True Name Of Cherry Shrimp

[Baccus]

Ok so now I am confused, does anybody know the true name of cherry shrimp? Is it Neocardina heteropoda or Paratya australiensis ? Are these two different species that just happen to share a common name or did they have a name change somewhere along the line and I haven't come across any reference to such a change.

Please keep in mind that I am in Australia and it is pretty much impossible to import live shrimp. As far as I can tell I may have Paratya australiensis in my tanks but where just sold to me as cherry shrimp. I really want to get more shrimp species but depending on what type of cherry shrimp I currently have could really curtail any other species I get or how I house them.

 

[ian]

Neocardina heteropoda is the scientific name, the Paratya australiensis is a glass shrimp and there is a variant that is red. Maybe they are being confused for Cherries.

 

[Baccus]

Ok thanks for that, is there any clear way to tell the difference? Some of my female shrimp are a very dark red with a distinct mat red coloured strip down their backs, they also tend to have some small white/clear marks often on their leg joints. Most of my males are clear with thin red lines running the length of their body. I would post pics but they rarely sit still and I doubt my camera would be able to clearly show the various minute markings that my shrimp have.

 

[ian]

try and get us a pic. The best you can

 

[Baccus]

Hopefully these pictures do them justice and somebody can identify them.

The various pictures are taken in different tanks but all of the shrimp are from my original group that I purchased.


A fully mature female.

A male

Another female

A collection of juvi's or not fully coloured ones

Hope these pictures help.

 

[coldcazzie]

They're definitely cherries, the scientific name is, as you said, Neocaridina heteropoda sp. "red"

You can house Caridina species with them, amanos, tigers, etc, but other Neocaridina species will interbreed.

 

[ian]

I'm going to say they're most probably are Cherries. There is a variant of the glass shrimp that is red. Google image search it and you see very subtle differences, ie the tail and nose length.

 

[Baccus]

Very much doubt I would be able to get any other types of Neocaridina but I can get other caridina species native to Australia.