UK cherry shrimps, properly explained.
Cherry Shrimps UK is the UK's complete cherry shrimp knowledge base — care, breeding, genetics and honest buying advice, written for British tap water. We're not selling shrimp right now, so nothing here is a sales pitch.
Cherry shrimp colours and varieties
All 14 Neocaridina colour lines — what they are, how they're graded, and how to keep their colour strong. One guide per variant.
Red Cherry
The classic — hardy, vivid, beginner-perfect
Care guide →
Bloody Mary
Deep translucent red from flesh, not shell
Care guide →
Blue Dream
Rich, opaque navy-blue all over
Care guide →
Blue Velvet
Lighter sky-blue with a glassy shine
Care guide →
Blue Diamond
The darkest blue — sapphire to near-black
Care guide →
Emerald Green
Striking jade-emerald, still rare in the UK
Care guide →
Green Jade
Deeper forest-green sister line
Care guide →
Yellow Fire
Neon yellow, glows against dark substrate
Care guide →
Orange Sakura
Warm pumpkin-orange, very hardy
Care guide →
Black Rose
Jet black with a deep maroon undertone
Care guide →
Chocolate
Deep cocoa-brown, the connoisseur's pick
Care guide →
Snowball
Porcelain white with snow-white eggs
Care guide →
Red Rili
Two-tone red and clear patterning
Care guide →
Carbon Rili
Smoke-and-glass monochrome rili
Care guide →Cherry shrimp guides for UK keepers
Eight topic hubs and 89 in-depth guides, built to answer the questions UK shrimp keepers actually type into Google.
Getting Started
9 guidesNew to shrimp keeping? Start here: what cherry shrimp are, what they cost, and how to set up your first colony without the beginner mistakes.
Water & Parameters
10 guidesThe UK-specific side of shrimp keeping: what comes out of your tap, what the numbers mean, and how to keep them boringly stable.
Breeding & Genetics
14 guidesFrom your first berried female to a colony that doubles every couple of months — plus grading, genetics and selective breeding.
Health & Troubleshooting
13 guidesWhen something looks wrong: diagnosis first, panic never. Moulting problems, diseases and the checklist that finds the real cause.
Tank Setup & Kit
16 guidesTanks, filters, substrate and tank mates — the kit that matters, the kit that doesn't, and the setups that raise shrimplets.
Plants & Aquascaping
9 guidesScaping for shrimp is different: every surface is a buffet and every thicket is a nursery. Layouts and plants that work.
Food & Feeding
9 guidesBiofilm first, supplements second. What to feed, how often, and why overfeeding kills more shrimp than starvation ever has.
Buying in the UK
9 guidesWhere to buy, what to pay, and how to spot healthy stock — honest advice from a site with no shrimp of its own to sell.
How to breed cherry shrimp, from first berried female to a thriving colony
The most-searched shrimp topic in the UK — parameters, the berried female, shrimplet survival and the mistakes that quietly kill broods.
Read the breeding guide
Your tap water matters
US care guides assume American water. Ours are written around what actually comes out of British taps — and what to do about it.
Hard water? You're probably fine straight from the tap. Soft? You'll want to remineralise — our UK tap water guide shows how.
The red grading scale
What "high grade" actually means, from cull to Painted Fire Red.
Our Neocaridina grades guide has the same scales for blue, green, yellow and black lines.
Start with the cornerstones
Cherry Shrimp Care Guide: The Complete UK Guide (Neocaridina davidi)
The complete UK guide to cherry shrimp care from a working breeder: tank setup, water parameters for UK tap, feeding, moulting, breeding and honest prices.
UK Tap Water for Shrimp: The Region-by-Region Hardness Guide
The region-by-region guide to UK tap water for shrimp: which areas run hard, which run soft, when to remineralise, and why you dechlorinate for chloramine.
Where to Buy Cherry Shrimp in the UK: The Honest Guide
Where to buy cherry shrimp in the UK, compared honestly by a breeder: specialist sellers, local fish shops, chains, eBay and Facebook — and what to pay.
We're not selling shrimp right now
Join the waitlist and we'll email you if we start breeding again. Until then, the guides are the whole point of this site.