# Blackberry Shrimp?



## jeffvmd (Apr 16, 2010)

I was out at petco 14th st. union square in manhattan this afternoon just to browse through what they have in stock.
There was no plan to buy anything and I came upon this little guys in their CPD and other shrimp tank.
I just wasn't able to resist getting them after seeing one was berried so I got a couple (hopefully the other one is male:icon_smil)

The first pic are them acclimating, second pic is the male, 3rd is the female























These were sold as Blackberry algae eating shrimp and was told that these are related to the amano and shouldn't be mixed with them as they will interbreed.
They said they are safe to be mixed with RCS or CRS. That I am not really sure of.
I have been trying to search info on these but there is very little to no data available on the net.

Does anyone have experience with these?


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## PinoyBoy (Mar 14, 2008)

Middle picture looks like a brown rcs. Howmuch did you pay for each shrimp?


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## redfalconf35 (Feb 24, 2008)

I agree with *PinoyBoy*, it kinda looks like a neocardinia. Are they black, blue, or brown? It's kinda hard to tell from the pics.


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## janftica (Jan 11, 2010)

I believe what you have there is Cardina sp Babaulti. I had some shipped from OH and they were berried, but unfortunately lost the eggs shortly after arriving due to shipping stress....they also all died! They tend to change color too...some get reddish brown, some more blue, some black looking, but they are Babaulti. Bigger than cherry shrimps too.

I did see some babies in my tank, but then they dissappeared and I have NO idea if they are still in there or not LOL. They were extremely tiny white ones.


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

They're commonly referred to as blueberry shrimp. 

Babies probably will be clear because it is either an environment specific result for coloration or dye by exporters.

Cool shrimp either way,
-Andrew


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## jeffvmd (Apr 16, 2010)

@pinoyboy - Petco is selling them at 3.99 each.

@redfalconf35 - The pictures really dont show their true colors.
They are colored like blackberries. Very dark blue to almost black.
The female has a grayish/purplish stripe on the back.

@janftica - I did come across the babaulti in my browsing on the net.
But most pics I saw don't look like them. they are bigger than the RCS.

@A_Hill - I was also thinking at first about the blue berry shrimp but they are way darker than them and a bit bigger.
I was thinking maybe a dyed amano but they are smaller than the amanos. They more or less resemble the rcs but a bit bigger.
They looked cool that's why I snagged 2 of them.:hihi:
I'll just have to see if they lose color in the long run and when the babies hatch.


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## janftica (Jan 11, 2010)

Hi Jeff, they are specifically called Babaulti blue...they are sooo dark blue they look black and are often mistaken for black shrimp. 

Yes they are huge, the biggest shrimp I have had next to a flower shrimp, much bigger than a cherry for sure! Some of them get the stripe down the back too, some don't.

Unfortunately and I might be wrong about this, but I think they need brackish water to raise the babies in...like I said I had several that were berried when I got mine, but immediately they started dying and then I saw several tiny white babies, the after a day they were gone! I think they released the babies before dying, but without the brackish water, they couldn't survive.

I still have a couple of adults in my tank with my Orange Sunkist which also need brackish water to hatch babies in, so guess they will just be pretty shrimp to look at.


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## fishsandwitch (Apr 20, 2008)

Those are not baubalti blues, and baubaltis dont need brackish water for the young either.


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## jeffvmd (Apr 16, 2010)

I was doing a bit of a search on petco's supplier Segrest farms and it looks like the shrimp I got are the Caridina cf babaulti.
Segrest farms has a list of their stocks and has it labeled with the scientific name Caridina cf babaulti and common name listed as blackberry shrimp.

Will caridina cf babaulti crossbreed with CRS?


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## connordude27 (Jun 14, 2008)

I do not think they will as CRS are neocardina

Don't count on that advice though i have no clue what i'm talking about lol


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

connordude27 said:


> I do not think they will as CRS are neocardina
> 
> Don't count on that advice though i have no clue what i'm talking about lol


CRS are Caridinia

RCS are Neocaridinia


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## janftica (Jan 11, 2010)

Haha, funny we were talking about these babaulti's I emptied my tank of green shrimp into a smaller tank yesterday, as I want to move the bigger tank to the other side of the room ( re-arranging my fish room) and would you believe it...I have several dark blue or dark green (hard to tell they're so dark) larger shrimps in there and they are berried too! 

I remember getting some Indian Blue Shrimps from Franks aquarium back a couple of months ago, and also some dark green babaulti from another source and put them in the same tank. I didn't really think about them until the other day, when I decided I was going to move that tank to a better location where I can have a light over it and be able to see the shrimps....give them some nice driftwood pieces to climb on etc.

Well they are bigger than the light green shrimps by at least 1/3 more and fatter, and soooo dark they look black but under a light they look blue or dark dark green. I am happy they are berried though as I can now have more of them....sorry don't have any pics of them...but IF you look on Franks aquarium site, they are listed as Bangladesh Indian Blue shrimps.


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## mgamer20o0 (Mar 8, 2007)

A Hill said:


> They're commonly referred to as blueberry shrimp.
> 
> Babies probably will be clear because it is either an environment specific result for coloration or dye by exporters.
> 
> ...


from the pics i think a hill is correct.

some of the babies will have a little coloration but not much. the adults stayed the same color. i got some 2-4 years ago its been too long.


