same species from different rivers OK as they never would naturally breed in the wild? It is not OK in my opinion if your aim is conservation. Whilst technically the same species, different populations e.g. in different rivers, will have slightly different genetics. Once mixed, you can't unmix it. What about if we don't realise that one species is actually two? Australia's native shrimp aren't that well described, should we be mixing shrimp from different areas in case we are accidentally creating hybrids? The second argument is that we should keep lines pure so that when you buy a CRS you are actually getting a CRS, not a CRS x RCS with bee heritage. The reason for this argument is because people want to have adults throw babies that look like the adults. How pissed would you be if you paid good money for pure CRS and their offspring were a mix of RCS and CRS? Just look at african cichlids if you want an example. Lots of guys now refuse to keep them unless they are wild caught or imported because the fish buzzing around now don't look how they did a few decades ago when first imported. How hard is it to find a decent electric yellow nowdays? Pretty bloody difficult. Admittedly hybridisation isn't completely to blame but it does muddy the water. In our case we need to take a long term view of this, not a short term economic view. Yes there would be lots of money in hybrid shrimp given their potential. However lets take a long term view. Say hybrid shrimp do occur, whilst a handful of breeders can maintain their lines separate and keep the hybrids apart, once these hit the open market they will be crossed with pure shrimp by accident or design until in 20 years time almost every shrimp in the hobby from the original two species has some hybrid DNA. By taking this view I am very hesitant to support hybridisation of shrimp. I would hate it if the next few generations of shrimp keepers end up with crappy hybrids instead of the gorgeous shrimp we have today. I guess the final nail in the coffin for hybridisation for me is seeing the range of shrimp coming from people like Dean. Look at the green varieties he has been showing us lately. That potential is there (and more) by careful breeding without hybridisation. So why muddy the water with hybrids? As a final thought, just remember not every result of a hybridisation is the combination of the best characteristics from the parents, more often you simply get the worst.

You sick bunch LOL. Thanks Ben you put into words what I could not work out how to. TA heaps. Hybridisation is frowned upon, my personal view is, I am good with it so long as the original strains are maintained in the Hobby, the main reason is the lack of ability to import new blood line. In reality though, the shrimp we have are so far from the wild type now they are unrecognizable. Some one should put in the Library some photos of the wild Cherry and Crystal shrimo for new people to see, so they have an idea of what they have and that way might be encouraged to work on our native shrimp, a much underrated resource. Yes some are hard for most to get but not impossible. Bob