Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Being new to shrimp keeping, I already have some red cherries but found another species I liked that were called just plain "red shrimp" at a local store. They had another tank of red cherry shrimp. Price range for the RC were 5.98 ea. and the plain old "Reds" were 2.98 ea. I am very confused as to what kind of shrimp the ones marked "red shrimp" are. They look identical to the chrerry shrimp except are much redder in color. Searched your varieties ID page and they look like Hawaii red shrimp but the store had them in fresh water, not brackish. I had the store manager call the distributer to find out about them and they only said that they are "red shrimp" and they keep them in fresh water. Guess they really don't know what they are selling. Is there another "Red" fresh water shrimp that looks almost exactally like the RC? (I rescued them from the store and now I don't know what I should do about the water situation. I don't want to lose them.)
Another question, How much salt per gallon of water will make it brackish?
Thanks for any replies. Sorry this post is so long.

I suspect they are both Red Cherry Shrimp, just one variety is redder than the other and brings a higher price. I have one tank that is sort of light red, another that is peach, and another that is green. All are the same species Neocaridina denticulata.

Hawaiian red shrimp are only about half the size of RCS, if that. They can live is fresh water for a little while, so don't over react until you have an ID for sure. Hawaiian red shrimp don't look a lot like RCS except they are red. The eyes are almost invisible and the boody shape is quite different with a much rounder head. Look closer at the pictures.

As to salt levels, if they are Hawaiian red shrimp you need to bring the salt up a little at a time to acclimate them, at least I think so. Make sure you use sea salt, not table salt or aquarium salt. I'm keeping mine at 18 ppt, or 18 grams of salt to a liter of water. You can get a nifty hydrometer at most any aquarium store with a swing needle to make mixing the water easy. I make a brine in a blender oof really strong stuff, and add a little at a time & mix well, then measure, add more then measure.

Thanks for the tip on adding the salt. I am hoping to add some Hawaii red shrimp to a newly set up tank soon .

You'll have to ask them whic the nicer colored shrimp were more. Could be that they got them from separate sources and just paid more for one bunch than another. Crystal Red shrimp are also red and cost lots more, but these are almost never found in pet stores.

Please update the condition of your new shrimp. Are they doing well in fresh water? When you say that they look like Hawaii red shrimp do you mean their color, share or size? If they are raised in fresh water and do well in it you may not want to change that for now.