Blue Dragon Calceo Caridina shrimp – photo 1

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Blue Dragon Calceo

Name: Blue Dragon Calceo
Brand: Shrimp Zone
SKU: SZ-CALCEO-STD
Price: 20.0 AUD
Availability: PreOrder

Caridina · IntermediatePhoto vs. what ships

The photo shows a high-grade or best-looking adult from the batch. We ship unsexed juveniles, 0.6–1.2 cm — too young to tell male from female. They arrive pale from the trip and colour back up within days.

Buffered (RO water)

$20.00 / juvenile shrimp

Juveniles are young shrimp — they travel best at this size, and many strains only show their full colour as they mature. After display-ready adults? Contact us.

Pre-order

Pay in full · save 5%

How would you like to pay? Reserve now, pay laterDeposit today · the balance before your order ships, within 21 days Pay in full today — 5% offNothing more to pay

$10.00 today · $10.00 charged automatically to the same card before your shrimp ship · within 21 days of your order.

How the pre-order works. Pay the deposit now. We email you first, then the balance is charged automatically to the same card before your shrimp ship. Cancel any time before dispatch for a full refund. Want to add to it later? Message us before it ships and we’ll add it to this order — you won’t pay postage twice.

Pre-order bonus · +20% extra shrimp when you pre-order 5 or more

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Quantity

Pre-order — this line is between batches. Order now and we'll ship when the next batch is ready. Most pre-orders ship sooner — 21 days is the longest you'd wait.

Description

Blue Dragon Calceo Shrimp (Caridina) | Single Grade Colony

At a glance

A deep blue shrimp, coloured right through — the shell and the flesh underneath.

Arrives young with the pattern already set but the blue still building. It saturates as they mature into the glow-from-within look.

One price, no grades. The colour takes months to finish, so sorting on arrival-day blue would only reward the fastest grower.

Caridina — wants soft, slightly acidic water and a tank that has settled in. Numbers in the FAQ.

Description

The Calceo — known across the hobby as “Dragon Blood” — is prized for its segmented pattern and the contrast between shell and body. Our Blue Dragon Calceo takes that same genetic base and pushes it into a deep, saturated blue, bred specifically so the colour shows through the internal tissue as well as the shell — not just a blue shell over pale flesh.

About the photo. We ship unsexed juveniles — their internal blue tissue and outer shell contrast are still developing at that age and will keep deepening as they grow. Treat the photo as the target, not the arrival.

Colour & Care

What sets this line apart is where the blue actually sits.

Full-depth colour: Most blue Dragon-type shrimp only colour the outer shell, leaving the flesh underneath pale or transparent, which reads as washed out under tank lighting. This line carries blue in the internal tissue too, so the colour has real depth.
Develops with age: Juveniles arrive with the pattern already established but the saturation still building — the glow-from-inside-out look comes on gradually as they mature.

Grading

We grade by the traits that genuinely vary within a batch — pattern density, colour saturation, how far colour wraps around the shell. Where those differences are visible in the tank from day one, we sort them and price each tier for what it actually is.

Internal tissue pigmentation is exactly the kind of trait that needs time to fully saturate — a juvenile that looks average on arrival day can end up just as deep and multi-dimensional as one that looks striking early. Sorting on day-one colour would reward juveniles for growing up faster, not for better genetics.

So Blue Dragon Calceos are one grade, one price — you’re buying into the lineage, not a shipping-day snapshot.

The photo shows a high-grade or best-looking adult from the batch. We ship unsexed juveniles, 0.6–1.2 cm — too young to tell male from female. Shrimp arrive pale from the trip and colour back up within days. For detailed water parameters, tank setup guides, and our 100% Live Arrival Guarantee, see our FAQ.

Guarantee & dispatch

Live arrivalClaim within 8 h

Claim within 8 hours of delivery with photos and a short video, ideally of the sealed bag. Your choice of a refund of the livestock value, free replacements, or store credit — all at no cost to you.

Mon & TueDispatch days

0.6–1.2 cmUnsexed juveniles

10+ of one lineColony starter

Unsexed juveniles at ten all but guarantee both sexes — about 1 in 500 odds of a single-sex group, against 1 in 8 at four — and a group settles faster than a pair. Our 10+ and 20+ prices are built around that. Give them longer than Neocaridina — Caridina breed more slowly on buffering soil and reward stability over tinkering.

