(Photo Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org]
A painting by the English artist William Hogarth (1697–1764). It was painted around 1740–45, and is held by the National Gallery, London. The painting depicts a woman selling shellfish on the streets of London, typically a job for the wives and daughters of fishmongers who owned stalls in markets such as Billingsgate. The subject balances a large basket on her head, bearing shrimps and mussels, together with a half-pint pewter pot as a measure. Its size suggests that it was intended as a portrait, rather than a sketch for a larger work.
Well after the great flood of Ondoy. I decided to move down to a smaller tank. Since all the fish magically disappeared during the flood. To take the opportunity and break from our 60 gallon tank. Somehow spending 2 hours cleaning a tank wasn't so fun anymore, getting lazy in my old age. So now me and the kidlet have decided on two 10 gallon tanks. One will hold 3 fishes of her choice and the other will be a planted shrimp tank.
If you ask me about shrimps I'll tell you I don't know much. Much less freshwater shrimps. They are just something "other people" eat. Yes shrimp is not one of my top food priorities. Somehow they remind me of cockroaches running around the bottom of the ocean eating whatever they can find. I'm glad I don't like eating shrimp, as eating shrimp tends not to be environmentally UN-friendly either.
"According to the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, in the Gulf of Mexico, three pounds of bycatch are caught for every pound of shrimp that goes to market. According to the Worldwide Fund for Nature, in the Gulf of Thailand it can be 14 pounds of bycatch per pound of shrimp. Bycatch is often discarded dead or dying by the time it is returned to the sea. Sea turtles, already critically endangered, have been killed by the thousands in shrimp trawl nets." -Wikipedia
Back to our freshwater shrimps though. So these are the beasts in my planted shrimp tank...
RED CHERRY SHRIMP (Neocaridina heteropoda)
Now these little critters breed worse than rabbits! Yes, It's as simple as putting a male and female together. Let's just say I have several herds of tiny baby shrimp running in packs over running the tank! I've never seen/heard of this behavior in juvenile shrimps before. Strangely entertaining to watch though.
Photo Credit Flicker:threefingeredlord
CRYSTAL RED SHRIMP (Caridina sp.)
Three are pregnant at the moment. Though the one female has lost half her eggs. I'm not sure quite what to make of that...
Photo Credit Flicker: threefingeredlord
BUMBLEBEE SHRIMP (Caridina trifasciata)
I did start out with a bunch of these and I'm down to 4 now. Well that was before I got a thermometer and started monitoring the temperature. Silly me.
[Photo Credit: http://www.tropicalaquatics.co.uk]
RHINO SHRIMP (Caridina gracilirostris)
I just got these during the weekend. Aren't they just dandy! Its common names include mosquito shrimp, red-fronted shrimp, Rudolph shrimp and red-stripe shrimp. Pinocchio works for me though. When I got them there were 3 females with eggs. Highly doubt they will hatch since they need brackish water to hatch. Bummer.
[Photo Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org]
BLUE SHRIMP (Neocaridina cf. var.blue)
Not sure of this one... Seems to be some debate as to weather there really is a blue shrimp. (NO?/YES?) Either way it's blue to me.
(Photo Credit: Highfins@163.com
via: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com]
So there. After dumping them all together and finally deciding to blog about the planted shrimp tank and read up on the shrimps I have. I come across this. That there is a large possibility that my shrimps may cross breed. Hmm... wonder what sort of hybrids I'm going to end up with.
My want list: Ninja Shrimp (Caridina serratirostris), Snowball Shrimp (Neocaridina sp.), Hawaiian Red Shrimp - Opae ula (Halocaridina rubra), Bamboo Shrimp (Atyopsis moluccensis),
Purple Zebra Shrimp (Potamalpheops sp.).
A List of Shrimps
[via: http://en.wikipedia.org]
