Rudolph Red Nose Shrimp

[Vallisneria]

A few weeks ago I bought 2 rudolph shrimp( Cardinia Gracilirostris) and was wondering if anyone else has some? So far they are pretty cool. They seem to always have their heads pointing down, when they swim and when they are cleaning the glass. I think I remember reading that that is normal though. I also noticed that one has a yellow "nose" and the other a red one. Is that a sex difference? I dont' plan on breeding them since their babies need salt and go through larval stages but I was just curious.

So anyone else have some? They are pretty neat looking.

[AvianAquatics]

Yep had some. If I remember correctly the red nosed ones also had a red strip running down their back (male), and the no stripped ones had a shorter and yellowish nose (female), I think. They are interesting to watch but beware they LOVE eating plants. Websites say they only eat your plants if you don't feed them enough algae food but I do, still they munched down my plants and esp liked my hygrophila angustifolia, and even my Javas lost a few leaves.

Personally I didn't have a good experience with them lol.

[Caprichoso]

I have 4 of them in my 140g and they spend all day long browsing on algae. I never see them on the ground or on the glass but sometimes they just like to "float" in the water and land on a new plant. I don't notice them too much unless they decide to sit on my java moss, then their colours pop. What you mentioned is normal behaviour for them. I have 2 males and 2 females, the males being the ones with the red nose. Mine are also starting to really turn lime green in the body, I guess they are full grown now. I wish I would have bought more at the time, I really like them but having only 4, they sort of get lost in my tank.