Harlequin Sulawesi

Name: Harlequin Sulawesi
Brand: Shrimp Zone
Price: 60.0 AUD
Availability: PreOrder

Sulawesi · AdvancedPhoto 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.

Remineralised alkaline

$60.00 / 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

$30.00 today · $30.00 charged automatically to the same card before your order ships · 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 order ships. 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

Harlequin Sulawesi Shrimp

At a glance

A tiny, boldly marked shrimp — the only freshwater shrimp known to live alongside a freshwater sponge.

Arrives young and already patterned; the markings sharpen as they grow.

One price, no grades.

An expert species. Wants hard, warm, alkaline water — the opposite of our bee shrimp — and is not the one to learn on. Numbers in the FAQ.

Description

Small, boldly marked, and biologically remarkable. Caridina spongicola is the only freshwater shrimp known to live in a commensal relationship with a freshwater sponge — the two live together and the shrimp benefits without harming the sponge. That sponge is, as of writing, still undescribed by science.

Endemic to Lake Towuti. Easily confused in both the field and the trade with its larger relative Caridina woltereckae, which we list separately.

An expert species. The sponge association is part of its wild ecology rather than a tank requirement, but it tells you how specialised this animal is.

Keeping

The opposite of a bee shrimp tank. Hard, alkaline, warm, and stable to the point of stubbornness. Inert hardscape only.

For keepers with Sulawesi behind them. This is not the species to learn the genus on.

Provenance

Captive-bred. Every Sulawesi shrimp we sell is captive-bred, never wild-caught — which for a sponge-associated Towuti endemic matters a great deal.

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. Sulawesi shrimp breed slowly and quietly once settled in warm, alkaline water with inert hardscape only.

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 — Sulawesi

TDS

180 – 220 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.

6 – 8 dGH

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

3 – 6 dKH

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

7.8 – 8.2

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

Temp

27 – 29 °C

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

Alkaline and warm — the opposite of a bee shrimp tank. Inert hardscape only (crushed coral or lava rock); an active buffering soil pulls pH down and works against you here.

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. 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?

Only in a tank set up for them. Sulawesi shrimp want the opposite of a bee-shrimp tank: hard, alkaline and warm, held steady, over inert rock — never a buffering soil. They graze biofilm, the living film that only a tank running for months can grow, so the age of the tank matters more than the equipment in it. Not a first shrimp.

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 →