Blue Shrimp – A Freshwater Dwarf Shrimp Myth?

For many years a true breeding Blue Shrimp was a mythical creature in the freshwater dwarf shrimp hobby. There were often shrimp sold as Blue Shrimp that turned out to be nothing more than a wild colored Neocaridina heteropoda, and then there were the artificially colored (threw some type of food, or dying) Neocaridina spp. that would not pass the color onto their offspring. Well, times, they are a changing!

With selective breeding there are currently 2 species of dwarf shrimp that are passing a true blue color on to their offspring. There is the Blue Pearl Shrimp (check out more pictures of this shrimp in our picture gallery) and the Blue Tiger Shrimp.

The Blue Pearl Shrimp is the same species as the snowball shrimp, Neocaridina cf. zhangjiajiensis. The care requirements of this shrimp are nearly exact to the care requirements of the cherry shrimp (visit our cherry shrimp care page), although it can sometimes be a little more sensitive than the extremely durable Neocaridina heteropoda.

The Blue Tiger Shrimp is a selectively bred color form of the common Tiger Shrimp, Caridina sp. “Tiger”. This shrimp is still fairly rare in the hobby and can cost quite a bit of money (up to $25.00 a shrimp). This shrimp has the same care requirements as the wild form of the Tiger Shrimp, softer slightly acidic water.

So as more and more selectively bred color morphs come to the dwarf shrimp hobby, I for one am excited to see what is next!

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