Chocolate Cherry Shrimp (Neocaridina davidi)

Chocolate Cherry Shrimp (Neocaridina davidi) is a dark chocolate-brown colour form of the hardy dwarf shrimp group most UK keepers know simply as cherry shrimp. It is best treated as a colony animal rather than a single pet: given a mature planted aquarium with moss, biofilm and stable mineral content, a small starter group will settle in and become a self-sustaining population.

What one purchase buys

One purchase is a single shrimp in the size option you select. Two dispatch sizes are offered, 1–1.5 cm and 2–2.5 cm, and the size you choose sets the price and the stock drawn from. Shrimp are supplied unsexed and are not established pairs – at these sizes they cannot be reliably sexed, and we make no claim about the sex ratio of any group you order.

Dispatch size is not adult size, and the two are listed separately in the quick facts below. Colour intensity varies between individuals in every Neocaridina line, so the depth of brown on any one shrimp is not guaranteed. The product photographs are representative images of this colour form rather than photographs of the exact shrimp that will be packed for you.

These shrimp are far more rewarding in a group than alone. The buying options on this page reflect that, but the biology is the real reason: a lone dwarf shrimp cannot form the grazing, breeding colony that makes the species worth keeping.

Quick facts

How big they get

A settled adult of this species measures roughly 2.5 to 3.5 cm, and females are consistently the larger sex. The scientific account of the naturalised European population gives a body size of up to 40 mm for the species, with averages of about 25 mm for females and 20 mm for males; the United States Geological Survey's species profile repeats that same 40 mm figure, citing the same work. The University of Florida's extension factsheet arrives at the ceiling separately, stating a maximum adult size of 3 to 4 centimetres and noting that females are typically larger because they carry the eggs to term under the body.

Two things are worth understanding about those numbers. The first is that a maximum is not an average. Most of the shrimp in a healthy home colony will sit in the 2 to 3 cm band; a well-fed older female approaching the top of the range is the exception rather than the rule, and a tank full of 4 cm shrimp is not a realistic expectation. The second is that measurement conventions differ between studies, so figures are not always directly comparable. A laboratory behaviour study that measured its trial animals from the tip of the rostrum to the rear edge of the telson reported a mean of 16.4 mm across a range of 11.2 to 22.4 mm – but those were the individuals recruited for that particular experiment, a mixed group of juveniles and adults, and the authors never present the figure as the size the species reaches. It is a useful picture of what a random handful out of a tank looks like, not a ceiling.

None of this is the size that will arrive in your box. What arrives is the dispatch size you select at the top of this page, 1–1.5 cm or 2–2.5 cm, and those shrimp then grow on in your aquarium. The care panel on this page quotes adult size in the same 2.5–3.5 cm terms used here.

A note on the name

The scientific naming of this group is genuinely unsettled, and it is worth understanding because you will see three different names on shrimp labels. The World Register of Marine Species currently accepts Neocaridina davidi (Bouvier, 1904). The older aquarium names Neocaridina heteropoda and Neocaridina denticulata refer to the same group of animals, and a 2024 integrative taxonomy study using mitochondrial genomes concluded that N. davidi, N. denticulata and N. heteropoda represent a single species complex, proposing that the earliest name, N. denticulata, be retained for all of them.

We keep Neocaridina davidi as the label here because that is the currently accepted name and the one supplied with these shrimp. The practical consequence for a keeper is simple: shrimp sold under any of these three names are close enough to interbreed freely.

Care and setup

Use a cycled aquarium with sponge-safe filtration, a stable temperature and plenty of grazing surfaces. Moss, botanicals, leaf litter and fine-leaved plants give juveniles cover and build up the biofilm the colony grazes on throughout the day. An uncycled tank is the single most common reason a new shrimp order fails.

Dark hardscape and substrate are worth choosing deliberately. In a controlled substrate-choice experiment, red, brown and white colour morphs of this species all selected a black background and avoided a white one, regardless of their own colouration – the authors noted that the shrimps' preferences match the wild brown form rather than their own bred colour. A dark base therefore suits their instincts, and it also shows a chocolate-brown shrimp far better than pale gravel does.

A shrimp-only setup is safest. If you add fish, choose very small peaceful species and expect some baby shrimp losses; almost anything with a mouth large enough will take shrimplets. Our freshwater shrimp care guide covers first-tank setup in more detail, and the aquarium water parameters guide explains GH, KH and TDS if those terms are new.

Water and temperature

This species tolerates a wide temperature band. In a 90-day laboratory study at 24 C, 28 C and 32 C, survival and growth were good across all three, and 28 C produced the highest proportion of egg-carrying females. The same study found a clear upper limit for breeding: every female that matured and mated at 32 C lost her eggs. Egg incubation also tracked temperature closely, taking about 12 days at 32 C and roughly 21 days at 24 C.

For a home colony that means a stable, moderate temperature does more good than a warm one. Sustained warmth speeds the animals up but costs you broods, and an unheated room-temperature tank simply runs a slower, longer cycle. Steady mineral content matters just as much: shrimp need dissolved minerals to build a new shell at each moult, and swinging parameters cause failed moults.

Feeding

Let the colony graze algae and biofilm first, then supplement lightly with shrimp foods, botanicals and soft blanched vegetables. Remove leftovers before they spoil the water. Underfeeding an established, well-planted tank is rarely a problem; overfeeding is, because uneaten food drives the ammonia spikes and planaria blooms that damage shrimp colonies.

