Painted Fire Red Shrimp

Overview

The Painted Fire Red Shrimp (Neocaridina davidi) is the deepest, most solid-red grade of cherry shrimp, easy to keep and quick to breed. It reaches about 3 cm and can live for roughly 1-2 years with good care.

This guide covers everything in plain language: tank size and setup, water parameters, the best foods (with recommended brands), which shrimp and tank mates it can safely live with, breeding, and the common problems to avoid. It is rated Beginner to keep.

Natural Habitat & Origin

Freshwater shrimp come from streams, pools and lakes across Asia. They are sensitive to copper, ammonia and sudden changes, so a mature, stable, planted tank is the secret to keeping and breeding them.

Tank Size & Setup

Provide at least 20 litres. Even small shrimp do best in a stable, well-established tank, as larger water volumes stay cleaner and swing less.

A mature, planted tank with moss, leaf litter and biofilm is ideal. Use a sponge filter (or a guard over the intake) so babies aren't sucked in, and never add anything containing copper, which is deadly to shrimp.

Always add invertebrates only to a fully cycled, mature tank - they are far more sensitive to ammonia and nitrite than most fish.

Water Parameters

Keep the Painted Fire Red Shrimp at 18-28 °C with a pH of 6.5-8.0, in soft, acidic water (GH 6-15 (soft to hard)) - usually made with RO water and a bee-shrimp mineral such as Salty Shrimp GH+.

Stability is everything for invertebrates: test regularly, keep ammonia and nitrite at zero and nitrate low, drip-acclimate new arrivals slowly over an hour, and make only small, steady water changes. Remember that copper - found in some fish medicines and plant fertilisers - is lethal, so always check labels.

Diet & Feeding

The Painted Fire Red Shrimp is a omnivore. In Australia, good options include Hikari Shrimp Cuisine, Dymax Shrimp Booster and blanched vegetables (zucchini, spinach), plus the natural biofilm and algae of a mature planted tank.

Feed lightly - invertebrates get much of their food from natural biofilm and algae, and overfeeding quickly fouls the water and triggers losses. A little, a few times a week, is plenty for most shrimp and snails.

Which Shrimp & Tank Mates Can Live Together?

Important: every Neocaridina colour (cherry, blue, yellow, green, black, orange, rili and so on) is the same species, so different colours will interbreed and their babies slowly revert to a muddy wild brown. To keep a colour pure, only keep one Neocaridina colour per tank. The good news is that Neocaridina do not cross with Caridina shrimp (crystal/bee/tiger), so a cherry-type colony and a Caridina colony can safely live together as long as the water suits both. Keep them with peaceful nano fish, snails, Amano and filter-feeding shrimp, and avoid any fish big enough to eat them.

Breeding

It breeds very easily in stable, copper-free water - berried females carry eggs under the tail for 3-4 weeks until tiny, fully-formed shrimp hatch. Just provide a mature tank, gentle filtration and good food, and a colony soon establishes itself.

Common Problems & Care Tips

The biggest killers of shrimp are copper, ammonia spikes and sudden changes in water - go slowly and keep things stable. Watch moulting closely: shrimp shed their shell to grow, and a failed moult (often from a lack of minerals or a big water change) can be fatal, so keep GH steady.

Quarantine and acclimate all new livestock carefully, and watch daily for sluggishness, failure to eat or trouble moulting.

Is the Painted Fire Red Shrimp Right for You?

The Painted Fire Red Shrimp suits beginners and experts alike, as long as you can provide 20+ litres, the right water, copper-free conditions and suitable tank mates.

Get the basics right and these fascinating invertebrates are some of the most rewarding animals in the hobby. Use our aquarium tools to plan your setup and browse our fish and plant guides for safe tank mates.

Frequently Asked Questions