Possible Crossbreeding of Sulawesi Shrimps

[Francis247]

Before I start, I must say that I am no expert in Sulawesi shrimps, but I am definitely an enthusiast of it.

I have asked many LFS and all said it is not possible for Sulawesi shrimps to crossbreeding, I know that this question has been asked numerous times but I am not here to ask question but here to share some results of accidental crossbreeding of Sulawesi shrimps. This could be a case of mistaken identity but I have been looking up online for resources but cannot find a possible explanation.

This was the situation. At first when I started out, I have quite a few White Spots aka Caridina sp. "Cardinal". I also have two Red Goldflakes aka Caridina sp. "Red Goldflake", but one of them died after some time. At first, everything was normal until I start to realised that my tank got smaller shrimps. So I guess I must be lucky for the shrimps to breed because I tried keeping Sulawesi shrimps many years back but was a total disaster because my shrimps were dropping like flies.

At first, I think that it was my White spots that spawn the shrimplets because of the white spots on the bodies, but after a closer examination, I realised that the legs of the shrimplets are yellow in colour and the spots are not white or blue, but yellow also. I was quite puzzled. Initially I suspected crossbreeding but quite a few sources said that it is not possible. So I thought that the spots and legs will turn white after some time after the shrimps mature. But for close to 4 months on, the colour of the spots and legs of the shrimplets did not change colour and now they are fully developed.

Here are the pictures...





This picture shows the "hybrid" with a White Spots

[Francis247]

I check my Red Goldflakes (that is still alive) and also the one that I had a few years back, the features are quite different from the "hybrid", so they cannot be Red Goldflakes. Anyway, an image of a Red Goldflakes can be found here.





This one was taken a few years back.



This is the White Spots that I have in my tank.



I am observing of the yellow spots on these "hybrids" will fade off when they grow even older. Will keep you all posted.

[seudzar]

Those yellow craw from your dennerli could show that they are moulding soon. Your gold flake looks normal to me. Their colour could change due to water condition and their mood, so it is normal. And they do not crossbreed

[Dscheng]

This is sulawesi shrimp? Wow, quite nice le..

[atwin]

Wow.. very pretty! My dream shrimp species!

[Clamence]

Bro off topic abit, can you share more about your tank setup and parameters? :-) would like to know how to get these guys to breed

[kennethc]

beautiful!