Quick care card
Use this card as a starting point. Always check whether your aquarium is stable enough for sensitive species.
Difficulty
Intermediate
Behavior
Surface grazer needing accessible shelter.
Feeding
Suitable added food and grazing sites for adults and juveniles.
Breeding
Freshwater offspring described; consistent colour is not guaranteed.
Best match
Keepers able to follow water preparation and a separate strain
Important
Blue Tiger is not Blue Dream. The word Tiger also does not establish pure C. mariae ancestry. Ask about the background of Fancy Tiger and unknown red strains.
Care in practice
No universal table is established for every Tiger trade strain. Aquarium Glaser describes 18-22 °C and some KH, about 3-4 °dKH, in its Tiger context; Garnelio gives KH 0-4 for Black Tiger OE. These are practical recommendations, not experimentally established safe limits. Compare the actual strain’s entire system: temperature, GH, KH, pH, source water and substrate. Prepare water outside the aquarium, measure the result and make the routine repeatable. RO and suitable minerals may help where tap water does not fit. Active substrate is not automatically necessary; do not blindly combine it with a route intended to retain KH.
Establish functioning biological filtration before stocking. Protect intakes and provide moss or other grazing surfaces and shelter around moulting. Choose volume and floor space for the planned colony, feeding sites and maintenance. Follow summer temperature and oxygen provision. Aquarium Glaser advises avoiding prolonged temperatures above 25 °C, which does not mean every animal is automatically safe below it.
Check uptake of suitable shrimp food and whether small animals reach it. Moss and biofilm provide grazing sites, not proof of a complete diet. Adjust portions to the group, growth and leftovers. Protein is a necessary nutrient; a blanket twice-weekly protein limit is not established here. Remove decay and do not leave poor water conditions unchanged in the name of stability.
A separate group simplifies following offspring and food access. Even small fish may eat young. Mix Tiger or Bee backgrounds only when you intentionally want mixed offspring and have space for them. Matching water readings do not establish a suitable genetic combination. Provide appropriate housing for animals outside your colour selection too.
The practical sources describe young appearing as miniature shrimp in fresh water. Protect intakes and provide food near shelter. Follow hatching, growth and survival in each group; a fixed yield or exact incubation time is not guaranteed. Blue Tiger may also produce lighter or blonde offspring. Orange eyes or dark bodies cannot predict a fixed inheritance ratio without strain records.
Background and identification
Comparing Tiger names
| Name | Useful visible distinction |
|---|---|
| Classic Tiger | Translucent to grey-brown with dark transverse bands. |
| Red Tiger | Red bands on a pale to yellow-orange base; ancestry can vary. |
| Blue Tiger / OEBT | Blue body with tiger markings. OEBT means Orange Eye Blue Tiger. |
| Black Tiger OE | Extensive black coverage with orange eyes. |
Royal Blue usually describes very dark blue coverage. BT0, BT1 and BT2 are trade grades for black coverage; sellers may draw different boundaries. Less coverage, a rusty tone or a pale juvenile does not by itself establish disease. Compare mature animals under the same light and ask about variation among parents and offspring.
Species name and origin
Klotz and von Rintelen described C. mariae in 2014 from Guangdong, southern China. Their study title also mentions Hong Kong, which does not automatically make it a locality for this species. Conspicuous aquarium colours are trade forms; the species description cannot verify their pedigree.
Fancy Tiger is used for breeding lines with mixed backgrounds. Garnelio also distinguishes red forms from Bee crosses under red Tiger naming. Do not treat Tangerine Tiger, Indian Zebra or a red Neocaridina as the same shrimp merely because its name or stripes look similar.
Use the water decision guide for the measurement sequence. During losses, the problem approach separates observations from diagnoses.
Sources and review
Sources for accepted names, classification and synonyms.
- Klotz and von Rintelen (2014): Caridina mariae
Original treatment identifies material and distribution in Guangdong, southern China. Does not identify every ornamental animal sold under a Tiger name.
Sources for water values, temperature and stable care.
- Frank Schäfer, Aquarium Glaser: Deep Blue Tiger Yellow Eyes
Own stock description and photographs, with room-temperature husbandry and freshwater offspring. The text has a 2015/2014 description-date inconsistency; taxonomy follows the original 2014 treatment. Protein restrictions, fixed yields and broad genus crossing claims are not adopted.
- Garnelio: Black Tiger Orange Eye stock
Own offered black-body/orange-eye stock, grade labels and low-KH husbandry advice. No adoption of recessive-genetics certainty, fixed yields, protein-frequency rule or universally safe minimum aquarium size.
- Garnelio: Red Tiger Orange Eye stock
Own offered red-striped stock, and distinction between red Tiger and red Bee-cross ancestry. Source has conflicting KH and incubation ranges; these are not combined into invented safe limits.
- SRAC 464: Interactions of pH, Carbon Dioxide, Alkalinity and Hardness
Water chemistry in aquaculture; no fish toxicity thresholds used as shrimp limits.
Practical sources for setup, feeding, behavior and breeding.
- The Shrimp Farm: Orange-eye Blue Tiger grading
Seller classification of offered ornamental patterns: blue coverage, Royal Blue and subjective grades. Not a genetic experiment or health ranking.
- Garnelenhaus: Tigergarnele
Hobby husbandry account, used for water-system comparison. Its Hong Kong origin statement conflicts with the original C. mariae treatment and is 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.