Robustness-test of Taiwan Bees!

Having kept and bred shrimp for 10 years I thought it was about time I tried these popular ones. I am mostly a fan of natural forms, but there's always exceptions...

Most people seem to use shrimp-soil of some sort with a truckload of additives available. Minerals, special food etc. and RO-water with salts added. I am quite opposite...sand substrate, a mix of tap-and rainwater made roughly 50/50. I never or very rarely measure anything and temperature is normally felt with my hand. I do weekly og bi-weekly 50-80% waterchanges and feed a variety of foods. Frozen bloodworms and various sticks. Mostly the ones from TA-Aquaculture. A lot of leaves are always in the tank. Cattappa, Oak, Beech, Chestnut etc., and nettles or Hazel-leaves for the shrimp. Only recently I have tried adding Polytase and Biozyme to see of it makes a difference.

I am a bit rough on the shrimp compared to many others, so I had to see if I could keep these supposedly very fragily Taiwan Bees alive. As an example the temperature drop during last waterchange was from 23 to 16C! 

A few types were purchased from Germany - Blue Bolt, Red Bolt, Red Ruby and Panda. 5 of each. I decided to keep them together in a tank they share with Corydoras nattereri. So, time would tell if I was successful!

One of the Blue Bolts.

It wasn't long before a Panda and a Blue Bolt were carrying eggs. After a while the eggs were gone and the waiting could begin.

Today during waterchanges I noticed a tiny Blue Bolt and after closer inspection I found a lot of Blue Bolts and a few others I guess is Panda and King Kong or something like that. Hard to see at this time.

Tiny one...King Kong maybe?

Blue Bolts really stand out!

Looks like a Panda.

I have seen Red Bolts with eggs too, so I hope to see some of those soon. I really like the strong colours on these shrimp and I will get more in the future, but still the natural forms outnumber them considerably. 

Some of the adults: