NEWS104
14
BloodRedvariant of
Neocaridinaheteropoda
, female in front,malebehind.
All photos:FrankSchäfer
hat has undergone a fundamental
changeduringthe last14years.Inthe
meantime the massive hype surrounding
theseshrimpshasabatedsomewhatand in
particular prices have dropped to a
reasonable level; this has meant that
maintaining shrimps has once again
become a hobby for a broadmarket and
not just something for aquarium fanatics -
adevelopment thatcanonlybewelcomed.
Moreover it is nothing new for animals or
plants to command sometimes ridiculous
T
Dwarf shrimpsof thegenera
Caridina
and
Neocaridina
are theall the rage
in the 21st century aquarium hobby.When UweWerner published the
very firstbookon the subject in1998,Shrimps,crayfishes,andcrabs in the
freshwater aquarium (Aqualog), a few specieswere already known in the
hobby. But it was virtually impossible to get reliable information on the
little creatures imported more or less universally as bee or bumblebee
shrimps.
One foreveryone: Neocaridinaheteropoda
byMaxLeber
prices amongenthusiasts.Wehaveonly to
recall the tulipmania in theNetherlands in
1620-1637, whose eventual collapse even
triggereda sortofworldeconomiccrisis. In
those days the price paid for some tulip
bulbswas asmuchas the cost of themost
expensivehouses inAmsterdam…
Miraclesofadaptability
What makes breeding dwarf shrimps so
interesting is the hugemutability of these
littlecreatures incaptivitycombinedwitha
very rapid succession of generations. The
maximumageof adwarf shrimp is around
1.5 years and the females of
Neocaridina
heteropoda
produce clutches almost
continuously at temperatures above 18°C.
Each clutch contains around 20-50 eggs
which are carried around (and hence
protected) by the mother shrimp on the
legs (pleopods) of her abdomen until the
younghatch. Even in thewildmanydwarf
shrimps are extremely variable in
Invertebrates
