These are a very popular shrimp for the freshwater aquarium because they breed like crazy, they don't harm your plants, and they are really awesome looking!
Here's the answers to some frequently asked questions:
1) The wild-type shrimp are black instead of red. The red is a mutant form that was propagated in Japan.
2) I raise them in my local tap water which is pH 7.6, 220 ppm, and I keep the temp around 74 degrees. I feed them all sorts of fish food, they eat anything and everything. The keys to breeding them are very clean water and tons of food. They eat way more than a fish their size would eat.
3) People have really become fanatical about selectively breeding these things and now they even have grading scales! More white color in a tighter banding pattern equals a higher grade. The grades are SS at the top, then S, A, B, and C at the bottom. Websites showing a grading scale are here and here. I currently have tanks of all of the above, but only C are currently available. These are the shrimp in my pictures below that are 10 for $40. The higher grade shrimp are rarely available and are much more expensive. In fact, you can get pure white specimens for $1000 each!! Frankly, I'd rather have a nice mix of red and white myself! These shrimp breed really well in my water but are very difficult for a lot of people. I think it depends on your local water parameters (and keep the temps down!). Anyway, I recommend trying the grade C, just to make sure the shrimp like your water, before trying the higher grades.
4) These shrimp are difficult to sex and they are extremely fast when startled. So I will not sort for males or females or for any kind of color pattern or grade. I send a random scoop of the shrimp in a particular tank. Currently, you can get a scoop from my Grade C tank.
5) Somebody in Europe has done the experiment and you can keep Cherry Red and Crystal Red shrimp together and they will not breed together. So no problem!
Ok, here's the Grade C shrimp I have available now:
Here's my grade B shrimp:
Feel free to use pictures from this site as long as they are not altered and the brianstropicals.com logo is left in place. Thanks!
