New Shrimp Tank Question

[Kimberly P]

I'm wanting to start a small shrimp tank - maybe 10 gallons.

I like Red Cherry Shrimp.  Should I only get that particular variety for this tank?  I see other colors & types - If I can put them together, which ones can I get?  

If there are different colors - is there a problem with them breeding? 

Thanks for the help!! 😄

[Isaac M]

Hello @Kimberly P, Neocaridina davidi var. red or red cherry shrimp is a variant of the Neocaridina davidi shrimp. As you have seen, there are many color variants of this shrimp. However, they are still Neocardinia davidi and can therefore breed with each other regardless of color variant. I have always kept a single color variant at a time so I have no idea what will happen over time but many people say that they will eventually go back to their clear wild form.

LRB Aquatics on youtube has aquariums where he keeps different color variants together from his “culls” that I believe he calls his skittles mix. He often mentions finding different color shrimp that are born in that aquarium that are not commonly available like purple for instance. Just something I thought I would mention that is out there. 

There are other dwarf shrimp available as well like that of the Cardina genus. These will not breed with the Neocaridina shrimp. However, they are generally not kept together as they prefer different water parameters. Neos are more of a hard water/ higher pH shrimp while Cardina are a softer water shrimp. 

The only cardinia mixture with neos in the same tank you see often is neos and amano shrimp. Amanos however are a lot larger and aggressive than the neos, especially during feeding time. 

If this was my personal aquarium, I would go with a single color variant. I would not mix them. 

I will add some links to some Aquarium Co-op blog posts for more information on shrimp below. I hope this helps! 

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/breeding-red-cherry-shrimp

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/freshwater-dwarf-shrimp

[CT_]

Yeah unfortunately mixing colors will make the babies mostly brown. 😞

If you want babies to breed true (you'll still have to do culling) then you have to stick to one line.  But there's nothing wrong with just keeping a mix of colors and culling 95% of the babies too if that's what you want.

[eatyourpeas]

I find the tank to be more interesting when there are different colors. They will eventually revert to the wild type, but those are beautiful too. This one is the result of a blue female and a red male:

 

[Patrick_G]

I’m fascinated by color variation produced by mixing different color Neocaridina. They’re not true to the parents color, but they can be beautiful. 
 

 

 

[Griznatch]

 I have reds in one 55 and blue dreams in another. My 75 is the "skrittles" tank, and it is pretty interesting the color variations I get in there. I am starting to get more than a few green shrimp in there but have not tried separating them to see if they drop more greens. I'm guessing there'd be a lot of culling.

[Kimberly P]

Thanks for the feedback!  I think I'll stick with the red cherry color for now. 😁