Family: Atyidae
Red Nose Shrimp — Caridina gracilirostris from the Ryukyu Islands to India, famous for a rostrum longer than its head and a red eye-mask. Reaches 3-4 cm, 20-26 °C, mildly alkaline water; an excellent planted-tank algae eater.
Red Nose Shrimp is Caridina gracilirostris, the long-beaked atyid from the Ryukyu Islands of Japan through Taiwan to India, instantly recognizable by a rostrum — the needle-like beak — longer than its head, plus a red-orange mask over the eyes and often a red-tipped tail. Wild populations live in coastal streams where larvae drift to brackish water, yet in the aquarium it adapts well to pure freshwater, making it one of the few 'brackish-origin' shrimp that thrives in a planted community tank. It reaches 3-4 cm, prefers 20-26 °C, mildly alkaline water around pH 7.0-7.8 and moderate hardness, and is a dedicated algae eater that combs filamentous algae and biofilm from leaves and wood without damaging plants. It is active by day, bold for a caridina, and safe with small fish though shrimplets need cover. Breeding occasionally succeeds in freshwater, but a little marine salt in a rearing tank raises larval survival dramatically. Its Japanese name, 'tumitate-ebi', means pile-driving shrimp — a fitting image for that remarkable beak.
Difficulty: moderate. Very peaceful. Groups of 5 or more.
Hold 22–28 °C and keep it stable — 22–28 °C stable range. Stable 22–28 °C.
Full size is 3–4 cm. Minimum tank: 30 L, with open swimming space along its middle to bottom — grazing with its long rostrum habits.
Algae and biofilm grazer; accepts fine foods. It forages naturally over sand with leaf litter, so let some food reach the bottom.
Very peaceful. Recommended tankmates: Small peaceful community fish — Adults safe; plant cover for shrimplets, Neocaridina and hardy Caridina — Overlapping chemistry, no serious conflict, Otocinclus catfish — Two algae specialists, one tank. Avoid Copper-based medications — Lethal to all invertebrates, Very soft acidic setups — Not its preferred water, Large-mouthed fish — Shrimp are prey.
Comes from Southeast Asia — brackish coastal waters: coastal streams and mangrove edges with plants. Expect gentle current and moderate oxygen.
Jumping is not a known issue; cover the tank anyway during water changes.
In the aquarium: occasionally breeds in pure freshwater — the female carries 15-25 eggs that hatch as swimming larvae. Larval survival improves dramatically with a little marine salt (around 5 g/L) in the rearing container, fed on liquid fry food and newly hatched brine shrimp.. Females grow larger and deeper; males stay slim with a proportionally even longer rostrum..