# Surveying Caridina cf. Babaulti experiences



## frothhelmet (5 Feb 2018)

I am thinking about getting some of these shrimp and want to hear what you all have to say about them. Some claim they actually eat algae - the way amano and red-nose actually put their face down into it and eat. As opposed to cherries, tigers, and Caridina simoni simoni which in my experience do not - they only pick things out of it, and it doesn't matter how many of them you have your algae problem isn't going away. Do Babaulti's actually eat algae as some claim?

Also, are Caridina cf. Babaulti var. Malaya pretty? I mean sure you can find a pretty individual here and there online, but are they on average actually beautiful? What about Babaulti cf. Green? Will a colony be lots of gorgeous green shrimp, or mostly washed out lemons and browns?

Cheers


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## dw1305 (5 Feb 2018)

Hi all, 





frothhelmet said:


> What about Babaulti cf. Green? Will a colony be lots of gorgeous green shrimp


I kept them for while, I very rarely saw them, but they were originally a bright leaf green, although over time they became a mix of browns as well.

Originally I had them in the tank with some Red Cherry Shrimps. I eventually managed to lose all my female/juvenile cherry shrimps, I fed too many to the Cichlids and the water became a lot softer without me realising. I had one or two male cherry shrimps that persisted for another ~18 months, but then I had a period without any visible shrimps.

About a year later I was sorting out some floating plants and pulled out a large, berried, green female _C. babaulti_  as well. I was really surprised, but just popped her back into the tank, and that was the last one I ever saw_. 
_
cheers Darrel


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## a1Matt (5 Feb 2018)

I have kept Babaulti green, I only had them for a few weeks though. For what it's worth, in that short time they were always a nice bright green. 

They also hid a lot, and when they did come out they blended in with the flora.

I'd also be keen to hear about the different colour morphs (malaya, green and zebra).

I'll probably try them again at some stage.


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## frothhelmet (5 Feb 2018)

a1Matt said:


> I have kept Babaulti green, I only had them for a few weeks though.



And what happened? They didn't pay rent?


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## a1Matt (5 Feb 2018)

I discovered the hard way not to put plants that have been freshly imported from the far east into an inverts tank


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## Chubbs (5 Feb 2018)

Sorry, but where do you buy shrimp from?


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## alto (5 Feb 2018)

Crevettes.ch has photos of each C cf babaulti var

I don't consider them all that attractive 

I'm not sure why your Tiger Shrimp (Caridina cantonensis sp. “Tiger) demonstrated poor algae ability - I've found them to be very keen gardeners (though again more than one species seems to ship under this name)


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## alto (5 Feb 2018)

a1Matt said:


> I discovered the hard way not to put plants that have been freshly imported from the far east into an inverts tank


Fish as well, though usually takes more of the plants being added to the tank

Not sure why these plants don't arrive with a warning, seems simple enough

I hope you reported back to the sale source & received some compensation


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## a1Matt (5 Feb 2018)

There was no warning because in this instance they weren't aware of the risk (I can't say the same for all retailers, sadly). The nice side of the story, is that they ordered the plants in as a special order and when i went to pay their was almost no markup from the trade price, presumably as payment in kind for a favour I had done them a little before. Nice people and an honest mistake.

Back to the babaulti's...

That crevettes site is a nice resource. It shows that the greens are a natural colour morph. That are then further selected. I'd always wondered about that.


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## frothhelmet (22 Apr 2018)

OK so I got the babaultis. They are definitely not a green shrimp. But green, red as a decent cherry, orange, yellow, one brown, a few weak coloured ones. They are a whole rainbow. It's like I have many species in one tank.

I can also say that they are super flighty, and hide super well. But come out plenty too. Not sure about their algae eating prowess. But will experiment and keep everyone posted.


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## fishhobbi (15 Aug 2020)

*frothhelmet*
The shrimp is green and in the end and it can be a problem because the plants are green too. I recommend using special shrimp food that increases colors. Also, it's better to use a black substrate like what you can see in this example to have a bigger contrast in the coloring.  And finally, I can recommend using special for shrimp food plates and put it in the center of the aquarium so they would gather there ( you can also see that in that link above).


