Sulawesi Yellow Nose

Sulawesi Yellow Nose is a tank-bred line of Sulawesi lake Caridina, bred by Shrimp Aquatics and not collected from the wild. The yellow tip on the rostrum against a darker body is the point of the line, and it reads best on a settled adult in a mature, warm, alkaline tank. This is an advanced line: the shrimp are undemanding once the tank is right, and unforgiving until it is.

Check your tank against Yellow Nose water targets before you order

This line is kept inside the same group range as every Sulawesi shrimp we sell. A tank already running there is a candidate; a tank that needs to be moved into range is a project to finish before ordering.

Tap water is not a shortcut here. We start our Sulawesi systems with RO water, then use Sulawesi Mineral 7.5 to prepare the water for our current tank targets before shrimp are introduced, and we test the finished pH, GH and TDS before the water goes into a tank. Follow the current manufacturer instructions for the mineral and verify the finished values yourself rather than trusting a dose.

Yellow Nose needs a mature grazing layer, not just the right numbers

In our Sulawesi systems, mature algae and biofilm do most of the feeding. We normally offer prepared food only about once a week and remove leftovers, because many of the shrimp in these systems show limited interest in it and because food that sits in warm water adds organic waste and can raise ammonia, nitrite and nitrate as it breaks down. Supplemental food cannot compensate for a tank that has not grown its grazing layer yet.

During the early cycle we normally run the light for 8-10 hours a day so algae and biofilm can establish on the rock and glass. We wait for 0 ammonia and nitrite, stable temperature and chemistry, an established biological filter and visible grazing surfaces before stocking; with a powdered bacterial starter our normal minimum is 3-4 weeks.

• Ammonia and nitrite read 0 on two tests a few days apart.
• Temperature, pH, KH and TDS have held for at least a week without correction.
• Rock and glass carry a visible film of algae and biofilm.
• Do not rely on a calendar or on a bottle of bacteria to declare the tank ready.

Which tankmates and Sulawesi lines can share a Yellow Nose tank

Bee and Taiwan Bee Caridina need the opposite water and are out regardless of temperament. Sulawesi snails share the range and the grazing surfaces, so they are the usual companions; count them into the grazing load. Any tankmate also has to fit the gentle flow a Sulawesi tank runs at.

We have no crossing record for Yellow Nose against the other lines in our range, so keep it in its own tank if line purity matters to you.

How many Yellow Nose shrimp to order for a colony

Order a group rather than a pair. When we can sex the shrimp with reasonable confidence, we usually build a Sulawesi breeding group with either 2 males to 8 females or 3 males to 7 females, to reduce mating pressure on newly molted females. Mature females usually show a deeper, rounder lower abdomen and, when visible, a yellow or darker ovarian saddle behind the head; we do not promise the sex or sex ratio of shipped stock unless that exact stock has been verified.

Settling a Yellow Nose order into your tank on arrival

Follow the instructions packed with your order. For a sealed bag after a long transit, the current Shrimp Aquatics shipment protocol is to float the bag to equalize temperature, then net the shrimp into the tank without adding the shipping water. Packing method, transit time and species can change the right method, so the sheet in the box takes precedence over this page. Keep the lights off for the first 24 hours.