# Blue Cherry Shrimp



## stcyrwm (Apr 20, 2005)

I just called a fish store about ordering shrimp and they said they had a "blue form of the cherry shrimp". Anyone familiar with this??????????? I googled it and found nothing.

Thanks, Bill


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## gnatster (Mar 6, 2004)

A minor variant of the Cherry shrimp with a little "blue" in them sometimes. Currently being heavily marketed by some SE Asian Wholesaler to the US. In all the stock of them I've seen for sale calling them "Blue" certainly is a long stretch of a deep imagination.


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## Gumby (Aug 1, 2005)

Yeah, the "blue" cherry shrimp I've seen are more of a dark grey/almost black color.


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

I wonder if this is the same strain that has been introduced to the streams in Hawaii. It's supposedly brown or black and has displaced the native shrimp in most of the lower lying streams.


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

The blue is a natural color of the red charry shrimp.


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## Veneer (Jun 12, 2005)

bharada said:


> I wonder if this is the same strain that has been introduced to the streams in Hawaii. It's supposedly brown or black and has displaced the native shrimp in most of the lower lying streams.


That would indeed be the wild strain of _Neocaridina denticulata sinensis_.


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## stcyrwm (Apr 20, 2005)

There's a picture of the shrimp on Aquabid if anyone's curious: http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwinverts&1127158596Bill


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## wvt9527 (Jul 30, 2005)

They are up to $16.00 for 4 of them with 3 days remaining. With $10.00 shipping charge


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## fishmaster#1 (Apr 10, 2005)

IMO if you want blue shrimp just put some glass shrimp in some tank water then add blue food coloring. LOL. just repeat weekly when the color fades.


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## russell (Dec 7, 2004)

that is a horrible pic by the way. it looks like they may have even cranked the blue up on the comp.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

stcyrwm said:


> There's a picture of the shrimp on Aquabid if anyone's curious: http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwinverts&1127158596Bill


Those shrimp in that auction are not the same shrimp. Those are a different Neocaridina species altogether. The "blue" cherry shrimp are most often sold under the name Taiwan Pale Blue and are actually in fact quite brown as others have stated.


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## Aaron (Feb 12, 2004)

Neocaridinia denticulata sinensis is very variable. Color depends on the age, sex, and diet and other environmental stimuli. I have maybe... umm 10,000 of them (my pond is infested.) and they can be brown, black, green and blue. They are usually blue or green when young to sub adults. full grown, the shell turns opaque brown or black. Notice how your cherries are clear with red speckles when young only to turn opaque red with age? 

In my pond, the juvies and subadults have a green tint. In one of the streams in Honolulu, they are a nice blue color, much like the picture on aquabid. I collected some, but in my tanks they turned clear in a week. 

I wonder what a young cherry would look like growing wild here in Hawaii... blue/ green body with red speckles???


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## ranmasatome (Aug 5, 2005)

I think this is just a case of mis-identification.. i dont think that cherries can be blue in colour and seriously suspect that it is another species of shimp altogether. Usually people mistake the common malayan shrimp (Caridina sp.) for cherries and what not because this shrimp is so variable in colour. Cherries remain red.. or at least vary from clear to brown in colour.. the do not turn blue or green. Blue shrimp, We have them all the time here in singapore and many times we have to look out for the species they bring in as many LFS sell blue malayan shrimp as "blue" shrimp. There are a few species out there that are blue.. but i dont think it is a very stable colour variation. I have the second species of blue shrimp from china mentioned on this page.. they vary from almost clear to blue to very dark almost black colouration.
You can also look up different species currently seen in the market in singapore here .

I've included some pictures of malayan shrimp and their colour variation from friends and some websites.. if you dont want them here.. let me know i'll remove them.
blue 
green 
Red
its quite evident how to tell a malayan shrimp.. they are sold for like 20cents here..


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## richy (Nov 8, 2004)

ranmasatome said:


> I've included some pictures of malayan shrimp and their colour variation from friends and some websites.. if you dont want them here.. let me know i'll remove them.
> blue
> green
> Red
> its quite evident how to tell a malayan shrimp.. they are sold for like 20cents here..


There is also a variation similar to the malayan shrimp dubbed "rainbow" shrimp (sorry, don't know the scientific name) that are capable of changing colors as demonstrated in those pics. The differences, I believe, are that malayan shrimp tend to be larger and the eggs go through a larval stage whereas rainbows are smaller and hatch in benthic form. Juvenile malayans can be mistaken for rainbows.

But... back to the topic at hand, wouldn't "blue cherry shrimp" be more aptly named "blueberry shrimp" should that variety exist? Cherries aren't blue after all.


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