# MDT's Cardinal Shrimp Tank



## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

Hi everyone. I'm back again with my next project: Caridina dennerli, aka the cardinal shrimp. These are probably my most favourite shrimp in the hobby due to their unique appearance. They are endemic to an ancient lake in Sulawesi and as a result, are quite sensitive to water conditions. Mine are captive bred and are a bit more forgiving.

Here's the rundown:

6 Gallon
Chihiro LED light
HOB and UG filter
50W heater

Yamaya stone
Eco complete
Flourite black sand

Cardinal shrimps
Nerite snails
Yellow rabbit snails
Goldspot rabbit snail

Anubias petite
Anubias nana

Bucephalandra:
Hades
Lamandau mini red
Brownie Ghost
Brownie Purple
Arrogant Blue

First I prepare the UG filter with matrix



















I then add several additives for shrimps



















Next is eco complete and hardscape stones. I added some more additives over that too and then complete it by covering the tank in flourite.
Rest of hardware goes in and some finishing touches to the hardscape.




























Ta-da, tank is up and running










A month later with intense lighting to grow algae and my tank is ready for cardinals



















Buce Hades










Buce Arrogant Blue










Yellow rabbit snail


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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

And finally, my cardinals have settled in to allow me to take these pictures.
































































They are extremely shy still but hopefully in a few months when I have more, they will be easier to take pictures of.

Thanks for looking and I hope to share more of them soon.


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## Dou (Dec 4, 2015)

Much awesome. So Shrimp. Wow beautiful. x)


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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

In terms of care, I found them extremely sensitive when being introduced. I did a 2 hr drip acclimation and still ended up losing 6 over two weeks. I would definitely increase the acclimation time to 5 hours at least and drop in an air stone to keep the water moving. Once they settle in, they are more forgiving. I haven't lost once since then despite a few mistakes with my water quality.

They behave much differently from other shrimps. Very shy and timid. They huddle together when they aren't in the open, often in small groups. When they aren't feeling shy, they scuttle about on the sand or rocks rapidly grazing for algae. They also never swim unless something is very wrong. I've only ever seen them swim once and that was when I introduced them into the tank.

I feed them a mix of glasgarten products, snowflake food, kale and algae powder and sometimes algae wafers (that's usually more for the rabbits who are voracious eaters). I never over feed and only feed once every couple of days. They primarily eat algae and bacteria growing on the rocks and plants. I think they prefer the more soft and slimy algae.

For water changes, I use RO water mixed with Sulawesi 7.5 and Salty Shrimp GH+. Water changes happen once every several weeks, it's mostly just top offs. I do drop in a bit of fertilizer once every while for the plants. I am still trying to figure out the perfect routine for water changes though but I think 2.5-3 weeks may be the best for them.

The humidity in the tank is very high due to the UG filter and the high temperature requirement. I use plastic wrap and a glass lid to completely cover all openings.

Other than start up, I've found these shrimp to be not too terribly challenging once they settle in, but definitely not for beginners. I did a lot of research, prep and planning and would encourage the same for anyone interested. Still, they are definitely rewarding and are stunning to admire.


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## Sean's Ponds (Dec 3, 2015)

Congrats on the acquisition, I had a bit of a delay due to my programmable dimmer/timers not arriving. Had to place the order with a different supplier.
I had lost a lot of algae growth due to burning out two power drivers for the LED lights so I went over a week with no light and the algae just dissolved. I only have one bank of lights running now and the algae is slowly coming back now.

Hopefully you get some berried females soon. Nice to hear of your experience with the slower acclimation. I will keep that in mind when I get mine.

In the mean time I will enjoy the dark blue velvet's and CRS I got from Anna.









Cheers,
Sean


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## mysticalnet (Apr 22, 2010)

Beautiful cardinals!


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