Red Boa - various breeding groups

The Skyfish Red Boa is one of the newer breeds from the Skyfish breeding tanks - a further development of the Galaxy Fishbone. It gets its name from its snake-like pattern. Here a broad bright dorsal stripe runs the entire length of the shrimp's carapace, dissolving downward into a smaller textured pattern on the head carapace. In the Red Boa, the base color visible below the dorsal stripe is a dark, intense red. Here you buy a breeding group of this Caridina sp., which includes three animals each.

This 2-3 cm large growing Caridina sp. is a hybrid breeding of different species from the group around Caridina cantonensis. These dwarf shrimps are characterized not only by their spectacular pattern but also by the enormous quality of their color density and color coverage. The Grade S animals have few transparent areas and a slightly less pronounced color density, the Grade SS is practically opaque colored.

Sex differentiation in Skyfish Red Boa Shrimp is a bit trickier than in poorly colored animals due to the good color coverage: You can't see the egg spot on the females - if they are carrying eggs, it is of course clear. You can tell the older females by their physique. Often they have a tiger scoop by which you can recognize them - here the second segment of the abdomen is clearly enlarged downwards. This is not as pronounced in males. Males also remain narrower than females as they age.

Skyfish Red Boa Shrimp require soft, slightly acidic water with as low a carbonate hardness as possible. In the Garnelio system they sit in salted osmosis water with a conductance of 250 microsiemens and a pH of slightly below seven. Furthermore they like a lot of oxygen in the water and a low germ count. They do not tolerate high organic loads or high nitrate levels well. Red Boa shrimp therefore do not fit well in heavily fertilized planted aquariums. A suitable aquarium volume for Skyfish Red Boa Shrimp starts at a minimum of 20 liters. Active Soil has proven to be a good substrate, stabilizing the pH and keeping the water soft and slightly acidic. A good filter keeps the water clean and the bacteria density in the open water low.

Since in most regions here the tap water is too hard and not optimal in composition for high breeding Caridina like the Skyfish Red Boa, successful breeders resort to osmosis water or demineralized water and a mineral salt suitable for soft water shrimp , which only raises the total hardness and does not affect the carbonate hardness. Temperatures of 20 and 25 degrees in the aquarium are optimal for these Caridina hybrids. The temperature should not drop much below this or rise above it for a long time. In this case, the aquarium must be regulated, for example, in the summer with an aquarium cooler.

High breeding shrimps should be selected and sorted for further breeding from time to time, therefore breeding aquariums for these Caridina sp. usually do without many plants. Breeders like to use mosses and perching plants like Bucephalandra, which are attached to stones and roots. They are simply removed when work needs to be done in the aquarium. The plants provide the dwarf shrimps with many hiding places and offer biofilm colonization areas, which serve as a food source for the Skyfish Red Boa. For this reason, you should still not do without a few plants in breeding tanks.

Skyfish Red Boa shrimp are best kept in a species tank. Caridina cantonensis and related species like Caridina serrata, bee shrimp or tiger shrimp cross with Skyfish Red Boa. This can cause the color to deteriorate and the patterns to disappear. We also definitely cannot recommend socialization with fish, crabs or shrimp. In sufficiently large aquariums, you could possibly introduce a small group of aufwuchs feeding catfish, such as Otocinclus. Since snails often do not live long in soft water, they are also not really a good recommendation for an aquarium with Red Boa shrimp. Some breeders use shiner worms or Tubifex instead of snails as a clean-up troop, which additionally loosen the bottom. The worms are also a perfect live food source for the dwarf shrimp.

Advanced shrimp keepers usually have no problem with breeding Skyfish Red Boa Shrimp if all their requirements are met. The females carry their eggs on their swimming legs for 4-6 weeks and release 15 to 30 young after this time. The baby shrimp hatch as finished miniature editions of the parents, not as larvae. They do not need saltwater to grow up.

Skyfish Red Boa Shrimp feed primarily on plant based foods in addition to aufwuchsia. Brown autumn leaves or sea almond tree leaves as permanent food are recommended because they contain important fiber as well as tannins, which can help the shrimp during molting. Furthermore Caridina sp. like to eat green dried walnut leaves or also nettle leaves. Nevertheless, since Caridina sp. are omnivores, they should be fed a protein rich food once or twice a week . We recommend the Skyfish shrimp food or another protein food especially for shrimps. Live foods such as shiner worms and artemia euplii are also a good source of protein.

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, in which the vitamins and other valuable ingredients are preserved as far as possible.

Our plant recommendation: Use for 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.

Contents: 3 animals