Cherry Shrimp UK: Colour Strains, Water, Welfare & Every In-Stock Morph

Photo: Tropical Fish Co warehouse.*

UK tap water and cherry shrimp — the postcode reality

Most UK aquarists over-complicate water chemistry for cherries. Neocaridina davidi is one of the most water-adaptable shrimp species in the UK trade. The FishBase ranges are:

• pH: 6.5 to 8.0
• General hardness: 6 to 15 dGH
• Carbonate hardness: 2 to 10 dKH
• TDS: 150 to 300 ppm

Check your water company's hardness report. If your postcode sits inside those ranges, you need no remineralisation and no water-chemistry kit beyond a decent dechlorinator.

London, Essex, Kent, Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire — all hard water, all fine for cherries. Scotland, the Lake District, parts of Wales — softer water, still fine (though Caridina species like crystal reds thrive here where they'd struggle in London).

The water-chemistry mistake to avoid

A 50% water change with straight tap water crashes TDS by 40%+ in one go. That kind of osmotic shock kills adult shrimp and causes failed moults (the fatal "stuck moult" where a shrimp can't escape its old shell). Change 10–20% weekly, temperature- matched to tank temp, parameter-matched within reason.

Weekly feeding schedule — what a healthy colony eats

There's no single "shrimp food" that covers everything. A colony needs variety: biofilm as the foundation, supplementary food for the calories, and occasional protein for breeding condition.

Remove any uneaten food after 2 hours. Over-feeding crashes water quality faster than under-feeding harms shrimp — they'll graze biofilm between feeds indefinitely.

Water chemistry conversion — read your water report

UK water companies publish hardness in mg/L CaCO₃. Most aquarium kits report in dGH or ppm. Here's the conversion at a glance:

1 dGH ≈ 17.9 mg/L CaCO₃. Read your postcode's hardness at your water supplier's quality-report page; cross-reference this table before building the tank.

Quick troubleshooting — symptom to cause

What to look for when picking individual shrimp

1. Fully extended body — healthy shrimp stand tall on their legs. Curled = stress or recent moult failure.
2. Solid colour saturation (opaque strains) or clear translucency (rili/jelly strains). Washed-out = poor conditioning.
3. Active antennae — constantly twitching the water.
4. Complete appendages — six walking legs, two antennae, both eyes. Missing bits come from rough packing or aggressive tank mates at the supplier.

Watch: a settled cherry shrimp colony feeding

Tank setup — the minimum viable colony

• 30 L tank — 20 L works, 30 L is where parameters stay stable under the heavier bioload of a breeding colony
• Sponge filter on air pump (£8). Skip canister filters unless you add intake mesh
• Live plants — java moss, fissidens, christmas moss, guppy grass, frogbit. Moss is the nursery for shrimplets
• Dark substrate — brings out shrimp colour; any aquarium- safe gravel or aquasoil works
• Driftwood or almond leaves — for tannins (gentle antibacterial benefit) and biofilm surface area
• No fish for a starter colony — fish eat shrimplets indefinitely and prevent colony establishment

Community + clubs

The UK shrimp-keeping community is small but active:

• UK Aquatic Plant Society (UKAPS) shrimp forum — the primary UK community for water-chemistry questions and breeder trades ^[7]
• British Livebearer Association has an invertebrate section at its annual show
• Facebook "UK Shrimp Keepers" — 8,000+ members, UK-focused breeder swaps
• Reddit r/shrimptank — international but UK-active
• Instagram #UKShrimp + #ukaquascape — photography-focused

When your cherry shrimp arrive — our welfare protocol

Cherry shrimp ship via a licensed live-animal courier in our standard live-animal packaging. Our acclimation protocol is slower than fish because invertebrates are more osmotically sensitive.

1. Dim room, quiet unpacking
2. Float the sealed bag for 30 minutes — temperature equalisation (longer than fish because shrimp are more sensitive)
3. Drip-acclimate for 60–90 minutes at 1 drop per second — the slow drip matches their osmoregulation rate. Rushing this step causes stuck moults.
4. Net into the tank gently (never pour bag water into the display)
5. Lights off for 4 hours
6. No feeding for 24 hours

First-week survival rate on our cherry shrimp shipments over the last 12 months: 99.3%. The 0.7% casualty rate is covered by the Live Arrival Guarantee — photograph the bag on arrival with visible DOA shrimp, we refund or replace.

Ready for more?

The cherry shrimp care guide goes deeper on breeding, culling, and long-term colony management.

For the algae-specialist alternative, see our amano shrimp guide — different genus, different purpose, often kept alongside cherries in planted tanks.

The full live-shrimp and invertebrate range is at the shrimps & crustaceans hub. For broader invertebrate husbandry basics, the shrimp keeping care guide.