Description
If you are keeping shrimp for the first time, start here. The Red Cherry is the most widespread in the hobby and the most forgiving: 2 to 3 cm of intense red, entirely peaceful, busy all day working over plants and substrate grazing biofilm and leftovers.
It breeds on its own. The female carries eggs under her abdomen for about three weeks and fully formed young hatch, with no larval stage: ten shrimp become a colony of a hundred within months if no fish are eating them. It is one of the few species where breeding is not a project but something to manage.
Copper kills them. That is the most important warning on this profile. Many plant fertilisers, almost all fish antiparasitics and snail treatments contain copper, and a dose normal for a fish tank wipes out an entire colony in hours. Always read the composition before adding anything.
Moulting is the critical moment. After moulting they are soft and defenceless and hide for a day or two. They need minerals to rebuild the shell, so the water cannot be too soft; below GH 4 failed moults appear, and those are usually fatal.
It lives well with shrimp of other genera, snails, otocinclus, corydoras and small rasboras such as the celestial pearl danio. Avoid any fish that can fit a shrimplet in its mouth: bettas, gouramis, angelfish and medium tetras empty the colony without you noticing.
And protect the filter intake with a sponge: newborn shrimplets fit through any grille.
Habitat
It comes from streams and channels in Taiwan and southern China: gentle flow, a bottom covered in leaf litter and dense vegetation everywhere.
Reproducing that is simple and it is also what makes a colony thrive. Java moss, fine-leaved plants, some driftwood and a handful of dried Indian almond or beech leaves. This is not decoration: all that surface grows biofilm, which is their main food and where the young spend their first weeks.
That is why a colony does so well in a mature tank and so badly in a newly set up one: in the latter there is simply nothing to graze.
Medium hardness, stable temperature and gentle flow. It needs no heater if your home stays above 18 degrees, and in fact it lives longer at the lower end of the range than at 26.
Habitats
🌊 Water parameters
What about your tank?
Enter your tank's values to see only the compatible species that fit them. Litres apply to fish.
Compatible fish
General guidance based on water parameters, behaviour and known exceptions; always review the individual animals' and aquarium's specific needs.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 24–26 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 26 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 25–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 24–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 20–25 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 24–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 18–24 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 18–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 24–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7 and 24–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7 and 20–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.2 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 20–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 18–22 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 18–24 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7 and 26 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 6.5–7 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5 and 24–26 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 6.5–7 and 23–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 23–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 20–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 23–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
Compatible invertebrates
General guidance based on water parameters, behaviour and known exceptions; always review the individual animals' and aquarium's specific needs.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 20–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5 and 20–24 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 20–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–6.8 and 20–24 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 6.5–6.8 and 20–24 °C. They only meet at the very edge, so the tank has to hold that value.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 18–26 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 20–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 18–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 18–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 18–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 18–26 °C.
They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 22–26 °C.
They share water: pH 6.5–7.5 and 18–26 °C.
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They share water: pH 7–7.5 and 18–26 °C.
Sources
- GBIFGBIF Secretariat (2026). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset. https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei. Consultado vía GBIF.org, 2026-08. Neocaridina davidi.
Taxonomy verified as ACCEPTED unless stated otherwise.
'Red Cherry' is a colour variety obtained through breeding, not a taxon. GBIF recognises the species Neocaridina davidi; the variety has no entry of its own and never will.
The care values (pH, temperature and hardness) have no citable source: none of the accepted sources publishes invertebrate profiles. Seriously Fish has none and PlanetCatfish does not respond. A source for invertebrates is still to be agreed.