Yellow Shrimp – Neocaridina heteropoda var ‘Yellow’
July 16th, 2008After much anticipation, today I received a dozen Yellow Shrimp, Neocaridina heteropoda var ‘Yellow,’ via a trade with another aquarist. I’ve seen some pictures of these guys online, and knew that I must have them. Yellow Shrimp are the same species as Cherry Red Shrimp, but they have been selectively bred to exhibit a striking yellow coloration.
As soon as I put them in their own dedicated 10G tank, they went to town exploring the space. I added an algae wafer, which they quickly dismantled, and readily absorbed. The shrimp that I have are not full grown adults. Like cherry reds, when full grown their exoskeleton can become much more opaque in color, making them an incredibly bright yellow.
The best thing about these shrimp is that they’re supposed to be just as easy to breed as the Cherry Reds. This makes sense since they’re the same species, but that isn’t always the case. While some of you may be wondering, “if you crossed a yellow shrimp with a cherry red, would you get an orange shrimp?” The answer, apparently, is no — they would revert back to their drab natural coloration, brown.
It’s a shame that I’ve already stocked my pond with Cherry Red Shrimp, otherwise I would probably have put these guys outside. Last year, I pulled hundreds of Cherry Reds out of the pond in the fall after only having them outside for 3-4 months. I’m hoping to be as lucky with these guys, albeit, inside. If anyone has kept these shrimp themselves, I’d love to hear your experiences.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:13 am
Wow is all I can say, wow, what pictures! I see yellow shrimp all day and I swear they don’t look like that! I need better eyes! Just fantastic pictures. You need to make a coffee table book and sell it with all of your beautiful photos. Really!
July 17th, 2008 at 7:57 am
A dealer is selling them through eBay over here in the UK, but what a price.
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/AquaticMagic_Crystal-Red-Shrimp_W0QQfsubZ8067968QQfrsrcZ1
Gorgeous photos though.
July 17th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Thanks for your very nice comments about these pictures! Phillip, if you’re interested in these shrimp, you may want to check out aquabid, rather than ebay. That guy is committing robbery at those prices!
July 17th, 2008 at 8:07 am
Tennessee Mom is right 🙂
Great new additions!
July 17th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
I agree with Tennessee Mom and Lolly… you take such gorgeous photos, you should really look into selling your pictures in aquarium books and having books of your own! With all the experience you have in fishkeeping, I’m sure it would be a snap. ;D
And as for those shrimp.. Wow! I can’t wait to see them when they’re fully grown! 😀
August 12th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Hello, please contact me offline if you’d like to sell some of your RCS, or have other shrimp available. I’m down in DC.