Blue Sapphire

The Blue Sapphire shrimp is a highly bred form of Neocaridina davidi, which originally comes from Asia and is found in Taiwan, China and Korea. With its intense dark blue color, the Blue Sapphire is actually reminiscent of the sapphire that gives it its name. In addition, many individuals have a golden dorsal line, which forms a very nice contrast to the dark body color and makes the shrimp look particularly elegant. Animals with a similarly intense color, such as tiger shrimp with the color variants “Blue Tiger” or “Royal Blue Tiger”, usually need osmosis water and suitable mineral salts. The Blue Sapphire shrimp, on the other hand, gets along wonderfully with almost any tap water.

Care in the aquarium

The Blue Sapphire shrimp is a robust and undemanding species that can be kept in an aquarium of 10 liters or more. It prefers clean and well-filtered water. Due to its ability to adapt to a wide range of water parameters, it is ideal for keeping in soft to hard tap water as well as in remineralized osmosis water. What is particularly important is that the temperature of the water does not exceed 26°C for long periods of time, even in summer. In order for this sociable dwarf shrimp to feel safe, it should be kept in a group of at least 10 animals and in a well-planted aquarium. The plants, but also roots, stone structures or shrimp tubes offer it protection and places of retreat. The nature of the substrate is of secondary importance for the shrimp and visually the Blue Sapphire is really fun on both dark and light substrates, as the dark blue stands out well everywhere. The Blue Sapphire can be socialized well with snails, but also with peaceful, small fish.

Feeding

As a classic leftover recycler, the Blue Sapphire shrimp feeds on biofilm and algae growth as well as detritus (dead plant material, carrion, leftover food). In the aquarium it can be fed with special types of shrimp food, leaves, algae powder and occasionally frozen food. Feed containing astaxanthin, but also nettle leaves, additionally support the color of the Blue Sapphire. Ideally, there are always brown autumn leaves in the aquarium, which represent optimal permanent food for the animals.

Sexual characteristics and breeding

Sex determination is usually not possible in young animals, but only in sexually mature animals. Juveniles and males have a narrower underside of the abdomen, while sexually mature females have a wider underside that covers the swimming legs like a “skirt”. This widening of the abdomen serves to protect the eggs, which the female carries and cares between her swimming legs until they hatch. As with most dwarf shrimp, female Blue Sapphire adults are slightly larger than males and are usually more intense in color. All Neocaridina shrimp reproduce in fresh water and breeding in the aquarium is usually easy. After being berried for around 3 to 4 weeks, the female releases around 20-30 fully developed, transparent shrimplets, which initially feed on microorganisms present in the aquarium and can be fed with dust food. Many Blue Sapphire shrimplets turn an intense dark blue when they are just a few millimeters long.