Cherry Shrimp

🌍 Overview

The cherry shrimp is one of the most popular freshwater aquarium shrimp species in the hobby, prized for breeding readily in plain freshwater and for the huge range of selectively bred colors developed from a single dull, translucent wild form. Native to streams and rivers in Taiwan and eastern China, wild cherry shrimp are a camouflaged greenish-brown, nothing like the vivid reds, blues, and yellows sold in stores today. They spend their days grazing biofilm and algae off any surface they can reach, doing genuine cleanup work in a planted tank while asking for almost nothing in return.

📋 Quick Facts

📜 History

Eugène-Louis Bouvier described the shrimp in 1904 as Caridina davidi, from Chinese material, naming it for Armand David, the French missionary naturalist who collected widely across China. For most of the following century it was buried under other names: Caridina denticulata sinensis in 1918, then Neocaridina denticulata sinensis, then Neocaridina heteropoda in 2002, which is the label the first wave of Western keepers knew it by. Taxonomic work in the 2010s established Bouvier's davidi as the valid name, which is why older aquarium books and current stock lists disagree. Aquarium releases have since seeded the shrimp into waterways well outside Asia, and the feral animals often carry the same selectively bred colors sold in shops.

🧠 Test Yourself

🤩 Fun Facts