[garfieldnfish]

I have breeding Malawa shrimp and breeding blue bee shrimp in separate tanks. Since caridina and neo caridina can crossbreed within their group and both the blue bee and the Malawa are considered para caridina could they also be crossed?

 

[garfieldnfish]

Anyone?
I also posted this question on Petshrimp.com but there does not seem to be many people on that forum anymore. I used to go there years ago and was surprised how few posts there had been in the last few months. I guess all the action moved here?
If noone has any input I will try 2 female blue bee shrimp with 3 male Malawa shrimp in a 10 gal with some juvenile RCS (which will shortly be sold off) to see what happens. I will let you know the outcome in a couple of months.

 

[jasonpatterson]

I don't believe that malawa will breed with bee shrimp of any type. Caridina is a very widespread genus (Africa, Asia, Oceania) with a couple dozen species and a number of those cannot hybridize. Neocaridina is a lot smaller, with only 4 described species and is more geographically concentrated as well.

 

[HolyAngel]

Caridina and neocaridina cannot interbreed for the record, it was just hearsay by 1 or two persons with zero proof on the net.

 

[garfieldnfish]

I understand that neo caridina and caridina cannot cross breed. But tiger shrimp and CRS could, both being caridina. As could RCS and snowball shrimp, both being neo caridina.
Blue bee shrimp are not caridina like CRS or black bee shrimp. They are para caridina as are the Malawa shrimp, a totally different category. But since both the blue bee shrimp and the Malawa shrimp are para caridina, I was wondering if they could cross breed like others within their types.

 

[HolyAngel]

Ah yeah then most likely there would be a chance, no telling if the offspring would make it though or be fertile or what.. I have no idea to be honest.

 

[Cardinal Tetra]

Malawa shrimp are Caridina just for the record...

Plenty of caridina shrimp don't hybridize with one another. It just happens that some species we keep do that but a lot don't. Amanos certainly don't hybridize with much of anything and neither do greens. Try getting a sulawesi caridina to hybridize with crs. One or both would simply die if you even tried keeping them together

 

[jasonpatterson]

Again, caridina is a widespread genus geographically and many of the species do not hybridize. Tiger shrimp and crystal reds can't hybridize either, in the true sense of the word, because they're the same species. I would be very surprised if the sulawesi shrimp bred with shrimp from taiwan successfully, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen.

 

[garfieldnfish]

I was told the Malawa shrimp were para caridina. My bad. I just searched a few websites and it turns out they are caridina, thanks C.Tetra for pointing that out. I guess in that case, I am out of luck crossing these two species.