Red Cherry Shrimp and...?

[ConnerFish]

I have a 10 gallon tank with red cherry shrimp two mystery snails and a betta. I would like to add another color shrimp to the tank but have red if they cross breed you will get brown :irked:. Is there a color/type of shrimp I could add that would not cross breed? Thanks!

 

[XanAvaloni]

Excellent question Conner and happily one that has an easy answer. Shrimp that are different species cannot crossbreed (that's the definition of a species in fact.) So red cherries are neocaridina shrimp; you want to find one that is a caridinia or else some different species entirely like Bamboo or Ghost/Glass shrimp. I have a tank exactly like yours and my caridinia choice is Tiger Shrimp, but there are several from which to choose. There are a number of Shrimp Compatibility Charts out there, I usually use this one from The Shrimp Farm as it is larger and easier to read than some.

Crystal Reds might be too much like your cherries to be visually fun, but the Crystal Black, aka Bee Shrimp, might be interesting. Or, um, tigers. Mgamer has some right now, that's where I got mine from so I offer a hearty endorsement of his quality stock.

 

[ConnerFish]

Thanks for the quick reply! I will look into the tiger shrimp and at the chart. Thanks