User:KDS4444/Blue pearl shrimp

Taxobox

The blue pearl shrimp is an omnivorous tropical freshwater dwarf shrimp closely related to the golden bee shrimp, the snowball shrimp, and the cherry shrimp which has been selectively bred for the aquarium hobby and where it began to appear in 2007. It typically grows to between one and two inches (2.5-3.0cm) in length, with females often slightly larger than same-aged males, and can live as long as two years in an ideal environment. The blue pearl shrimp is a color morph: as its name suggests, the blue pearl shrimp exhibits a faint bluish body pigment. Like all color morphs, the blue pearl shrimp may cross breed with other shrimps of its own species typically resulting in offspring without any interesting color qualities. They are considered non-aggressive, and are easily bred in a stable clean aquarium.

Range
Although the original members of this landlocked shrimp family are all native to western Russia, Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Vietnam this variant has been selectively bred in captivity by the German Ulf Gottschalk and therefore has no "natural" range or distribution.

Ecology and reproduction
Breeding between adult shrimp takes place approximately once every two months. Females carry a set of brownish eggs within their swimmerettes for approximately 20-30 days before these eggs hatch into miniature versions of their parents (no member of this shrimp family has a larval stage). Full maturity is achieved in 3-5 months depending on temperature-- no breeding will take place at all if water temperatures are unusually low.

The blue pearl shrimp prefers slightly alkaline (pH of 7.2) to medium-hard water but are like other Neocaridina species in that they are easily adaptable to various conditions so long as the shift from one condition to another is sufficiently slow. Comfortable living temperatures can range from 68F-86F. All shrimp find copper extremely toxic, even in small quantities. The blue pearl shrimp is no exception.

As omnivores and as scavengers, they will eat unclaimed foodstuffs, algae, and decomposing animals. They are not plant eaters, and unlike the bamboo shrimp they are not filter-feeders.