Hello folks,

I am aiming to have a mixed medley shrimp tank of Taiwan bee shrimp, sort of like what Simon has.  However, I want to minimize the number of "reject" hybridized shrimp that are either mono-color, or have weak colors and lots of clear patches.  My understanding is that as long as you mix Taiwan bee, you will get other Taiwan bee.  However, if you mix with CRS, you get these reject "mischlings" and if you mix with Tiger, you get the Taitibee that will end up having a lot of clear patches.

I finally found a local breeder that has a bunch of these shrimp.  (I don't want to deal with shrimp in the mail)  Anyway, I got a pair of juvenile blue bolts and a pair of red wine panda, which is vaguely similar to Simon's initial mix.  I'm not in a hurry to have an overgrown colony, but for genetic diversity reasons, is starting off with only 4 shrimp enough?

Secondly, here's a partial list of other (reasonably priced) shrimp that this guys sells.  Are these "compatible" with my current shrimp in the sense of not getting reject offspring?

Yellow King Kong, Black King Kong, Black Belly Pinto, blue shadow mosura

Can't help but wonder if I might know the person who has those shrimp.

Based on the information you gave, I'd say to stay clear of the YKK's. They are believed to be TT hybrids although no one knows what species originally went into making them. They do pop up occasionally in mixed tanks. (at least the phenotype)

Beyond that... well, I honestly don't know enough to give any input!

Great news you have made a good start.

I have had mine for a year or more now and I don't have any (never have had) with any clear patches or weak colour, though some of the patterns are a bit funky on some and some keepers would consider them to cull I suspect but I still like them as 'variety is the spice of life' after all? You may get some all reds or all blacks but they are called king kongs so still taiwan bee. Anyway, I guess the photos speak for themselves so you have seen what I have.

I am no expert by all means but I would stick to ONLY taiwan bees to avoid any of the colour/clear issues, and as zoidberg says, I a not sure about Yellow king kong so would avoid those!

I am getting a few which look half taiwan bee and half Pinto so bear that in mind if you get some of the pinto ones, but again they are fully coloured like the taiwan bee but obviously you may get some funky ones so that is a question you need to ask yourself. I have some blue mosura in my tank as well. I would maybe get a couple of the black shrimps and go from there???

Simon

ps in case anyone else is wondering about the shrimp of mine Beanbag is talking about, their are pictures in the gallery ref  'sdlTBfanUK'.