Breeding and colony growth

Neocaridina are among the easiest freshwater invertebrates to breed because they skip the larval stage entirely. Their eggs are large, and the first stage hatches as a decapodid – a crawling miniature of the adult rather than a planktonic larva that would need brackish or marine water to survive. This is the key difference from Amano shrimp, whose larvae will not develop in a freshwater aquarium.

A female carries the eggs under her tail, fanning them with her swimming legs to keep fungus off, until they hatch. Published figures put a female's clutch at up to about 60 eggs, with a carrying range of roughly 43 to 60 reported from laboratory work, and incubation at 16 to 19 days at ordinary aquarium temperatures – consistent with the 12 days at 32 C and 21 days at 24 C measured in the temperature trial above. The young emerge as miniature adults only 1 to 2 mm long, and sexual maturity follows at around 30 days of age. There is no separate fry tank to set up and no special food to buy: if the aquarium has biofilm, the babies feed themselves.

The one wild population that has been tracked month by month gives a useful sense of scale. In a thermally warmed German stream where this species has naturalised, the study recorded a life span of about 12 months in the field and up to 21 months in the laboratory, roughly two generations a year, and only 2 to 3 per cent of eggs reaching adulthood – almost all of that loss attributed to predation by fish. A shrimp-safe aquarium removes the predation, which is exactly why a modest starting group compounds so quickly indoors, and why buying a group rather than a single animal is the sensible route.

Common mistakes with this species

• Adding shrimp to a new tank. Dwarf shrimp need an established biofilm layer and a fully cycled filter. A tank that is only days old has neither.
• Running the tank too warm. Breeding performance falls away at the top of the range, and at 32 C the laboratory females lost their eggs entirely.
• Chasing a number instead of stability. Moulting depends on steady mineral content; large water changes with very different water are a common cause of losses.
• Housing them with the wrong fish. Peaceful is not the same as shrimp-safe. Many small community fish will still eat shrimplets.
• Starting with too few. A handful of shrimp in a large tank can take a very long time to become a visible colony.
• Expecting the dispatch size to be the adult size. Juveniles at 1–1.5 cm still have most of their growing to do; judge stocking on the adult figure, not on what arrives.

Keeping the colour true

Every colour form in the hobby – chocolate, red, blue, yellow, green – was produced by selective breeding from the wild brown-and-translucent form, and all of them belong to the same interbreeding complex. Taxonomists have noted that deliberate crossbreeding for colour has itself blurred the morphological boundaries in this group. The practical rule that follows is straightforward: if you want a line to stay chocolate, keep one colour form per tank. Offspring from mixed colour forms are not guaranteed to keep either parent's colour.

If you would rather build a different colour line, the other Neocaridina forms we stock keep to exactly the same care requirements:

• Super Red Sakura Shrimp
• Blue Dream Shrimp
• Blue Velvet Shrimp
• Green Jade Shrimp
• Fire Neocaridina
• Black Rose Neocaridina

The full range sits in our Neocaridina shrimp category, and the cherry shrimp care guide covers colony keeping across all of the colour forms.

Arrival and guarantee

Livestock orders are packed carefully and sent by licensed live-animal courier. The Live Arrival Guarantee applies when the receiving and acclimation instructions are followed – full terms are on our delivery and Live Arrival Guarantee page. Acclimatise slowly on arrival: dwarf shrimp are more sensitive to a sudden change in water chemistry than to a change in temperature.

Sources and further reading

• WoRMS – World Register of Marine Species, taxon record for Neocaridina davidi (Bouvier, 1904), AphiaID 1579333. Accepted name and synonymy.
• Klotz, W., Miesen, F.W., Hüllen, S. & Herder, F. (2013). Two Asian fresh water shrimp species found in a thermally polluted stream system in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aquatic Invasions 8(3): 333–339. Species account and body-size measurements.
• United States Geological Survey, Nonindigenous Aquatic Species database, species profile for Neocaridina davidi (Species ID 2257). Body size, fecundity and incubation.
• Suen, C. & Gillett-Kaufman, J.L. (2020). Cherry Shrimp Neocaridina davidi (Bouvier 1904). UF/IFAS Extension publication EENY-751, University of Florida. Adult size, clutch size, incubation and maturity.
• Yang, M. et al. (2024). Integrative taxonomy reveals new insights into the species validity of the Neocaridina davidi–N. denticulata–N. heteropoda complex and mitogenomic phylogeny of caridean shrimps. Current Issues in Molecular Biology 46(11): 12279–12298.
• Tropea, C., Stumpf, L. & López Greco, L.S. (2015). Effect of temperature on biochemical composition, growth and reproduction of the ornamental red cherry shrimp Neocaridina heteropoda heteropoda (Decapoda, Caridea). PLOS ONE 10(3): e0119468.
• Plichta, Z., Kobak, J., Maciaszek, R. & Kakareko, T. (2021). All shades of shrimp: preferences of colour morphs of a freshwater shrimp Neocaridina davidi (Decapoda, Atyidae) for substrata of different colouration. Animals 11(4): 1071.
• Pantaleão, J.A.F., Gregati, R.A., da Costa, R.C., López-Greco, L.S. & Negreiros-Fransozo, M.L. (2017). Post-hatching development of the ornamental ‘Red Cherry Shrimp’ Neocaridina davidi (Bouvier, 1904) under laboratorial conditions. Aquaculture Research 48(2): 553–569.
• Schoolmann, G. & Arndt, H. (2018). Population dynamics of the invasive freshwater shrimp Neocaridina davidi in the thermally polluted Gillbach stream (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany). Limnologica 71: 1–7.