Mixing Neocaridina colours: choose your breeding aim first

Different colour forms of Neocaridina davidi may belong to the same species. If they reproduce together, their commercial colour names cannot guarantee the offspring. A mixed display colony is a different choice from preserving a documented colour selection.

When mixing fits your aim

If you enjoy variation and can care for the whole colony appropriately, less predictable colour need not be a problem. Still assess water, condition and new-animal introductions carefully. “All Neocaridina” does not replace species identification: Snowball/White Pearl, for example, is assigned to N. palmata, not automatically N. davidi.

When separate groups make more sense

• You want to continue offering offspring under a particular line name.
• You want to trace parents and outcomes of a cross.
• You lack suitable capacity for variable offspring without repeatedly remixing groups.

An online chart with blue, red and yellow arrows cannot guarantee your animals’ results. The same colour can occur in different backgrounds. Without controlled crosses of the actual strains, we give no fixed generation when all offspring become “wild type” and no percentages per colour.

If groups have already mixed, record that honestly. A red juvenile does not thereby regain proven origin in the original red line. Describe the known mixture instead of claiming unverified purity. For deliberate selection follow the colour-selection plan; for records use keeping groups separate.

Sources and scope

• UF/IFAS: Cherry shrimp, Neocaridina davidi
• Tave, FAO (1999): Genetics, phenotype and genotype
• LICG: Zoetwatergarnaal

UF/IFAS describes selected colour forms within N. davidi. Genetics concepts come from a general FAO fish-breeding explanation, which provides no established ratios for these shrimp colours. The mixed-display versus separate-line decision is our editorial assessment.