Wishing all our readers a happy lunar new year! Today, I would like to share extensively about the traditional Fire Red shrimp, the shrimp that started this hobby for me.

Fire reds can live in these parameters:
pH: 6.4 – 7.5
gH: 3-6
TDS: 80-300ppm
Temperature: 24 – 30 degree celcius

Many years ago, these shrimps were selectively bred in Japan to have a cherry red colour. Eventually through many years of refining the shrimp colour, it has became what is as shown above. A cherry shrimp used to cost about $4 a piece and right now, it’s probably only worth $0.50 while Fire reds are going at a price of $1 to $2.

The reason in the huge drop of prices is because these shrimps are extremely easy to breed and there is an abundance of supply. As long as your shrimps are well climatized in your tank, they start breeding. A female shrimp holds it’s eggs for about 24-28 days with about 20-30

Fire red shrimp, classified as Neocaridina Davidi is one of the shrimps that are well known to contract the parasite Ellobiopsidae or Cladogonium(I am unsure of the scientific terms, but there is a very good read about this here). It is a fungus that grows from the belly of the shrimp and eventually spread all over it’s body.

This fungus is harmful as it will block certain muscles and nerves, which in turn, the shrimp will have difficulties absorbing the nutrients and cause it to die. The fungus is contagious and can be spread to other shrimps as well. When you spot a shrimp that is infected with this, it is best to quarantine the shrimp and treat it immediately.

There are many ways to treat the fungus, but the one that has been the most effective for me is this. Prepare about 1 litre of tank water. Add about 8 tablespoon of aquarium salt in it. Dip the infected shrimp in the solution for about 10 seconds and put it back to your quarantine area. This has worked about 8/10 times, with some cases of death. However, it is still better than having it in your tank and spreading this parasite to other shrimps as well.

In the past, these shrimps are classified under a wide range of category, which is why we still see these shrimps having many different names. From the palest of red to the thickest of red, these shrimps are classified with names like:

1) Cherry
2) Sakura
3) Fire Red
4) Painted Red

In the modern days, we classify them as red shrimp now and they are seldom graded as the genetic of these shrimps having offsprings that are extremely red is quite high now.

Red shrimps that are usually sent to competition must have the following criteria.
1) Full red legs
2) Thick red shell
3) No deformity

These are the basics not including size and also uniformity of the shrimps that are entered into the competition.

With the Neocaridina competition that was launched last year, it had sparked a lot of Neocaridina farms to send in shrimps to compete and win a reputation for themselves. This also brings the hobby to a whole new level for hobbyist and also breeders.

Fire red do not require a lot of attention and thrive in environments that are stable. A well cycled tank is key to keeping them alive and maintain your water parameters within the range they can live it. If your shrimps are breeding well and feeding well, there is pretty much nothing to do but watch your population increase.

If you are new into the hobby, I would definitely recommend Fire red shrimps. They are gorgeous and absolutely stunning. They are also reasonably priced so you won’t feel the pinch if your shrimps didn’t make it.

Our stable colony of 500 fire red shrimp have been constantly producing 2000 shrimplets on a monthly basis. One key factor into getting them to grow is to feed them regularly. We feed them three times a day with our very own herb sticks!

So that’s the end of this post, if you have more questions about keeping or breeding this lovely shrimp, drop me an email at hello@madshrimp.com or find us on our instagram @madshrimpsg.