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I have found an interesting pic on bidders.co.jp. Doesn’t this Taiwan Bee look like a cross-bred Black Tiger to CR shrimp?

King Kong, Panda and Red Ruby Shrimp have made hobbiests nervous all over the world. They are still rare and quite expensive. If you are interested in buying them, start saving money and check out the import regulations of your country! A mixed group of five Taiwan Bees was sold for 1900 Euro at the german auction market  Wirbellosenauktionshaus in June 2009.

But what is so special about them?

In short words: The colour is gogeous! I have never seen such a pure and dark black and the wine-red ist impressing also. It was Silane (D. Tng) who showed pics of the shrimp first to a wider public October 2008). But similar shrimps have been shown in a german forum 2007 already.

So what exactly are we talking about?

Images

• Panda
• King Kong
• Wine Red
• Red Ruby
• Blue Bolt

Pattern and Colour

The different pattern types you might buy have been defined by the breeder and spread through international forums. But the definitions are not yet fixed and people are using parts of the name as they want, like ‘All red King Kong’.

Originally it was described like this:

Wine Red Bee have similar pattern to Bee Shrimp Grade A or B, but a deeper an darker red as equivalent for Panda Bee in the dark variation.

Ruby Red / Red Ruby Bee are mostly red with only thin white stripes on the back or at the head. The stripes are only in semi-circle round the body. King Kong Bee are the black version of this Grad. Remember: The more red or the more black – the higher grade you have!

The wine red colour sometimes looks kind of muddy if you have a detailed look. The black may look bluish or green.

Genetics and Offspring

The most interesting and also not satisfying thing is that all kind of Taiwan Bee don’t have homogenous offspring yet. They are not homozygous. From Black Taiwan Bees you can get Ruby Reds and Wine Reds. But you can also have Blue Bolt shrimplets: A bluish variant of the Snow White  shrimp.

Also remarkable: The stripe pattern breakes in the middle if you have a side view. This is known from Tigerbees and wild caught bees.

The breeder of Taiwan shrimp, Mr. Yeh  Chung Ching held an interview in Stuttgart (Germany) in March 2009. He answered, that Panda and King Kong shrimp are a mutation of Bee Shrimp he gave away for free first before he realised the genetic potential. Silane has commented that the genesis of this kind of shrimp was possible in Taiwan only ‘because he [the taiwanese mass breeder] did not do too much selective breeding for colors or pattern‘.

The origin of Taiwan Bee stays quite obscure. Don’t forget all the market potential still lying in this species… Personally, I assume that Taiwan Bee are no pure Bee Shrimp but a crossbreed: Perhaps of Black Tiger Shrimp or New Bee and bee shrimp. I cannot prove this and maybe have to be disabused in the future, but – hey: that’s life