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Stardust shrimp?


Mattaquarium

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Just wanna know more about these shrimp :) dont really know much about these or ever hear about them (probably because im from the US?) but whats the grading on these guys? Ive seen they come in various grades but dont know what each grade is or what it entails? What parameters do these guys like? Anyone know where I can get some in the US? Would love to see any pics from people who own them too!  

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@TheGardenofEder and @MinusInfinity were selling off some stardusts recently. I would also like to hear a bit about them. From the pictures, I can't tell if they look will look spectacular or like neo skittles.

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@Mattaquarium They don't seem to be popular in the US. My guess is because of their price and their lack of vibrant colors. From everything that I've gathered about this shrimp, which isn't much, grading is based on the "blueness" of the shrimp and the amount and vibrancy of the speckles. Currently in the US, I haven't seen anyone selling them by grades. I keep mine in normal crystal/taiwan bee (they appear to be quite a hardy type of shrimp) and have had them for almost 3 weeks now. I got 10+ for $110 with shipping from TheGardenofEder and I've been very happy with them since I've received them. He doesn't sell by the grade, but I can vouch for the quality and health of his shrimp, his packaging, and customer service if you'd be interested in getting them from him. 

 

@aotf I had the same thought which made me hesitate at first when deciding if I'd want to get these shrimp. I have several different types of shrimps including pintos and royal blue tigers and I'd have to say these stardust are definitely one of my favorites. I'm a hardcore fan of the hobby, so I find beauty in each type of shrimp, but the uniqueness of the speckles are very interesting to me as a hobbyist. To me, it's a unique new pattern that I could one day use to create a new pattern or color variation through crossbreeding. They have a sort of wild look to them, which I also like. However, not all stardust look really nice, and you'd probably have to cull if you want to get a nice colony. The first and third pictures show 2 of my nicer stardusts. The second shows a comparison of a more brown and wild looking one compared to a smaller but bluer one. The majority of TGOE's stardusts were blue or had blue coloration (most are still young and not showing their full colors). Pictures hardly do them justice IMO because they aren't a super colorful shrimp.

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13 minutes ago, JSak said:

...

 

Very cool, thank you for the pictures. I had no idea about any of the grading. The shrimp in the first picture looks particularly nice. 

 

Makes me wish I had room for a couple extra tanks, it seems like you could get some really great speckling after a couple generations of selective breeding.

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2 hours ago, aotf said:

 

Very cool, thank you for the pictures. I had no idea about any of the grading. The shrimp in the first picture looks particularly nice. 

 

Makes me wish I had room for a couple extra tanks, it seems like you could get some really great speckling after a couple generations of selective breeding.

No problem! I'm not entirely sure about the grading, but it seems like breeders are trying to select for the blue ones with the most speckling. TGOE's strain seems to be pretty high quality, so with his I'm sure it won't take too long to create a good colony. If you ever get other tanks they're definitely worth looking into. 

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12 hours ago, JSak said:

@Mattaquarium They don't seem to be popular in the US. My guess is because of their price and their lack of vibrant colors. From everything that I've gathered about this shrimp, which isn't much, grading is based on the "blueness" of the shrimp and the amount and vibrancy of the speckles. Currently in the US, I haven't seen anyone selling them by grades. I keep mine in normal crystal/taiwan bee (they appear to be quite a hardy type of shrimp) and have had them for almost 3 weeks now. I got 10+ for $110 with shipping from TheGardenofEder and I've been very happy with them since I've received them. He doesn't sell by the grade, but I can vouch for the quality and health of his shrimp, his packaging, and customer service if you'd be interested in getting them from him. 

 

@aotf I had the same thought which made me hesitate at first when deciding if I'd want to get these shrimp. I have several different types of shrimps including pintos and royal blue tigers and I'd have to say these stardust are definitely one of my favorites. I'm a hardcore fan of the hobby, so I find beauty in each type of shrimp, but the uniqueness of the speckles are very interesting to me as a hobbyist. To me, it's a unique new pattern that I could one day use to create a new pattern or color variation through crossbreeding. They have a sort of wild look to them, which I also like. However, not all stardust look really nice, and you'd probably have to cull if you want to get a nice colony. The first and third pictures show 2 of my nicer stardusts. The second shows a comparison of a more brown and wild looking one compared to a smaller but bluer one. The majority of TGOE's stardusts were blue or had blue coloration (most are still young and not showing their full colors). Pictures hardly do them justice IMO because they aren't a super colorful shrimp.

26865425_210866082811696_4329950277072322560_n.jpg

unnamed-2.jpg

unnamed-3.jpg

Wow thanks for the pictures! What water parameters are you running with these guys? Curious to what kind of ph range these guys can handle as my current tank runs at around 7-7.2. 

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17 minutes ago, Mattaquarium said:

Wow thanks for the pictures! What water parameters are you running with these guys? Curious to what kind of ph range these guys can handle as my current tank runs at around 7-7.2. 

Their water's gh is about 5 - 6, kh about 0 - 1, TDS about 175. I actually don't measure my ph for any of my shrimp tanks, but I'd say it's probably around 6.5 since I'm using R/O water and Brightwell soil. I believe that they would be able to handle that range of ph as they appear quite hardy, but they do prefer softer water. If you're interested I would send TheGardenofEder some questions about his tank parameters and setup. It sounds like he has a good breeding colony going on.

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Ph range can go from 6-7 in my experience (I prefer 6.5 to be safe.) Gh range about 5-8, Kh best kept low at 0-1, and TDS 110-200 (mine is around 140-178.)

 

As for grading? Joe's Aqua in California is the only shop I've seen that claims to sell A grade (have not confirmed this myself; his stock won't be replenished until this summer.) Never heard of S-grade at all. Reliqon Aqua supposedly sells Stardusts that have been line bred for blue color and speckles, so I suppose his stock is the closest thing available to being pure strain. RA is based in Europe, but the owner Roger will sell and ship to the U.S.; just be aware that if you do the express shipping will cost at least $200 USD and will take about 3-4 days to arrive to say California.

 

Note on speckles: Most evident in adults/near mature; so far, I have not seen it manifest in the young. Seems they start as something closer to an "ugly duckling" before you can expect the white swan.

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I have two tanks of star dust from different sources breeding. Juvies are all translucent with a few stripes and barely any dots. As they grow they will gain more dots but it's only the berried females that seem to really get dark blue with tons of dots. Selling them by grade just isn't viable right now because the same shrimp in the pictures below look nothing like that two weeks later or from one day to the next.

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