Green babaulti shrimp

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep them in a colony of at least ten in a tank of 38 liters or larger, since they turn shy and reclusive in small numbers and grow far more confident and visible in a group. They are peaceful bottom dwellers that spend the day grazing on algae, biofilm, and leftover food. They handle a pH from about 6.5 to 7.8 and a wide hardness range, but they dislike sudden swings, so go slow on water changes. Breeding is easy and works much like cherry shrimp, though the very small fry are slower to mature and harder to raise, so a biofilm rich tank and a sponge over the filter intake help the young survive. Keep them with small, peaceful fish or no fish at all, since anything large will eat the shrimplets.

In the wild

Green babaulti shrimp come from streams across the Indian subcontinent in South Asia, where they pick over leaf litter, plants, and submerged wood. Give them a mature planted tank with mosses, driftwood, and a fine sand or gravel substrate they can sift through. Aim for 22 to 28 C and a pH from 6.5 to 7.8. A well established tank with plenty of biofilm and algae suits them best, since that is what they graze on all day.

Good to know

This is Caridina babaulti, a dwarf shrimp in the family Atyidae. Adults reach about 3 cm and usually live one to two years. Females carry their eggs under the tail for around 30 days, holding roughly 30 to 50 at a time, and the young hatch as tiny copies of the adults with no larval or brackish stage. They are sensitive to copper, so avoid copper based medications and fertilizers.

Did you know

The green color is not fixed. Babaulti shrimp can shift their shade depending on what they eat and the tank around them, drifting between green, brown, red, and yellow over time. A shrimp that looks deep green one month may turn brownish the next, and a whole colony will often show a mix of tones at once.

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