Walkaround: Bee Shrimp (Aquakitz)

Walk-around of the bee shrimp, Caridina cantonensis Yü, 1938 by AquaKitz, a company that specializes in aquarium equipment for breeding bee shrimp.

Caridina cantonensis is a small freshwater shrimp from streams in southern China. This species has become increasingly popular in the aquaria trade. It comes in a variety of colors, some 'wild type' but also some domestic varieties, usually in combinations of red/white, orange/white, black/white, black/blue.

AquaKitz makes 11 figures, four large (16 cm) and 7 small (5 cm), with one sculpt for each size. The only differences are the colors. Among the large figures, I specifically picked the CBS (crystal black shrimp) as it is one of the wild types. For the two smaller ones I just picked a couple of appealing designs :)

The large figure is lightweight and comes attached to a foam base. The figure can be removed from the base, but I'll keep mine for safety purposes. The foam base has 'bee shrimp' stamped into it. It is a very nice figure and no assembly is required, but it can be expensive and must ship from Australia. They are hand-made and apparently limited so if you want one, get it quick :). They can be bought on ebay or direct from their site (http://aquakitz.com/aquakitz-shrimp-figures/).

A must for taxonomically or ecologically specialized collectors, or collectors rarely-made species.

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