NEWS104
16
Lexicon
Dwarf shrimps
Neocaridinameans "new
Caridina";Caridina is another
shrimpgenus.
heteropodameans“withdifferent
feet "
.
This attractivevariant of
Neocaridinaheteropoda
is called the“Rili”.Thephoto shows anegg-carrying female.
escape into the wild. Anyone who,
intentionally or unintentionally, releases
livestock – be it dogs, cats, birds, or
aquarium-dwellers – is committing a
criminal offence, a point worth bearing in
mind.
Itall startedwith theCherryRed
Neocaridina heteropoda
is so variable in
coloration in the wild that it cannot be
identified on the basis of color. The
spectrum ranges fromblacktotransparent,
with shades of green brown, and red in
between. Bluish individuals also occur. But
if there is such a thing as a golden rule
when it comes to breeding ornamental
animals – be they canaries, Goldfishes, or
indeeddwarf shrimps– then it is that if it is
possible to breed a red form, then a red
formwill be bred. And thus the cultivated
formCherryRedsooncame intobeing,and
rapidly made
Neocaridina heteropoda
the
most popular dwarf shrimp of all. The
coloration became even more intense in
the "Fire Red". But gradually these little
shrimps also started receiving derogatory
nicknames such as "Guppy shrimps",
denoting that it is ashard toprevent them
from breeding as it is with Guppies. Now
that is nonsense in the case of theGuppy.
Such statements can be made only by
people who have never been involved in
the breeding of Guppies. But there will
always be counter-currents. So the
Japanese-sounding name "Sakura" was
coined for red
Neocaridina heteropoda
in
whichthe legsarealsoanattractivered,the
ideabeing to imitate the terminologyused
for Koi or the classification of Crystal Red
shrimps. That sort of thing is remarkably
effective.
coloration. I remember one case where a
breeder inKarlsruhe sawdwarf shrimpshe
hadnever seenbeforeatabreeder friend’s.
He asked the friend for a few specimens
andwas told that the shrimps were some
he had bred himself and passed to the
frienda fewmonthspreviously.That ishow
mutable these shrimpsare!
Neocaridina heteropoda
was originally
known from eastern China, but has now
alsobeen introduced invariousotherparts
of theworld.Itseaseofbreedingcombined
with awide tolerance of themost diverse
water conditionsmade it seemparticularly
suitable for use as a food animal in
aquaculture. Hardly surprisingly, the little
shrimpsooneror laterescapedandcreated
free-livingcolonies.Nowadays it is found in
largepartsofChina,Japan,andTaiwan,and
further away in Hawaii. The shrimps
widespread in the hobby supposedly
originated
from
Taiwan.
Because
Neocaridina heteropoda
can also survive
outdoors year-round in Germany, great
care should be taken not to let them
