Our Bloody Mary Neocaridina Shrimp
Welcome to our Bloody Mary photo album. Bloody Marys are often misidentified as top-tier Red Cherries, but they are genetically distinct. While standard red shrimp are bred for an opaque, painted-on shell, Bloody Marys come from the Chocolate shrimp lineage and have a transparent exoskeleton. The deep crimson you see comes entirely from their internal red tissue glowing through the clear shell, which creates a glossy, high-definition look that matte-coloured shrimp can't match.
Our colony breeds in a Aqua One OptiClear 36Ltr aquarium using an inert substrate. The tank is an environment of Java moss, Java fern, and Hornwort, with Water Lettuce, Amazon Frogbit, and Salvinia Cucullata providing a natural filter at the surface. When the babies are born, they go into a Diversa 60Ltr aquarium where they growout and mature.
We keep our water at a steady pH of 7.6, KH of 6, and GH of 7. We prioritise stability over everything else, as these shrimp do their best when they aren't dealing with fluctuating chemistry. Staying consistent with these numbers has been the key to our successful breeding cycles.
Diet is varied to ensure the colony gets exactly what it needs for growth and colour. We rotate through Glasgarten Shrimp Dinner, Shrimp Baby, Shrimp Fit, Mineral Junkie, and BacterAE, along with snowflake and occasional bloodworms. This balanced feeding plan supports clean molts and keeps the internal red pigment as intense as possible across every new generation.
The pictures in this gallery are of our own Chester-based colony, showing the shrimp as they truly look in a mature setup.