Crystal Red Shrimp

Second Aquarium in my home.This is small planted tank only for shrimp.

The crystal red shrimp is a red color variation of the bee shrimp from China and Hong Kong. It was selectively bred from the bee shrimp (and NOT from the bumblebee shrimp as some erroneously claim) in Japan. It gained huge popularity in Japan and Germany due to its nice colors and excellent algae eating habits. Their colors stay red and white permanently and even young crystal red shrimp (even hatchlings) already show this beautiful coloration. There are several color variations of this shrimp in Japan. There are shrimp with mostly red bodies and thin white stripes (most common), shrimp with wider white stripes, and shrimp with very wide solid white stripes (most sought after). Recently a Japanese breeder has been producing shrimp that are almost solid white from tail to mid-body and show some red in the front. Quite a bit of variation can even occur among siblings as the photos above show.

This shrimp will readily cross with the bee shrimp (crystal black shrimp), chinese zebra shrimp, and the tiger shrimp. The bumblebee shrimp might also cross with this shrimp, but it is less likely to do so since it seems to be a completely different species.