Dwarf shrimp from the island of Sulawesi (formerly: Celebes) in Indonesia are famous for their colorfulness – and notorious for their high demands on care. These species originate from the large Malili lakes. However, there are dwarf shrimp on Sulawesi that are some of the easiest to keep and maintain anywhere! Among these is Caridina pareparensis. It lives in rivers in the south of the island and adapts to pretty much all conditions you can imagine in a normal aquarium at all: soft and hard water, acidic or alkaline pH, even some salt in the water is tolerated and the temperature can be between 16 and 30°C.
Under all these conditions lives and reproduces the dwarf, which grows only about 1.5 cm long. The breeding is very productive. Although this dwarf shrimp is not very colorful, it is still pretty and because it is not shy at all, its care gives a lot of pleasure.
The species Caridina pareparensis was described from a river near Parepare; the form kept in the hobby is usually assigned to the subspecies (described as variant) Caridina pareparensis parvidentata, whose origin is a spring called Malawa near the village of Tjamba (this is about 150 km further south from Parepare). Where exactly the animals, which are kept in the aquarium, were/are collected is not known. The difference between the typical form and parvidentata lies in the dentition of the rostrum, where parvidentata (like our animals) has 6-10 denticles, all located on the rostrum, while the typical pareparensis has 13-18 denticles, of which 3-4 are located on the cephalothorax.
For our customers: the dwarf shrimp have code 481682 on our stock list. Please note that we only supply to wholesalers.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
