I've seen some mention of a direct developing form of serratirostris, but I'm wondering if your 'chameleons' are something else? Even something new? Have you had them ID'd?

I understand that C. serratirostris, "Ninja Shrimp", aren't easily maintained in aquaria as the larvae aren't direct developing and likely even need brackish water. That suggests that this "QLD Chameleon" (for want of a better name) is yet another species in the complex. 

 

Bob, I've seen some photos of this QLD Chameleon but I don't recall seeing any showing great colour. Do you get the same range of colour and pattern as in the sp. NT4?? 

 

Ben, the tank's looking good now. Best luck getting some more colour in the young. Do you feed plenty of powdered food? When I had these spirulina was the trick to getting good shrimplet survival. 

 

Ben, the tank's looking good now. Best luck getting some more colour in the young. Do you feed plenty of powdered food? When I had these spirulina was the trick to getting good shrimplet survival.

Thanks mate. I'm feeding a variety of shrimp foods including Boss Aquaria's Snow and Crack. Most break down into powder. I'm also feeding blanched kale leaves, occasionally some high protein cichlid pellets and lots of IAL. These things chew through IAL like no other shrimp I've ever kept. Also will be trying prawn or fish to boost growth rates as suggested by Bob aka Northboy.

Ben Its splitting hairs doing DNA id as they can look the same but be different??, Tim P only dose DNA and has said to me that he would not know the living colours or the taxo on them.

 

Satish Choy in Brisbane is the one to do taxo on shrimp if you have any Ben, I have not sent any away for ID, I can send you some if you want to play Ben

 

Kiz I am not sure on the colours of the ones from the NT, but there is a wide colour variation here as well as variation with in colour and pattern, there is  a wide variation in where they live to.

 

The main colours are Blacks and Reds, Blue when stressed like most shrimp. OH and some Green

 

Bob

Yeah thanks Bob. I would be keen to see how they compare to the NT4, but not right now as tank numbers and space is at a premium. So many shrimp, so few tanks.

So many shrimp and so few tanks, NO its a easy fix, buy more tanks LOL = out on the street ???

 

 

Bob

So many shrimp and so few tanks, NO its a easy fix, buy more tanks LOL = out on the street ???

 

 

Bob

Yes, Buy more tanks = out on the street.

Looks amazing considering doing a nano similar to that myself

Looks amazing considering doing a nano similar to that myself

Thanks mate, I highly reccomend giving it a go.

So time for Jan/ Feb update. Lots of females berried over the last 4-6 weeks. Its been surprising to me at how small they are when they first start berrying up - approx half the adult female full grown size (which is roughly 3cm). I have had a couple of batches of shrimplets come through too, but survival has been low because the number of shrimp in the tank is quite high. Lots of mid sized shrimp. I want to grade and cull them but can't really decide which colour/pattern I want to go with yet. The colour has been getting better and better as they age. Mainly shades of red and brown, no really strong patterns other than the skunk stripe down the back. Have noticed a couple of them coloured blue, hopefully I can find the pics I took of them.

Pics to follow.

Edited March 4, 201511 yr by fishmosy

Video of the chameleons from early February. Note colouration is much better than in previous weeks.

 

 

 

http://youtu.be/uhQQ8-HSG4s

 

 

Edited March 5, 201511 yr by fishmosy

There certainly are a lot of shrimp in there. I can see what you mean by the size of some of the berried girls- very small. Well done Ben.

Thanks Ineke. They seem to be relatively easy to breed but getting nice colour seems to be a waiting game. I have a really nice shot regarding colour that I'll be uploading shortly that I'm sure will cause a bit of a stir.

The following are random shots from the last 4 weeks. You can see the improvement in colouration of the shrimp over time as well as some of the shrimplets from the broods that have dropped.

 

 

Look closely to see some shrimplets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 5, 201511 yr by fishmosy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One really pleasing thing for me has been over the last two weeks, there has been an appearance of blue shrimp amongst the horde.

 

 

Poor photos, but you get the idea.

 

 

Edited March 5, 201511 yr by fishmosy

I've been able to get a really nice shot in the last couple of days. I think this blue challenges the blue variants of the cherry shrimp and all without line breeding so far.

 

 

 

I'm very tempted to separate the blue forms to see if (1) they maintain their colour, (2) they are not sex specific and (3) if it can be line bred. However I might wait a week or two to see how the rest of the shrimp colour up (or not). They seem to be getting better and better with age. I've not changed anything in regards to the foods I'm feeding, or the water parameters.

 

 

Thanks for sharing Fishmosy.

Very nice.    Mine are breeding also, but still mostly clear and definitely no blue!  I'm going to establish a new tank with some different riparian litter and twigs to see if I can boost their colour  (some black wattle, paperbark etc)

Very nice.    Mine are breeding also, but still mostly clear and definitely no blue!  I'm going to establish a new tank with some different riparian litter and twigs to see if I can boost their colour  (some black wattle, paperbark etc)

I'm at a loss to explain why mine are gaining colour. Hopefully you have better luck using the leaf litter.

Hi

 

I have these little cool shrimp too . mine are all sorted colors from clear, black and white , reds, chocolate, pure black and and one blue

I noticed when they were in another tank with light colored substrate their colors were weak. So i transfered them to a tank with very dark substrate and within a few days they all changed colors and very stunning to look at now

Hi

 

I have these little cool shrimp too . mine are all sorted colors from clear, black and white , reds, chocolate, pure black and and one blue

I noticed when they were in another tank with light colored substrate their colors were weak. So i transfered them to a tank with very dark substrate and within a few days they all changed colors and very stunning to look at now

Any chance of some pictures of the black and white variants, and your set-up too, please?

Any chance of some pictures of the black and white variants, and your set-up too, please?

 

i take some pics of them when i get home  and the setup :)

Any chance of some pictures of the black and white variants, and your set-up too, please?

 Here's the pic's

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got the divider in to keep the fish away from the shrimplets ( chameleons) since they love floating around and i'm trying to separate the cherry shrimps too

 

I use RO water and add salty shrimp GH+  KH+

Edited March 17, 201511 yr by maddog_12

Excellent setup and colours on your shrimp mate. Thanks for sharing.

I find it interesting that you are using RO and benibachi salts. What are your water parameters?