[ZeeZ]

I have a 3 Gallon el natural dirty tank that's a beverage dispenser turned into a tank. The plants in it have pretty much exploded and it's ready for shrimp.

I've been considering either:

Harlequin Sulawesi Shrimp (Damn impossible to find...) so I'll probably end up with Cardinal Sulawesi Shrimp instead.

But I'm having a hard time deciding which Neocardinia shrimp would look good with the red Cardinia shrimp, Yellow Neos or Orange/Pumpkin Neos.

I already have Red Cherry Shrimp and Blue Pearl/Jelly/Whatever Shrimp, so I'm looking for something different.

I'm also considering Malawi shrimp as a third addition.

Your thoughts?

Here's the tank for them. Don't mind the cloudy water, I'd just done a change -

 

[Soothing Shrimp]

Well, cardinals are hard to keep, so if you are going for difficulty level yellows may be your thing since they are hard to keep too according to many members here.

 

[ZeeZ]

Yeah, I did notice that. I've decided to go with Pumpkins since they seem to be hardier.

Instead of the Cardinals, perhaps something like Blue Bee or whatever.

 

[Rob in Puyallup]

Blue Bees are cool, quite a bit smaller than Crystals, berry at about a third the size of their cousins.

They are also quite secretive, at least in my tank, hiding much of the time in moss, coming out when I drop food in the tank.

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[Rob in Puyallup]

A berried Blue Bee a few minutes ago...

 

[Rob in Puyallup]

An adult Blue Bee male with a Crystal Red. A comparison:

 

[Rob in Puyallup]

And for a bit of interest:

A berried Black Chocolate with a Cherry, a Crystal and (egads!) a planaria as company...

 

[Rob in Puyallup]

(Oh, and the Crystal, seen in the second and third pics, (obviously a camera hog) is berried as well.)

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[pinoyghost2]

First off your Cardinals are Sulawesi shrimps which need very high PH of 8-8.2 and temp of 80F to survive ( I raised them for over a year, so have experience with Sulawesi shrimps) Your Crystals/Bees will not survive in that high PH.

I inadvertantly popped a Yellow Neo in my Cardinal tank along with some moss. It was just a baby shrimp but the Cardinals found it very interesting and started to come out more once they saw the baby eating algae wafer bits.

Neon Yellows are not hard to keep at all, they are the same as PFR/RCS/Greens so don't require anything special. They are able to handle the higher PH and Temp that the Sulawesi require....I added more of them to the Cardinal tank for company. They lived in it for over a year before I broke the tank down and sold off the Cardinal shrimps.

The color looks great with the red spotted colors of the Cardinals next to one another.

PS: If that is the tank you are going to use for the Cardinals, where are you going to put a heater in there....they will need one! Also they require crushed coral for substrate and lava rocks etc, you have a planted tank which is definitely total opposite to their requirements.

Best to stick to Crystals/Neos if your going to use this tank. JMO

 

[ZeeZ]

I don't have any Cardinals yet, but I hope to some day. I'd really love the Harlequins if I'm ever able to find some.

My pH is around 7.6, and I agree with you, after further research, this tank probably will not fit a Sulawesi shrimp species. I've heard Malawi are pretty adaptable, though.

I do have a small 25 watt heater that I bought for this tank, fully adjustable as well. It's a Hydor that I purchased from Kensfish.com.

I've decided not to use Sulawesi. I didn't know Blue Bees were that small. That's a turnoff, actually. Is there any other Cardinia species that would go well with Orange/Yellow Neos? I'm looking for contrast...

 

[pinoyghost2]

Tigers....OEBT, BTOE or Super all look good with orange/yellow shrimps and won't crossbreed.
Kept them all at one time or another myself.

Harlequins although extremely pretty are THE hardest of all Sulawesi to find/keep.

Best to start off with something that is readily available both on these forums and aquabid.com. When you have kept the least expensive ones alive and maybe bred them too, then you can always go up to the real expensive ones.

 

[ZeeZ]

I've kept Red Cherry Shrimp for over a year and half. I've sold tons of them to states all over America. I also have a Blue Pearl/Blue Rili/Velvet/Jelly/Whatever project that's about four months old and doing great.

I had OEBTs at one point, but the new place I moved to had old copper pipes unknown to me until after almost all of them were dying. Last month, the last one died off. I've since started using alternate water for my Neos. They were able to survive. I plan on moving in February, so the copper thing won't be a problem, hopefully.

Thanks for the advice. I think I'd like to try the Super.

 

[pinoyghost2]

Sorry to hear about your loss...it sucks to lose any shrimp, but OEBTs are a favourite of mine and I do feel for you.

Try the Super Tigers, you will be surprised at how unique looking they are, they have orange on the head and tail.

I crossed an OEBT x Super Tiger a couple years ago and got some nice blue tigers with dark eyes, that still had the orange on the tails. cool.

 

[ZeeZ]

Yeah, I'm actually thinking about doing a small batch of OEBTs. I want to try restarting the OEBTs again, and maybe this could be my new starting point for creating another colony of them now that I've got the water sorted out. I really enjoyed the OEBTs when I had them for a few months but I wasn't able to ever get them to breed. I got a female pregnant at one point right after I had moved but the water got her.

 

[pinoyghost2]

OEBTs are a little harder to breed than most Tigers. They tend to take their time to adjust to any new things, food, substrate, tank etc. However once they feel comfortable, they will breed. Mine took ages before I saw a berried female.

For me its the Black Orange eyed Tigers I just cannot seem to get to breed...I have one huge male, yet never see it checking out any other females. I think I will have to buy some more outcross juvies to start up another tank just for them.

 

[ZeeZ]

I just read that Pumpkins can be mixed with Yellows and still have both colors through the offspring. I wouldn't mind trying that except I don't want to overspend.

Wonder if I can find someone willing to do 5 yellows and 5 oranges...

 

[Soothing Shrimp]

If you intend to give away the offspring be sure to mention they are a mix of colors.