Skip to content
underwatergreen
Menu

Species profile

Santa Caridina Shrimp

Caridina spp.

Common names: Santa Caridina Shrimp, Santa Shrimp, Santa Taiwan Bee Shrimp

Breeding lineCaridina Shrimp
Buy from sellers in Nepal
Santa Caridina Shrimp (Caridina spp.)

Adult size

Up to 3 cm

Typical adult length 2–3 cm.

Up to 3 cm

Good fit for your tank?

Good fit for

  • A soft-water display where you want a strongly red shrimp with limited white accents that resemble a Santa-style colour pattern.
  • A breeder prepared to select for an even red body, clean white areas, and the exact pattern used by the original breeder.
  • A buyer who has seen the seller's adult colony and understands the grade being offered under the Santa trade name.

Think carefully if

  • You assume every seller uses Santa for the same strain. It may overlap with Super Red Crystal or other red-dominant Caridina lines.
  • You plan to mix it with PRL, Crystal Red, Wine Red, or Red King Kong shrimp while preserving a distinct Santa line.
  • You want an easy red shrimp for ordinary tap water. A red Neocaridina is usually a safer beginner choice for that type of aquarium.

A red-and-white Taiwan Bee–type Caridina line sold under the Santa trade name.

Appearance and Identification

Strong red body colour with contrasting white head, tail, or body markings that create a festive red-and-white appearance.

Santa Shrimp is a trade breeding-line name and is not standardized across breeders. Verify lineage and expected pattern before treating it as genetically equivalent to another Santa line.

Adult females are generally larger and deeper-bodied than males. Colour and pattern intensity are not reliable sex indicators.

Tank Requirements

Suggested filter
About 80–100 litres an hour
Suggested heater
About 25–50 W for this tank
Minimum tank volume
20 litres
Minimum tank length
30 cm
Minimum group size
6
Recommended group size
10
Activity level
Moderate
Flow preference
Low to moderate
Planting preference
Heavily planted
Hiding places
Yes
Lid recommended
Yes
Jumping risk
Low

Use a mature, cycled aquarium with active substrate or another stable soft-water setup, gentle filtration, abundant biofilm, mosses, leaf litter, and protected filter intakes.

Behaviour and Tankmates

Peaceful dwarf shrimp that graze biofilm, algae, detritus, leaf litter, and prepared foods.

Best maintained in a group with other compatible Caridina lines sharing the same water requirements.

Not normally territorial.

Peaceful community fish may still eat shrimplets. Keep breeding colonies in shrimp-focused aquariums. Different compatible Caridina lines may interbreed and alter colour or pattern outcomes.

Check tankmates for this species

Water Parameters

Temperature
20–23 °C
pH
5.5–6.5
GH
4–6
KH
0–1
TDS
90–140
Stability importance
Very important

Maintain soft, acidic, low-KH water with active substrate. Stable TDS and gradual acclimation are important for this selectively bred line.

Parameter caveat
Stability matters more than chasing a single number. Avoid abrupt changes in temperature, pH, GH, KH, or total dissolved solids.

Feeding

Diet types
Aufwuchs Grazer, Detritivore, Omnivore
Feeding frequency
Daily
Preferred foods
  • Mature biofilmPrimary natural grazing resource.
  • Complete dwarf-shrimp foodFeed sparingly and remove uneaten food.
  • Leaf litterProvides grazing area and slowly decomposing natural food.

Omnivorous biofilm grazer. Provide mature natural grazing surfaces and small portions of complete shrimp food, leaf litter, algae-based food, and occasional protein-rich food.

Avoid overfeeding. A mature aquarium with continuous biofilm is more important than heavy supplemental feeding.

Breeding

Breeding type
Direct Developer
Breeding difficulty
Moderate
Breeding temperature
22 °C
Breeding pH
6.2
Brood or egg count
Approximately 15–30 eggs, varying with female size and line
Incubation
28 days
Parental care
Maternal care
Baby foods
  • Mature biofilm and fine powdered shrimp foodShrimplets need constant access to microscopic food on established surfaces.

Direct-developing freshwater shrimp. Females carry eggs beneath the abdomen and release miniature shrimplets. Line purity and pattern consistency depend on selecting breeders and preventing unwanted crosses.

Habitat and Origin

Geographic origin
Captive Bred
Natural habitat
Freshwater Stream
Aquarium contexts
Breeding Aquarium, Planted Tank, Shrimp Tank
Audience level
Advanced, Intermediate

Classification

Profile type
Breeding line
Genus
Caridina
Family
Atyidae
Species group
Caridina Shrimp

Have you kept this species?

You can write a note about what worked for you, or send a photograph. We check everything before it appears here.

Share a note or photo

JPG, PNG, or WebP, up to 5 MB.

Buy from sellers in Nepal

Ask sellers directly about price, current stock, and delivery.

Explore all shops

Shadow Panda Shrimp

Caridina logemanni

Care level
Intermediate
Adult size
2–3 cm
Minimum tank
20 litres
Temperature
19–24 °C

Sulawesi Fan Shrimp

Caridina longidigita

Care level
Advanced
Adult size
2–3 cm
Minimum tank
30 litres
Temperature
27–30 °C

Sulawesi Harlequin Shrimp

Caridina spongicola

Care level
Advanced
Adult size
2–3 cm
Minimum tank
30 litres
Temperature
27–30 °C

Sulawesi Red Line Shrimp

Caridina striata

Care level
Advanced
Adult size
2–3 cm
Minimum tank
30 litres
Temperature
27–30 °C

Plan it with our tools