Caridina cf babaulti (Blackberry Shrimp) Experience

I happened to accidentally, yet again, find myself expecting a fish order in the next few days. In it contains a green BN pleco, calico longfin BN, a few fireline danios to round out my school and something new to me, 5 Caridina cf babaultI shrimp. There is some information online about this species but I haven't found much in term of personal experiences, so I'll be adding mine to the mix.

The shrimp will be drip acclimated into a planted 36gal nano species/invert tank housing least rasboras, threadfin rainbows, albino longfin plecos, cherry shrimp, and an assortment of snail species. I asked the seller to make sure they aren't selling just females (as some sellers do) and they said it's a mixed gender ratio so we'll see what happens. By the name I'd guess they are a dark blue/black strain but I ordered from a list with no pictures, no clue what I'll actually be getting.

All the online sources say they have similar requirements to cherry shrimp, the main difference between the two seems to be their breeding habits as the babaultI take a little longer in that area. My tank is definitely on the higher temp rage for cherries at about 82F and the pH is also high at ~7.8. The water isn't terribly hard but it isn't soft either based on the amount of calcium buildup (I've never tested it).

If anyone who has kept this species want to chip in, feel free! I'll update when they arrive, hopefully they'll acclimate safely.

 

Don’t caridina need a lower ph like in the low 6’s or am I confused about the species? Also I think your water temperature is very high for your current shrimp population.
I could be wrong about the PH so feel free to double check me.

 

caridina cf. babaultI / The Shrimp Farm

Green BabaultI Shrimp (TANK-RAISED!) - Aquatic Arts

I think these Cardina are ok with a higher ph - although this is at the top end. *shrug*

 

Don’t caridina need a lower ph like in the low 6’s or am I confused about the species? Also I think your water temperature is very high for your current shrimp population.
I could be wrong about the PH so feel free to double check me.

All the info I found suggested they are adaptable and naturally live in varying pH and hardness ranges. I keep the temp this way for my rabbit snails and rainbows, I know the temp is quite high for normal cherries but as mine are breeding and their young seem to be thriving I see no issues. For proof, here’s some pics of the tank and their inhabitants.



I forgot to mention there are 10 betta fry as well, they’re being moved to a different growout tank soon.



Tis an experiment for the babaulti, we will see how it goes. I don’t follow the rules nor break then, I bend them. If it works then it works

 

They arrived safe and sound and are now drip acclimating. The seller sent an extra so 6 total. 2 look more brown than blue but I’m sure they’re all pale.





I spotted several planara on the hornwort so hopefully I can avoid introducing them by using a pipette as I see them.

 

After 2hrs of drip acclimating I added the shrimp. After 8hrs they are all alive and accounted for. Tiny little guys, juvenile cherry sized. The contrast is great, looking forward to seeing a tank full of reds and blacks!

 

I counted all 6 last night, they are doing just fine and I feel they’ve grown a bit. One is still itty bitty and has the darkest coloration of the group.




I haven’t tried sexing them yet, not too sure they are mature enough for that either.

 

Certain Caridina, Caridina cantonensis - the bee/crystal shrimp, would need a lower pH, but these guys should manage just fine at a higher pH with cherries. They look great, nice contrast to the cherries.

 

First berried female! I very gently moved her to a mesh basket to prevent the babies from getting snapped up when they hatch. I hear these guys have a longer incubation time than cherries and I’m not sure how long this one has been berried so we’ll see.



I haven’t been able to do a proper head count, I hit 4 during a water change today. The smallest blackberry is still tiny and I’m not sure if it will ever mature.

 

Another female blackberry has eggs!


Here’s the male, the only one apparently. He’s kinda blue-ish.


More brown than black female.


There’s another one that looks pretty much like a brown cherry, no pics though. Tiny is still tiny and hard to find so no pics.

Bonus juvenile yellow, finally getting some results on bringing back my yellow colony by breeding the last 2 males with the red females. I’ve stuck 3 saddled brown females with their yellow dad in hopes of getting more.

 

So the first two batches of baby blackberry shrimp have hatched and are big enough to take pictures.

I am convinced my blackberry shrimp are just black cherries If they were C. babualti shrimp they would not be able to breed with my red cherries. So only the one male blackberry should be able to breed with the females, which would produce more blackberries... Well here are the results




Among these babies I did spot a few blue babies, which is cool but not what I was going for. The blue babies are staying with mom in the nursery basket and I tossed in the male blackberry along with the rest of his harem. Looks like I’ll be setting up a black cherry tank is what I’m getting at.

