Caridina Spinata

Yellow Cheek Shrimp, Gold Flake Shrimp

One of the newer shrimp species available in the hobby.  It is part of the new “Sulawesi” type specimen that recently entered the hobby.  Their care information is still fairly limited and keeping them alive in our home tanks is still a challenge for some.  However, if you are able to keep them alive (and breeding), then it is truly rewarding as these are some of the most beautiful shrimp available in the hobby as of today.

The pictures shown above are my Caridina Spinata, also known as the Yellow Cheek Shrimp or Gold Flake Shrimp.  One noticeable difference with this shrimp, aside from its obvious color, is its size.  When compared to some of the other Sulawesi shrimp, the C. Spinata easily trumps over them in terms of size difference.  While although many of the Sulawesi shrimp are small and rarely hit the inch margin, the C. Spinata is one of the few Sulawesi Shrimp species that do grow to about an inch, if not a teeny bit under.  The C. Spinata has bold colorings of dark, blood red with yellow lines on its body.  Usually they carry about 3 or so yellow streaks on their body and then a couple specks of yellow spots here and there.  Not as spotted as the Cardinals, but they still do carry some spots of yellow.  Furthermore, these seem to be one of the hardier Sulawesi shrimp in my experience.  Very much comparable to the Cardinals and perhaps even sturdier!  Definitely a Sulawesi "Beginner" type shrimp in my opinion.

The Sulawesi shrimp comes from the Indonesia, therefore, these are a warm water shrimp. Furthermore, the lakes they come from are reported to have high ph levels, so in order to imitate their natural habitat, try aiming for a ph of around 7.8-8.2 range.  Others have been reported to be able to keep their sulawesi shrimp in ph as low as 7.0 though, so it may be possible to keep them in more neutral water.  Temp should be 78 - 85F.

As for my own parameters, I keep my sulawesi tank(s) at a ph of 8.0.  Temperature ranges from 80-85, depending on how hot the room is.  Currently, most Sulawesi shrimp on the market are wild caught, so trying to imitate their natural is highly recommended (by me).

Feeding is the same as what you would normally feed other dwarf shrimp.  Meaty foods like frozen bloodworms are readily accepted.  Algae wafers work too, but does take some time for them to get accustomed to it.  I believe this is due to the fact that they are wild caught and aren’t used to being fed.  I feed during night hours because they are nocturnal by nature and this behavior is quite obvious when viewing them.

Furthermore, they’re very shy when you first get them.  They’ll quickly run away into the shadows when you approach the tank.  It does take time for them to get used to you but even then, most of the time, especially in the day, they will run away from you and hide.  They’re much more outgoing at night and do not hide as much.

Breeding the Sulawesi shrimp occurs in freshwater only.  This is good news to us, of course.  Furthermore, gestation period is relatively much shorter than the regular Dwarf shrimp that we are used to.  For example, Crystal reds/blacks and Tiger shrimp require about 4 weeks to have babies.  Neocaridina sp. such as the Red Cherries or Snowballs require at least 3 weeks before hatching.  The Sulawesi shrimp on the other hand require only 2-3 weeks to hatch.  The downside is, because these shrimp are noticeably smaller and more slender than our usual Dwarf shrimp, they do not carry as much eggs as the CRS and neocaridina shrimp.  To my knowledge, the Sulawesi shrimp do NOT interbreed with other shrimp (including other Sulawesi types).  Sexing the Sulawesi shrimp is very difficult and there is currently no method in differentiating the two genders, aside from when one gets pregnant.  Both sexes look very similar and females have no obvious enlarged abdomen that other dwarf shrimp have.

Nonetheless, the main challenge in keeping these shrimp is to keep them alive first.  Once you have that strapped down, breeding should occur in time and it will be smooth sailings then.

The Sulawesi shimp, at this time, are not cheap at all.  Most cost approx. $20 a piece at the moment.  Even higher when they are captive bred specimens as these are noted to be hardier.  So make sure you know what you’re getting into before spending hundreds of dollars for some!  This is definitely not the kind of shrimp beginners should go into.  They’re classified as a more advanced level shrimp at this time due to their fragile temperament.  So be warned!