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If you've spent any time reading about red cherry shrimp or watching videos on YouTube
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you will no doubt have heard about the fact red cherry shrimp come in different grades
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In this video I will explain exactly what grading is and how you can tell what grade of red cherry
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shrimp you have in your tank. Hello friends, welcome back to the channel. If you're new here
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my name is Richard and I'm the author of the new ebook on neocaridina shrimp. I'm pleased to say
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we're able to give away free copies of this book to the first 100 people who click the link in the
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description so first off let's look at exactly what we mean when we say grades of red cherry
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shrimp grades essentially refer to the level or intensity of the red coloration the red cherry
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shrimp display it is generally agreed that the more intense the red color on the red cherry
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shrimp the higher quality that shrimp is. The fine people at the shrimp farm.com have produced a chart
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that gives us a great overview of the different grades of red cherry shrimp. The chart on screen
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shows the five most commonly available grades of red cherry shrimp. Since this chart was produced
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a sixth grade has been added and I'll touch on that later in the video. Incidentally I've included
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a link to the shrimp farm.com in the description in case you're looking for some good quality shrimp
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delivered to your door. Before I go over each of the grades and how you might identify them from
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one another we should probably discuss whether or not grade or colour intensity really matters
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In my opinion how tense the colour of your red cherry shrimp is doesn't matter if you're just
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looking to add some shrimp to an aquarium to act as a clean-up crew. All red cherry shrimp
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no matter how bright their colour will eat leftover fish food and break down fish poop However if you creating a high Aquascape nanotank where the shrimp are the stars of the show
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I can see how someone might like a really high-end strain of shrimp
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The more intense the shrimp colour, the more they will pop against the green background of aquarium plants
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Do bear in mind that the higher the grade of shrimp, typically the higher the price tag
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Top end shrimp may set you back 4 or 5 times the price of regular low grade red cherry shrimp
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Before we look at the individual grades of red cherry shrimp please take a moment to tap the like button, like in the video, help support the channel and spread this video
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to other like minded people. So how do we distinguish between the different grades
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Let's look back at the chart from the shrimp farm.com and go through each grade one at
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a time. Firstly, we start with cherry grade or low grade red cherry shrimp. Cherry grade red
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cherry shrimp is the lowest grade of shrimp. They typically boast only a little colour
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Very low grade red cherry shrimp barely show any colour at all. These shrimp have very
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translucent bodies with pink to light red spots or patches across their backs. Often
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these little guys will be cheap to buy and they're often an ideal choice for the first
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time shrimp keeper who doesn't wish to invest too much money. If you're purely looking for a
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cleanup crew to help ease the burden of tank maintenance in your community aquarium these are
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the shrimp to go for. Next up is the low sakura grade red cherry shrimp. Low sakura grade red
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cherry shrimp have a lot more color than regular cherry grade shrimp. Typically however the color
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they do have is not intense and it tends to be mostly across their back Often the underbelly and legs of low Sakura grade red cherry shrimp are still very translucent Low grade Sakura red cherry shrimp will set you back a little more than cherry grade
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but the price difference does not tend to be great. Third on our list is high grade Sakura red cherry shrimp which is sometimes referred to as
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double A grade shrimp. The colour of high grade Sakura red cherry shrimp is usually much more
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intense than that of the low grade Sakura. These shrimp are also more opaque than the
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lower grade cousins and they normally have colour on their legs. The colour of high grade
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Sakura red cherry shrimp tends to be more uniform than any of its predecessors and it's
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the first grade of red cherry shrimp whereby we see truly bright coloured specimens
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Next up is the fire grade red cherry shrimp. These shrimp are usually totally opaque meaning
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you can barely see through their bodies. Fire Grade Red Cherry Shrimp tend to be uniform
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in colour across their whole body and it is rare to see blotchiness or patches without
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any colour. Fire Grade Red Cherry Shrimp will command a higher price than their lower grade
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counterparts but that money is often well spent if you are hoping to breed some truly
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stunning Red Cherry Shrimp. The final grade of Red Cherry Shrimp on our chart is the painted
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Fire Red Grade Red Cherry Shrimp. These shrimp earn their name from their truly intense colour
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Painted Fire Red Grade Red Cherry Shrimp have a uniform, solid, bright red colour across their
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entire bodies and they are usually so intensely coloured even the golden saddles of the females
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can no longer be seen. These shrimp are beautiful to look at and make a wonderful addition to any
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planted aquarium. The extra money this shrimp costs is usually worth the expense, especially if
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if you are setting up a nano display tank dedicated to red cherry shrimp Now the newest grade of red cherry shrimp is the Bloody Mary red cherry shrimp This strain has been developed in recent years by dedicated high shrimp breeders
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The intense colour of these shrimp has to be seen in person to be believed, and few photographs can do them justice
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Generally speaking, male red cherry shrimp boast less colour than females, but in a colony of Bloody Mary shrimp, even the males have an intense bright red body
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Bloody Mary red cherry shrimp are the creme de la creme of the red cherry shrimp world
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When trying to figure out what strain of red cherry shrimp you have or you're looking
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to purchase, remember the following points. Firstly the redder the better. The more red a red cherry shrimp has across its body the higher grade it's considered
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to be. Secondly opacity matters. The higher grade a shrimp is the less easy it is to see through its body
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If the body is translucent they're a lower grade. Finally, remember males are almost always less colourful than females, but for your colony
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to grow you will need both sexes, otherwise you will probably never see any baby shrimp
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When purchasing red-true shrimp, do ensure you get both males and females even though
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the males may be less colourful. If you plan to spend big and invest in some high-grade shrimp, do be aware that for your
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colony to remain high quality you will need to remove any shrimp that do not reach the
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grade. It does not matter how much money you invest upfront, if your colony throws a low
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grade female and she is allowed to reproduce, the colony will quickly reduce itself to a