We don't ship live shrimp to WA, TAS or NT — message us for further enquiries: Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp.

Full guarantee policy →

Water parameters — Caridina

TDS

100 – 150 ppm

Total dissolved solids — the quickest single number to check. Ours is what they are raised in: match it on arrival, then keep it steady. Swings hurt more than the number itself.

4 – 6 dGH

General hardness — the calcium and magnesium they build shells with. Too little and moults fail; too much and shedding gets hard.

0 – 1 dKH

Carbonate hardness — the buffer that stops pH drifting between water changes.

5.5 – 6.5

Set by your substrate and KH far more than by dosing. Hold it steady inside the band rather than chasing a number.

Temp

20 – 24 °C

Cooler slows moulting and breeding; warmer speeds everything up and shortens lives. Stay inside the band.

Tank

30+ L

The minimum for a settled colony. A bigger tank holds its water steadier, so we recommend larger groups in larger tanks — stability is what keeps shrimp alive.

Buffered RO water on an active substrate — near-zero KH is correct here, not a fault.

Full care & acclimation guide →

FAQ — before you buy 8 quick answers

What actually turns up in the bag?

Unsexed juveniles, 0.6–1.2 cm — about the size of a grain of rice, and too young to tell male from female. Shipping at this size gives the best survival and the easiest adaptation to your water, and you always end up with both sexes. Adults are available on request at roughly twice the juvenile price.

Will they look like the photo?

Not on day one. The photo is a high-grade or best-looking adult from the batch; the shrimp you receive is young and still filling in. The colour packs in with each moult, the white thickens, and on the patterned lines the tone the white takes on — blue, green, orange or pink — arrives with maturity. The body's base colour, red or black, never changes. Every shrimp is an individual, so no two carry exactly the same pattern.

Why is there no grade to choose?

Because nothing on this line is worth sorting at the size we ship — the differences are down to age, or to your tank, not to the shrimp. Every animal in the bag meets one standard, and the Grading panel above says why. Where we do split a line into Entry, Mid, High and Collector, the grade describes appearance only, never health.

Can I keep them in my water?

If your tank matches the water card above, yes. Caridina want soft, slightly acidic water, which in practice means purified (RO) water with a shrimp mineral added back, over an active buffering soil that holds the pH down, in a tank that has been running a while. A near-zero KH is correct here, not a fault. A step up from a first shrimp, and a very stable one once the tank is right.

Full care & acclimation guide →

They arrived pale and barely moving. Is that normal?

Yes. Every shrimp arrives pale from the trip and colours back up within hours to a few days. Float the bag, then drip your tank water into it slowly over an hour or two before releasing them; the change in water should happen gradually. If any animal is dead on arrival, photograph it in the unopened bag and contact us within 8 hours of delivery — the Live Arrival Guarantee covers it.

Live Arrival Guarantee & DOA policy →

How do they travel?

Express post only, bagged with oxygen and insulated, dispatched on Mondays and Tuesdays so no animal sits in a depot over a weekend. Someone needs to be home to receive the parcel on the day — live animals cannot go to a PO box, a parcel locker or a safe-drop. We cannot send live animals to Western Australia, the Northern Territory or Tasmania.

Shipping policy →

How many should I start with?

Ten is the sensible minimum for a colony that breeds: with unsexed juveniles it all but guarantees both sexes, and a group settles faster than a pair. Our volume prices are built around that. Mixing colours of the same genus in one tank is fine to look at, but they will interbreed and the offspring drift back toward wild colouring — one colour per tank if you want to keep the line.

What do I do in the first 24 hours?

Lights off, bag closed. Float the sealed bag in the tank for 10–15 minutes so the temperature matches — darkness lowers stress.

Drip, don’t pour. Drip tank water into the bag slowly. A sudden change in TDS, GH or pH is the number-one cause of losses in the first week.

Something wrong? Photograph and video the unopened bag and email us within 8 hours — the Live Arrival Guarantee covers a replacement or a refund of the livestock value.

Full care & acclimation guide →