Crystal red shrimp
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Crystal red shrimp are a variety of freshwater shrimp of the genus Caridina. They grow up to 2.5 cm in size and live in temperatures up to 27°C, best at 20–25°C, and at pH 6.5–7.2.
In 1996, Mr Hisayasu Suzuki of Japan discovered a red form of Caridina sp. 'bee' among the usual black form offspring. He registered "crystal red shrimp" as his trademark for this autosomal recessive red mutation of the normal bee shrimp. This red shrimp has gained popularity since then and has further refined by the founder and other breeders to produce specimens with larger white patches and intensified red. CRS gained big popularity in Japan and spread world-wide.
Keeping this shrimp could be a challenge. They are quite sensitive to fast changes of the water parameters and they are very sensitive to nitrogenous waste e.g. nitrite. Best would be soft, slightly acidic water. Breeding in harder alkaline water is not that successful.
Crystal red shrimp can crossbreed with bee shrimp as well as bumblebee shrimp and tiger shrimp, which are also Caridina species.
They reproduce at the age of 4.5 till 5 months with a size of at least 2.2 cm. The sexes are hard to differentiate and cannot be seen on juvenile shrimp.
