Common Names: Crystal Red Shrimp

Scientific Name: Caridina cf. cantonensis sp. "Crystal Red"

Availability in the UK: Although not as common as other shrimp these can occasionally be found in a some LFS. Mine came from an LFS in Leicester and I've heard of people in various other cities finding them in stores. If your favorite shop doesn't stock them then ask as they may be able to order them but never realized there would be the demand. They are also available via several online retailers. Be prepared to pay a premium for this shrimp, due to their sensitivity and nice colours they can be expensive.

Overview: The Crystal Red Shrimp was originally bred by Japanese shrimp keeper Hisayasu Suzuki when he discovered a single red shrimp with his normal bee shrimp. This died with no obvious offspring, but when 3 red shrimp were discovered in the next generation they were separated out and they became the start of an intensive breeding program. He trademarked the name Crystal Red Shrimp in Japan, started selling them and the rest is history!

The striking red and white stripes have made these shrimp very popular and they are one of my favorites. They have been selectively bred to improve the brightness of these stripes, some to the extreme of being totally white. The shrimp available in the uk tend to have lower quality stripes with broken white areas, although some higher quality shrimp are becoming available now. Unfortunately due to their inbred nature these shrimp can be very sensitive to small changes in water quality. I lost my CRS after problems caused by over cleaning the tank and overfeeding. Don't let that put you off, so long as you do regular small water changes and don't feed them too much you should be ok.

Incompatible Shrimp: The following species will hybridize with Crystal Red Shrimp so you should avoid keeping them together: Bee Shrimp, Tiger Shrimp, Blue Tiger Shrimp.

Feeding: Avoid overfeeding as this will affect water quality, but these shrimp do especially well when fed a specialist invertebrate food such as Hikari Crab Cuisine or JBL Novo Prawn. Like other dwarf shrimp they will also feed on algae in the tank and any dead plants or leaves (not live ones). I have seen spinach suggested as another food they like but have never tried it.

Sexing: It is quite hard to sex young shrimp, as they become adults the females are noticeably bigger than the males. The females may have what is called a Saddle. This is a dark area behind the head that contains the eggs prior to mating and is sort of saddle shaped (hence its name).

Breeding: The breeding of these shrimp is very simple. All you need are healthy shrimp of both sexes in the right conditions and they will breed! The babies not need any special water conditions and wont be eaten by the parents so can live in the same tank. I would recommend keeping the shrimp with some aquatic moss (such as java moss) as the babies will feed on the micro-algae and micro-organisms that live on the moss. Young shrimp will also eat the same food as the adults if you crush it.

Crystal Red Shrimp are regular breeders. It takes around 30 days for the eggs to develop and during this time they are carried by the mother. Not long after the eggs hatch the mother will shed her skin and mate again. The average brood is between 15 and 30 shrimplets. The new born babies are miniature adults, even with the red and white colouring. They become sexually mature at around 5 months.

Photos:

Thanks to Paulo Leal for the next 2 pictures

Thanks to forum member TDI-line for the next two pictures: