Black King Kong Bolt Shrimp

The Black King Kong/Black Bolt Shrimp (Caridina cantonensis), is an increasingly popular dwarf shrimp.  This interesting Bee variant displays bold black, white, and often highlights of blue coloration in a variety of patterns. It is comparable in care to all other bee shrimp varieties, such as Crystal Red/Black, Blue Bolt, and Tiger Shrimp. It is a highly attractive Caridina bee variety.

Another great characteristic of the Black King Kong/Black Bolt Shrimp is that it is a highly colorful and attractive companion colony to any Neocaridina variety of dwarf shrimp. The Black King Kong/Black Bolt Shrimp cannot interbreed with Neocaridina dwarf shrimp, so it will not compromise the genetics of breeding colonies of shrimp such as Cherry, Blue Velvet, Neon Yellow, Orange, Black/Blue Diamond, Chocolate, Green Jade, Snowball, and Rili shrimp.

This shrimp is a scavenger and is very useful in planted and nano aquariums.  The bulk of its diet is biofilm, algae, and decaying plant matter so it will forage diligently in the aquarium.  It feeds constantly, so it displays constant activity.  In a less mature aquarium, it should be fed high quality flake and mini pellet dry foods with high algae/spirulina/plant content, preferably food that is designed for shrimp or other biofilm grazers.

Like most “bee” and “tiger” Caridina species, the Black King Kong/Black Bolt Shrimp requires very clean, calm water at all times. Most keepers of bee and tiger shrimp insist that reverse osmosis water is absolutely necessary for keeping and breeding this shrimp. Acidic water of a low pH is also a necessity, and it can be achieved with leaf litter as well as other buffering substrates and additives.