Blue Panda Shrimp, Caridina spec. "Blue Panda" (Taiwan Bee / Shadow Bee)

The Blue Panda is comparable in pattern to the Black Panda, except that in the blue variety the white cover is weaker and the blue tissue inside the body shines through, giving the Blue Panda a beautiful light blue and black pattern. The Blue Panda is a variety from the genus Caridina, presumably obtained by crossing different species.

This high breeding shrimp grows up to 3 cm long, the males about 2.5 cm. They are of a much slimmer body shape, the females, on the other hand, appear relatively thick and bulkywith their widely descended abdominal segments.

After mating, the female Blue Panda lays between 20 and 40 eggs, which she carries around attached to her webbed legs for up to six weeks, carefully grooming, cleaning and fanning them with fresh water. Fully developed baby shrimp crawl out of these eggs at the end of the gestation period. They need many hiding places and good dust food such as NatureHolic Babyfeed, because they grow strongly in the first time and have to molt accordingly often.

The Blue Panda needs soft, clean, oxygen-rich water and tolerates water temperatures of maximum 25 °C. In summer, the aquarium should be cooled accordingly to avoid failures. Ideally, an aquarium with Blue Panda shrimps should be kept with osmosis water and a hardening salt especially suitable for bee shrimps. An active substrate(Soil) buffers the pH value and makes the water ideal for these rather sensitive high-breeding animals.

The Blue Panda is an omnivore. It likes to eat mainly vegetable food, special shrimp food as well as growth and young algae cover. Twice a week protein replenishment is required, here a good protein food like Proteinfeed from NatureHolic does a good job. Furthermore brown autumn leaves are grazed and eaten with pleasure.

Since the Blue Panda is a very sensitive dwarf shrimp with special needs, we cannot recommend keeping them in a community tank. They are best kept in a species tank. Snails have a hard time with the acidic, very soft water that the Blue Panda needs, you should really think twice about keeping snails in such a soft water tank. In a sufficiently large group of conspecifics the Blue Panda feels safe, we recommend 10 to 15 animals as starting stock. If you want to keep the Blue Panda together with other shrimps, make sure that the requirements of the animals match each other.

Our food recommendation: NatureHolic's soft mainfeed softpads are designed for daily feeding. They contain all the nutrients shrimp need for shell development, egg formation and growth. During the production we pay attention to a gentle and environmentally friendly production, which preserves the vitamins and other valuable ingredients as much as possible.

Our plant recommendation: Use for the planting NatureHolic InVitros. These are free of snails, planaria and other unwanted co-inhabitants. Also free of algae spores, bacteria and fungi.

Expert Tip: We recommend for fish keeping the NatureHolic 3 Phase Liquid. The care set offers the best all-round protection for your animals. It ensures optimal conditions for successful breeding and keeping.