 

. . . Among these babies I did spot a few blue babies, which is cool but not what I was going for. The blue babies are staying with mom in the nursery basket and I tossed in the male blackberry along with the rest of his harem. Looks like I’ll be setting up a black cherry tank is what I’m getting at.

Oh darn. Have to get another tank now. What a shame.

 

Oh darn. Have to get another tank now. What a shame.

Yes such a pity, now to decide what spare tank I want to use and where to put it. I think all I need is a mini heater and I'm set on everything else

As a side note, 2 of the 4 females are berried so I'll have to wait for their eggs to hatch before moving them to a new tank, no point in making it harder to separate wild type young.

I'll be on the look out for real babaulti shrimp, so far they seem to be on the high end at 10$+ for a single shrimp. Maybe when I'm tipsy and/or sleep deprived I'll make the purchase as that's how it often goes

 

Yes such a pity, now to decide what spare tank I want to use and where to put it. I think all I need is a mini heater and I'm set on everything else

As a side note, 2 of the 4 females are berried so I'll have to wait for their eggs to hatch before moving them to a new tank, no point in making it harder to separate wild type young.

I'll be on the look out for real babaulti shrimp, so far they seem to be on the high end at 10$+ for a single shrimp. Maybe when I'm tipsy and/or sleep deprived I'll make the purchase as that's how it often goes

If you're going to be putting neocaridinas in it you probably don't need a heater. I don't have one in mine. I keep my house at 68° F in winter and 72° in summer and my shrimp do fine. A time or two this spring when we had a cold front come in I forgot to switch the controls from AC to heat and it got down into the low 60's and they were still okay.

 

If you're going to be putting neocaridinas in it you probably don't need a heater. I don't have one in mine. I keep my house at 68° F in winter and 72° in summer and my shrimp do fine. A time or two this spring when we had a cold front come in I forgot to switch the controls from AC to heat and it got down into the low 60's and they were still okay.

The tank will be in the basement and it gets pretty cold, I'll have to see how cold it gets come fall. I can skip the heater for now and break it out when needed. We shall see, I have a few weeks to plan it out while I wait for the eggs on the two females to hatch.

 

I found zebra babaulti shrimp 10 for 70$. More pricey than I’d like but I put a bid on them so we’ll see what fate decides

I also found mixed babaulti shrimp that were ~9$ each but shipping at 35$ was a deal breaker.

 

I have been thinking about getting some zebra Babaulti as well. Let me know how it goes for you.

 

I have been thinking about getting some zebra Babaulti as well. Let me know how it goes for you.

I’m waiting to have the zebras shipped till after I get back from vacation. Oddly enough, while skimming threw ebay I saw that Aqua Huna has some green babaulti listed as “green neon shrimp”. Once again, I accidentally bought some and I expect them to arrive next week. I’ve got 2 designated shrimp tanks so I won’t have a problem keeping the two colors separate, plus it would be fun to see what I can come up with by crossing the two!

 

“Green” babaulti shrimp arrived yesterday and all 8 looked good though the largest was missing an eye. They settled in well.

They are not very impressive yet, hopefully they grow some more and color up. They look similar to mini bamboo shrimp with the light back stripe. I placed them with my snowball and blue pearls. Today I counted 4 of them.

 

“Green” babaulti shrimp arrived yesterday and all 8 looked good though the largest was missing an eye. They settled in well.

They are not very impressive yet, hopefully they grow some more and color up. They look similar to mini bamboo shrimp with the light back stripe. I placed them with my snowball and blue pearls. Today I counted 4 of them.View attachment 713337View attachment 713338View attachment 713339

Oh wow those really do look like mini bamboo shrimps. I placed an order for some zebras. The gentleman I spoke to said he keeps them in caradina parameters at around 150 TDS but he said my 230 TDS water should be fine. Hopefully a long drip acclimation will be enough.

 

Got my (13) zebras yesterday and placed them in a breeder basket for observation. They’re pale of course and look pretty blue. Hopefully they color up nicely and get their stripes.



One of the green babaulti, the one with a missing eye, is saddled.

 

Babies on the way!


The zebras are out of the basket and in the main tank. I only counted 10 when I moved them out of the basket so either 3 died or they escaped. They are elusive but here’s a male. Their white eyes are kinda creepy.


Stupid me didn't quarantine them so now there are a few cherries with those little white things between their eyes. I think I still have some Prazipro, that will work right? I know they supposedly have a symbiotic relationship but I’d rather not have them at all.