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## fishhobbi (15 Aug 2020)

And they are certainly attractive!!! It's all about their food and the environment.


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## Sarpijk (15 Aug 2020)

Hi, tried keeping them twice along with Neocaridina davidii. Never had a berried one and soon enough I lost them all. Never managed to breed them.


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## frothhelmet (24 Aug 2020)

Interesting that this thread came back up. My shrimp decided to all go red about 6 months in. But the real reason I am revisiting this is that I just noticed that my aquarium seems sans shrimp. I think the heat may have killed them all. Never noticed their bodies. I just see now that they are all gone. Probably taken out by the heat - but my tank didn't get all that hot - saw it up to 30C - and all my very heat senstive Thedoxus survived. Anyway, not happy about this...My old Caridina Simoni would have been fine.


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## frothhelmet (2 Sep 2020)

Upon reflection it doesn't make sense that the heat killed them. As my tank didn't get THAT hot. The reason I feel fairly confident about saying this is that my tank has had gammarus for a little over a year, but they now also appear to have been all killed off...what? Nothing kills gammarus! They are poised to take over when the Third Reich returns. I don't get it. 

So something killed my gammarus and shrimps. My first thought is that it must be something I added to the water, but I filter my water before I add it to the tank. It couldn't just be copper because my snails (Theodoxus, Tylomelania, Ramshorn, Trumpet) are alive. What can kill gammarus but not snails or fish? I have heard of anti-flea medication doing something similar but I have no furry pets. HUGE mystery.


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## dw1305 (2 Sep 2020)

Hi all, 





frothhelmet said:


> had gammarus for a little over a year, but they now also appear to have been all killed off...what? Nothing kills gammarus!


Do you know exactly what species they were? _Gammarus pulex _needs high oxygen levels, so it may have been the heat. I've not kept _Hyalella azteca, _but I have both <"_Crangonyx pseudogracilis">_ (and _Asellus aquaticus_) and they are pretty bomb proof.

cheers Darrel


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## mort (2 Sep 2020)

What fish did you have with them? 

My red cherry shrimp population has massively declined this summer. I think quite a bit of this is it sat at 29c for a week or too and in previous years I've seen a decline in shrimp after this kind of temperature (28-29c).

It's also anecdotal but I think in the warmer weather my normally pretty gentle pencilfish become more ravenous and predatory. I might be adding 2 and 2 and making 5 but they are certainly more attentive to all the nooks and crannies when normally they swim above not paying any attention. This is the time of year they spawn more and probably have an increased metabolism but it is also the time of year they get most live food, so are probably in hunting mode.


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## frothhelmet (2 Sep 2020)

As I recall they were sold to be as the smaller mexican _Hyalella azteca_. I really don't see any more of these in the tank - which is weird because I had so many there were on the glass.

I keep about 12 Corydoras Habrosus (they breed in my tank) - which can take air from the surface, and 4 Ember Tetras. None of these seem to have been affected.

I can say however that the tank is full of plants - especially vallis and Crypt Nurii.


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## sparkyweasel (2 Sep 2020)

I wouldn't rule out copper, as crustaceans are much more sensitive to copper than snails or fish. Of  course, that doesn't prove copper is to blame, but it's a possibility.


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## frothhelmet (3 Sep 2020)

Found this article. It says that Hyallela azteca die at a water temp of 33C for 11 hours. This is a little higher than any temp I saw, but not out of the ballpark.

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.2307/1538194?journalCode=bbl


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## frothhelmet (12 Sep 2020)

I am pretty sure now that indeed the heat killed the babaulti's and my Hyallela. This makes the most sense. It got hot last year (30C+), but not as hot for so long (2 solid weeks this year). Oh well, try again. Thought this wasn't a problem for tropical shrimp. I ordered some green babaulti's on ebay. We'll see if they stay green. If that fails again I might have to go back to my Caridina Simoni's who survived a 39C heater failure - but then never bred again hence why I lost them


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