Red
Cherry Shrimp Information
The Red Cherry Shrimp,
Neocaridina heteropoda (formerly Neocaridina
denticulata sinensis) , is a variant of the
wild form of the Neocaridina heteropoda. In
the wild it exhibits a verity of colors
ranging from a clear brown to an almost blue
color. The Red variant is not found in the
wild because it would be easy prey for any
invertebrate predator.
Native to Southeast Asia, mostly China, Taiwan
and Northern Vietnam, the Red Cherry Shrimp
has slowly found popularity in the aquarium
trade over time. Sadly, in Hawaii, many Red
Cherry Shrimp have been introduced to the wild
waters and have built a sizeable population
there. In Hawaii Neocaridina heteropoda are
considered pests.
Takashi Amano introduced the freshwater
aquarium hobby to dwarf shrimp in the mid
90’s. In his Natural Aquarium book he
discusses the benefits of an algae eating
shrimp in the aquarium and discusses in depth
the Cardidina japonica (Amano Shrimp). The
Amano Shrimp became popular in America
following this book and in the early 2000’s
the Red Cherry Shrimp began to appear.
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| Amano
Shrimp with Red Cherry Shrimp |
Male
Red Cherry Shrimp |
Most Red Cherry Shrimp in The
United States are raised and sold or traded by
aquarium hobbyist. There are a few commercial
sellers of Red Cherry Shrimp and as the market
for this shrimp grows the commercial business
will as well. A few local fish stores do offer
imported shrimp, but there are a few problems
associated with imported Red Cherry Shrimp.
Most imported Red Cherry Shrimp are females of
unknown age. Although ALL Red Cherry Shrimp
are captive bred, female shrimp are more
colorful and larger, so exporters only sell
females. The females demand a higher selling
point due to size and color! It is near
impossible to tell the age of a full grown
shrimp, and with the relatively short life
span of cherry red shrimp (about 1.5 years),
it is not recommended to buy imported Red
Cherry Shrimp.
All
the above information is © 2007
TheShrimpFarm.com. If you would like to
use this information on your website, please
either link to http://www.theshrimpfarm.com
or http://www.theshrimpfarm.com
as the source of the information. Please
also email Dan@TheShrimpFarm.com
if you use the above information!
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