 

So I got some zebras a few weeks back and one is already berries. I bought tank bred and imported ones. The color on the imported ones are amazing. The females have this blue metallic sheen and a racing stripe. Unfortunately they hide 24/7 so no picture. The only thing is they don't seem to be interested in any of the food I put in for them and just graze on the cholla wood. I'm not sure if prazipro will work but I know it is shrimp safe.

 

Another “green” babaulti is berried! No pics of that one but it’s good news regardless.

Here’s the best picture I could get if the zebras. They are pretty blue and not very zebra looking. I’m starting to see saddles forming so hopefully babies soon.

 

Another “green” babaulti is berried! No pics of that one but it’s good news regardless.

Here’s the best picture I could get if the zebras. They are pretty blue and not very zebra looking. I’m starting to see saddles forming so hopefully babies soon. View attachment 726579

I can't tell the scale based on the pic but if they are small juveniles then it's normal. I had a much smaller one and the pattern on it was really light. It got darker the larger it grew. On a side note, were you able to get them to eat any kind of shrimp food or do they just scavenge the substrate?

 

I can't tell the scale based on the pic but if they are small juveniles then it's normal. I had a much smaller one and the pattern on it was really light. It got darker the larger it grew. On a side note, were you able to get them to eat any kind of shrimp food or do they just scavenge the substrate?

They mostly seem to scavenge on surfaces but I do see one or two come down to eat with the cherries. I feed sinking pellets, wafers and repashy mainly.

 

I'll try some repashy and see if that works.

 

Got some better pictures and discovered a pleasant surprise, a berried zebra! Looks like she’s about to lose an egg though.



And here’s a couple feeding with the cherries and rest of the crew. Happy tank.

 

Nice!

 

Managed to get 2 males in a pic.

 

Managed to get 2 males in a pic.

Yours look way better than mine, I’m really wondering if mine are even the correct species. They just don't have the stripes and I know some of them are sexually mature. I’m going to be really mad if they’re just Neos again.

 

My imported ones look better than my tank bred ones. The lines are sharper and more pronounced.

 

Here is one of the imported females. Not berries anymore wonder if she dropped them or they hatched.

 

Woot saw a baby.

 

I saw that my "green" babaulti female isn't berried anymore either, there's a lot of Neo. palmata babies in there too so I've no idea what's what right now. I just very carefully finished a water change, no gravel vacuuming for a while I think.

 

An interesting and infuriating bit of progress. I moved a saddled zebra to a basket with another berried zebra and a male red cherry, just to make sure.... That saddled zebra is now berried and the only male in there was a cherry. I can’t believe I paid 70$ for 10 fake zebra babaulti shrimp. I kinda want to message the seller but I think I should calm down before sending an angry email.

Now there are who knows how many brown shrimp being born as they cross breed. I’m going to double check with a male zebra and a saddled cherry next. If she becomes berried than I’m going to be very angry.

On the positive side of things, my previous fake “blackberry babaulti” (black cherries) are doing well and have been moved to their 7.5gal cube.

 

Black cherries look pretty good. I'm starting to see baby zebras move about. They definitely grow slower than baby cherries. The adults' growth speed is not that slow actually. It looks like it just takes a long time for babies to reach juvenile size. I had an original juvenile zebra die on me recently, not sure why, but all others look healthy. They are starting to show some interest in certain shrimp food and fight with snails over it.

 

Very curious as to how your “green” babaultis turn out. I’ve been thinking about ordering from Aqua Huna, but I want a good green color.
I wonder if the difficulty of getting good markings on the zebras is the reason for their costing more, generally, than the greens?

 

Very curious as to how your “green” babaultis turn out. I’ve been thinking about ordering from Aqua Huna, but I want a good green color.
I wonder if the difficulty of getting good markings on the zebras is the reason for their costing more, generally, than the greens?

With zebras, the imported ones definitely look better. The line is crisp and clear. With the homebred ones I ordered, sometimes the stripes are lighter, or are broken near the ends.

 

Well I have ascertained my zebra babaulti are not zebra babaulti. Twice I have had them breed with my cherries. I contacted the seller and gave them a well written and polite email about my findings. They were very honest and said they could be wild type neos that may have been cross-contaminated into that tank. Full refund and I've since removed all the wild types out. Now I'll be keeping my eye out for any wild type babies that are sure to pop up. I'm not sure what to do with these shrimp, for now they are in a basket.

I've also moved a berried green babaulti into a breeder basket. I want to make sure I get a good number of babies going as I only have 2 females out of the 8 I was sent. Hoping to get pictures soon of baby babaultis.