Quick care card
Use this card as a starting point. Always check whether your aquarium is stable enough for sensitive species.
Difficulty
Difficult
Behavior
Grazes surfaces and uses shelter.
Feeding
Suitable food and grazing space, accessible to juveniles too.
Breeding
Follow young actually growing; pattern inheritance depends on the strain.
Best match
Keepers able to follow a soft-water system and their chosen strain
Important
A pattern or high price does not establish health. During losses or sudden changes in behaviour, first investigate water quality, oxygen provision and recent additions.
Care in practice
Prepare a measurable soft-water system and compare the offered strain with bee husbandry guidance. Ask about temperature, GH, KH, pH, source water and substrate. RO with appropriate minerals may help where tap water does not fit; follow the actual substrate and mineral instructions. TDS or a trade name alone is insufficient.
Establish functioning biological filtration before adding animals. Protect intakes, provide accessible shelter and grazing surfaces, and choose space for the colony and maintenance. With active substrate, also follow readings after setup. A prescribed number of weeks or clear water does not establish readiness.
Offer suitable food whose uptake you can observe. Check whether juveniles reach it too. Moss, leaves and visible biofilm do not demonstrate a complete diet. Adjust additions to numbers, growth and leftovers. Protein is a nutrient; a blanket low-protein rule is not proven to prevent all moulting problems.
Fish may eat young. A dedicated shrimp aquarium helps follow feeding and offspring. Do not mix bee and related aquarium strains solely because water requirements overlap: a suitable water system does not establish colour-consistent offspring. Nor does the entire Caridina genus share one water recipe.
Females carry eggs under the abdomen; bee offspring grow in fresh water. Record juveniles actually hatched and growing. An egg-carrying female does not prove that water, nutrition and rearing are all optimal. Protect intakes and provide food near shelter.
Using trade grade as a health test; copying only TDS; leaving poor water conditions unchanged to avoid every change; sticking to a fixed small water change regardless of pollution. Base the response on measurements and behaviour.
Background and identification
Red, black and ancestry
Crystal Red or Red Bee combines red with white; Crystal Black or Black Bee combines black with white. The natural bee species Caridina logemanni was described from Hong Kong. The broad C. cantonensis label still found in trade is not established for every strain. C. logemanni provides context but cannot confirm the ancestry of every aquarium strain.
Compare coverage and pattern in mature animals under the same lighting. High colour grades or more white do not establish better health. Pure Red Line or Pure Black Line claims need strain information; appearance alone does not prove purity. Keep lines separate when following origin and offspring matters.
For aquarium preparation, use a manageable bee water system. The water decision guide connects source water, GH, KH, substrate and water changes.
Sources and review
Sources for accepted names, classification and synonyms.
- Klotz and von Rintelen (2014): Caridina logemanni
Original species treatment: morphology, Hong Kong distribution and habitat observations. Field measurements are not aquarium limits and wild taxonomy does not certify a commercial hybrid pedigree.
- Garnelenhaus: Red Bee / Crystal Red
Hobby usage of Crystal Red and Red Bee for red ornamental bee shrimp, not independent verification of line purity or ancestry.
Sources for water values, temperature and stable care.
- Garnelenhaus: Bienengarnele
Hobby husbandry of bee shrimp and soft-water systems. Broad published ranges are not experimental optima; unsupported feeding-frequency and crossbreeding guarantees are not adopted.
- SaltyShrimp: Bee Shrimp Mineral GH+
Manufacturer instructions for this product only, not independent evidence for disease or breeding claims.
- Tropica: Aquarium Soil
Manufacturer-specific pH effect and startup care. Not evidence that every active substrate has the same chemistry or nitrogen release.
Practical sources for setup, feeding, behavior and breeding.
- Garnelenhaus: Red Bee / Crystal Red
Hobby usage of Crystal Red and Red Bee for red ornamental bee shrimp, not independent verification of line purity or ancestry.