I am the founder of Shrimp Aquatics and a freshwater aquarist with 4 years of hands-on experience keeping and breeding ornamental shrimp, fish, and invertebrates. Based in Ho Chi Minh City, one of the world's leading hubs for aquatic livestock, I test every care guide in my own fish room before publishing.
Care-guide methodology: husbandry advice is checked against observations from our own tanks where applicable, while species and water-parameter claims are reviewed against cited sources. Read our Content Policy.
If your Sulawesi shrimp are alive but nothing is reproducing, the cause is almost always the tank rather than the animals. In most stalled systems it’s one of four things: water that drifted out of range or moves too much,…
A filter is enough for Sulawesi shrimp when it keeps the water surface moving. Filters driven by an air pump, airlift undergravel plates and trickle systems already do that, so a separate air stone is optional. A sealed canister filter…
Sulawesi shrimp eggs, from lake Caridina such as the Cardinal shrimp (Caridina dennerli), usually hatch about three weeks after the eggs first appear. The female carries the whole clutch under her tail until each egg hatches directly into a tiny…
Sulawesi shrimp need warm, alkaline, mineral-rich water kept remarkably stable. As a working target, aim for about 79-86°F (26-30°C), pH 7.5-8.5, GH 4-8 dGH, KH 3-6 dKH and TDS 150-250 ppm, with ammonia and nitrite at 0 ppm and nitrate…
Most Sulawesi shrimp keepers do need a heater, but not all of them. Whether yours does depends on your room, not your region. These lake shrimp, the warm-water Caridina species from Sulawesi in Indonesia, need water held steadily at 79-86°F…
Bee/Crystal Caridina and Sulawesi shrimp are both members of the genus Caridina, yet they sit at opposite ends of freshwater shrimp keeping. Bee/Crystal lines (Crystal Red, Crystal Black, Bee and related soft-water shrimp) want cool, soft, acidic water. Sulawesi lake…
A Sulawesi shrimp aquarium needs six groups of supplies: an RO source and a Sulawesi specific mineral, test gear that reads TDS and carbonate hardness accurately, a reliable heater with an independent temperature check, inert substrate and alkaline rock, gentle…
Sulawesi shrimp (Caridina spp. from the Malili lakes, such as Caridina dennerli, the Cardinal) are advanced specialists. Most of their health problems trace back to water quality and recent changes rather than a specific disease. This guide groups the plausible…
Sulawesi shrimp live mostly on the layer of biofilm, algae and microorganisms growing on rock, glass, hardscape and filter media, and prepared food is a small supplement on top of it. Getting the balance wrong in the other direction, by…
Sulawesi shrimp are some of the most striking freshwater invertebrates in the hobby, and also some of the least forgiving. They’re a group of Caridina species from a cluster of ancient lakes on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, and they…
You don’t make Sulawesi shrimp breed. You build a mature, warm, alkaline tank, put a female-heavy group of one line into it, and then hold everything still long enough for molting females to mate on their own schedule. The hard…
