Sulawesi White Spotted Shrimp

Caridina spinata is an endemic shrimp of the ancient Sulawesi Malili lake system, displaying a striking dark blue-to-black body covered with bright white circular spots of varying sizes. Like all Sulawesi shrimp, its evolutionary isolation in geologically ancient and chemically unique lakes has produced an appearance found nowhere else in nature.

Maintaining Sulawesi White Spotted Shrimp successfully requires replicating the warm, hard, alkaline conditions of their native lakes — the opposite of the parameters required for Caridina bee shrimp. Dedicated Sulawesi biotope aquaria with appropriate mineral supplementation of RO water, warm water temperatures, and algae-covered rock surfaces provide the ideal environment.

Sulawesi White Spotted Shrimp are rarely available and highly prized by specialist invertebrate collectors. They are slow breeders, producing small clutches of large eggs.

Water: 27–30°C, pH 7.5–8.5, GH 6–10, KH 4–8; RO water with Sulawesi mineral supplement. Tank: minimum 30 L with smooth rocks, algae coverage, and fine sand substrate; no sharp decor. Feeding: biofilm and algae primary; spirulina powder, Sulawesi shrimp foods. Breeding: difficult; 8–15 large eggs per clutch; juveniles slow to grow and sensitive. Compatibility: Sulawesi biotope only; compatible with other Sulawesi shrimp species; no fish.