# Anyone have experience with Cardinal Shrimp?



## Bfunk89 (Dec 1, 2011)

Hello all!
I was just wondering if anyone has any experience with Cardinal Shrimp?

I've got an Ebi with Blue Pearls in it right now and I've been looking for some more colour to add to the tank when I came across the Cardinals (which most sites say wont breed with any other species, anyone know if this is true?) and fell in love with them! They seem to have similar parameters as the Blue Pearls and at a glance I'm thinking they might work out as tank mates. Thing is I haven't seen anywhere to buy them or heard of any personal experience with raising them. Some of the sites say their difficult, but then again some sites said that about the Crystal Reds too and I've not found a problem with them.

So just wondering if anyone here knows anything about them?

Thanks,
Bri


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

Cardinals arent a problem to keep alive as long as you have the right conditions, unfortunately blue pearls wont quite make the perfect tank mate.

Cardinal live in brackish water and there was a few members on here keeping them and 1 in richmond actually had success breeding them. But they are pricey at $25ea....


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## Bfunk89 (Dec 1, 2011)

tang daddy said:


> Cardinals arent a problem to keep alive as long as you have the right conditions, unfortunately blue pearls wont quite make the perfect tank mate.
> 
> Cardinal live in brackish water and there was a few members on here keeping them and 1 in richmond actually had success breeding them. But they are pricey at $25ea....


Brackish, really? That's good to know thanks! I've read about five sites and never saw anything about brackish water just a reinforcement about higher PH and temp. I knew such a beautiful colouring would be pricey, but it always hurts to hear how pricey! haha.


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Bfunk89 said:


> Brackish, really? That's good to know thanks! I've read about five sites and never saw anything about brackish water just a reinforcement about higher PH and temp. I knew such a beautiful colouring would be pricey, but it always hurts to hear how pricey! haha.


Cardinal Shrimp are a freshwater shrimp (they are NOT salt/NaCl tolerant). Although in their natural habitat (original described from Lake Matano Sulawesi) they are found in water with a high GH and medium KH value. They like clean water with a TDS around 800ppm which is mainly derived from Calcium/Magnesium carbonates. They also prefer temperatures on the high side 26 - 27 degrees Celsius. They are herbivours prefering mainly algae as a food source.llent

Respectfully,

Stuart


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## Bfunk89 (Dec 1, 2011)

CRS Fan said:


> Cardinal Shrimp are a freshwater shrimp (they are NOT salt (NaCl) tolerant. Although in their natural habitat (original described from Lake Matano Sulawesi) they are found in water with a high GH and medium KH value. They like clean water with a TDS around 800ppm which is mainly derived from Calcium/Magnesium carbonates. They also prefer temperatures on the high side 26 - 27 degrees Celsius. They are herbivours prefering mainly algae as a food source.
> 
> Respectfully,
> 
> Stuart


Thanks Stuart, I've read similar information on a lot of the sites. I'm not looking to jump immediately into them, just contemplating at the moment so it's great to get other people's experiences with them!


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

A good friend of mine had excellent success using crushed coral as a substrate using a canister filter as a reverse flow pump on an undergravel style filter. I know this sounds archaic, BUT this person was breeding Sulawesi shrimp locally by the 1000's a few years ago. Unfortunately BC's market could not sustain his breeding efforts and he moved on to bigger/better things.

Best Regards,

Stuart


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

Yah I think I got alittle eager with my words, when I said brackish which is totally the wrong term, I was meaning high ph kh and not salt, should have been more careful and not so lazy on my reply. Sorry for the confusion.


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## akafugu (Jul 14, 2011)

I don't have experience with them, but I'm also dying to get my hands on some.
Do you know anyone selling them now in the lower mainland?

I saw some at IPU sometime within the last year, but they have not had them back for a while.


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## Bfunk89 (Dec 1, 2011)

I haven't found any yet, and even the online sources like the shrimp farm don't have any in stock. 

You don't think blue pearls could survive in the same tank? Their parameters can extend into the 80s for temp, 7 for ph and 7 for gh. At least from what I've read. I'm not sure about their kh or tds however.

Thank you for the posts so far guys!

Bri


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

The last I saw was jiang604 with the cardinal shrimp for sale a few years back, he set up his tank with crushed coral substrate so it buffered the ph to 8.2 which is slightly higher than a neutral 7. Also I heard success keeping these shrimps feeding them spirulina powder and other veggies.

Maybe pm Frank, Jiang604 to see if he can get some!


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