shrimp-attack.com

Everybody interested in the genetics of Taiwan Bee, should check out this thread in shrimpnow (click here) where some really interesting pictures have been showed. It seems that King Kong, Panda and red Ruby are not so far from Tigers and Tiger Bees.

I have been told by an Indian shrimp keeper, that cardina hordgarti are called ‘Green Rocket Shrimp‘ in trivial there. I really love this name! He keeps his in 26 degree Celsius in a well planted tank.

Green Rocket Shrimp (caridina hodgarti)

While Blue and Black Tiger shrimps have been bestsellers in 2008 – like King Kong and Panda have been in 2009 – we now are eager to know which shrimp will be the favorite in 2010. There are some newbreeds already shown to a wider public: Black Fire, Blue Fire (which was perhaps a good photoshop work only) and Chocolate Shrimps – all of neocaridina type. Although this shrimps are new on the market, they did not initiate a rush.

Preferences for a certain shrimp species or color type rely on regional and social background. While most beginners prefer easy to breed and intense colors (f.e. red, yellow and green neocardina), advanced keepers most often like restrained patterns and colors, say Tiger or Bumble Bee shrimp, too.

I suppose the #1 shrimp in 2010 must have interesting pattern and coloration, so mono colored shrimps drop out. We have had black shrimp in pool position for some time, so if I look into my crystal ball, I suppose new colored Tiger shrimps in red, yellow or green with fat tiger stripes, selected Blue Bee as a first blue-and-white shrimp as well as the beautiful Princess Bee from Vietnam will be the most wanted shrimps in 2010. Let’s wait and see; life is a guessing game.

The Results of the ‘Second International Shrimp Contest‘ 2010 are out, but sadly not on the contest website but in a German driven forum. I’ll link to them, when the results are official published. We have only one winner not coming from Germany but from Poland. Overall, after having a quick look on the participants lists, only the Netherlands and Poland were competing with German shrimp breeders in the end.

The name of the judges:

1. Andrea Sassi, Italy
2. Andreas Karge, Germany
3. Grzegorz Nowinski, Poland
4. Heike Dixon, Germany
5. Kai Quante, Germany
6. Michael Nadal, Germany
7. Mirko Ritter, Germany
8. Rafael Morales, Canada
9. René Kruiter, Netherlands
10. Ulrike Wesollek-Rottmannn, Germany

Update, 17.02.2010:
The results are out on the contest website, click here to open the PDF.

This is a question I have been thinking for a while now. The contest in Osaka and Hannover have shown that we still lack an international shrimp association since only a constitutional organization can put urgent questions up for discussion.

A major task would be to develop binding guidelines and graduation systems for shrimp species. These grades could be standards for shrimp shows. A side effect is that breeding targets would be defined more clearly: Grades, patterns and values would be fixed in an international classification. F.e. it has to be discussed if a black tiger shrimp with white tail (like this one shown from Morgana) still is black tiger category and if so – if it is a higher grade than a black tiger with a black tail.Another example are Red Fire Sakura shrimp: Should these neocaridina have a visible stripes on the back or not?

Organizing one show every year would be a cool task for this international association.

Binding guidelines will bring more transparency in shrimps competitions and shows, too.

• A serious should not be able compete with shrimps he has less than 12 months in his ownership. Otherwise, he let’s judge another ones work and does not contribute this much.
• The way judges are assigned must be transparent as well as the judging criteria.
• While private shrimp keepers mostly participate for the glory, a first price in a championship is good marketing for professional breeders. Therefore it’s a basic question if one can participate anonymously, behind/with a company name or only with a full name. Perhaps it is wise to split the competitors in privates and professionals?
• It brings up the next issue: Fair auction split for shrimps being sold after the show. No breeder has real interest to give his shrimps away as a gift. The costs for the show should be (in best case) payed by participators fees and sponsorship.

International means that everybody worldwide can become a full member. Private individual membership should differ from professional membership or even sponsorship. Since laws and costs differ from country to country I am not sure where this association would be based best….

I’d be very lucky if somehow this breeding organization someday will exist across the boundaries of self-interest.

What do you think of such an association?

(Comment appeared in shrimpnow.com first on feb 09th 2010.)

I have found two videos with pics from the aqauscaper’s layout contest on the Hannover fair. One deals with nano tanks, the other with bigger. Enjoy!