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## jeffvmd (Apr 16, 2010)

janftica said:


> ....Well they are bigger than the light green shrimps by at least 1/3 more and fatter, and soooo dark they look black but under a light they look blue or dark dark green. I am happy they are berried though as I can now have more of them....sorry don't have any pics of them...but IF you look on Franks aquarium site, they are listed as Bangladesh Indian Blue shrimps.


I just noticed the berried shrimp to have lost eggs. I just hope they hatched and see soon what the young one will look like.

I just hope these are real babaultis. The adult shrimps seem to keep their color and I hope they keep it that way.


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## EntoCraig (Jun 7, 2010)

http://shrimpspot.com/blueberry.aspx


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## jeffvmd (Apr 16, 2010)

Looks like I have to separate them from Red cherries?


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## EntoCraig (Jun 7, 2010)

jeffvmd said:


> Looks like I have to separate them from Red cherries?


I would to keep hte blue genes.

RCS are Neocaridina denticulata sinensis and BlueBerry Shrimp are Neocaridina cf. var.blue. They are the same genus so their is a possibility for crossing.


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## jeffvmd (Apr 16, 2010)

Sad news as I saw one of em drop dead.
The temperature just shot up to 86F in tank, 88F in room.
This is what I'm worried about as summer comes in and I still have no chiller.
The RCS in the tank are doing ok. Most of my CRS are gone except for 1 who seems to be active an doing ok still for the past spikes in temp here. 
Luckily petco has a livestock replacement guarantee for the blue ones.

I'm thinking of getting an ice probe but it still has mixed reviews.
A chiller is still too costly for me as I only have a 6g and a 10g with no plans of getting any bigger tanks.


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## EntoCraig (Jun 7, 2010)

jeffvmd said:


> Sad news as I saw one of em drop dead.
> The temperature just shot up to 86F in tank, 88F in room.
> This is what I'm worried about as summer comes in and I still have no chiller.
> The RCS in the tank are doing ok. Most of my CRS are gone except for 1 who seems to be active an doing ok still for the past spikes in temp here.
> ...


Ice Packs might help


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## connordude27 (Jun 14, 2008)

Chillers aren't worth the money unless your in SW. Get a window AC unit and just cool the room.


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## jeffvmd (Apr 16, 2010)

@Entocraig- The fluval edge where they are currently in can't accomodate ice packs. (darn this edge and the small opening) 
But I'm just finishing cycling my 10gal so I can put the shrimps there. The cherries are doing great though.
From the initial stock that I got, They more than tripled already. Lots of juvies.

@connordude27 - A saltwater nano is still under a plea bargaining process with the mrs.:hihi: I'm contemplating about the ice probe as there is a seller offering a new one for $85. It's just the mixed reviews about the ice probe that's keeping me from jumping in on the deal.

Well I just got a replacement from petco today for the dead shrimp.
I met a guy there who got some of the "blackberry shrimp" too and he has the same problem of having them dead within 24hours.
Well mine lasted longer for about 3 days. But I saw the tank where they were keeping the blackberries in to have a few more dead in their batch. There must be really a problem with some of the specimen they have to begin with. It's just by chance that you can get a good one.


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## janftica (Jan 11, 2010)

jeff...sorry about your loss but I did say mine all died too within a few days after getting them, even the berried ones! This is a problem with these babaulti's, which I am sure is what you got.

The only other dark blue shrimp I know of is the Indian Blue which I have a few of right now and they are breeding well. They are much smaller than cherries so this is why I think your "blueberry" shrimps were in fact Babaulti blue...they are very large fat shrimps with long pointy noses...very straight profiles. 

Most of the ones in the LFS are already older shrimps that don't do well with moving and new areas, and subsequently die off very fast.


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## jeffvmd (Apr 16, 2010)

@janftica - the berried blue that I got initially is still up and seems to be doing well. I just hope the eggs hatched as she hasn't been carrying them around anymore. 
Looks like I have to check on the indian blues too.


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## janftica (Jan 11, 2010)

either she's dropped them, or they've hatched but not survived! I did see little white shrimps in my tank for about a day, then NADA! I definitely think the females hatched them but the fact that the water wasn't brackish was the key factor in their survival.

I had a few of the dark blue babaulti for a while afterwards, but eventually they all died off. NO sign of any other babies.

On the other hand the Indian Blues are all berried and I can see some juvenile blues in my tank, so I KNOW they are capable of surviving in freshwater tanks.

I am going to move them to a bigger 12 gallon, to see if they will become more prolific once in a separate tank by themselves. They are sharing a very small 2.5 gallon with my dark green shrimps.

OH yes, you can actually get very very dark green shrimps...not the lighter color ones!
These are soooo dark green they look black.

Hoping for some babies from them too.


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## jeffvmd (Apr 16, 2010)

SO we had another spike in temperature last week and the blue ones just flopped dead.
But before this, I have noted that these berried ones had lost their eggs already for about 2 weeks already. 
This afternoon, I was eyeing the tank when i saw some movement in the moss wall. There was a couple of beady looking eyes peeking out. Looks like shrimplets.
They really dont look like RCS shrimplets as the eyes were kinda luminous (like when you look at a OEBT). They also have this white/grayish stripe on the back and color is more opaque unlike the clear RCS shrimplets together in the tank.
It's hard to take a pic since these guys are always in hiding.
I'll have to wait for them to grow more and see if they take the blue color too.


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