Family: Atyidae
Sakura Cherry Shrimp — the classic pink-red morph of Neocaridina davidi and the best beginner shrimp in the hobby. Reaches 2-2.5 cm, thrives at 18-26 °C in almost any stable freshwater tank, and breeds continuously without brackish water.
Sakura Cherry Shrimp is the most popular color morph of Neocaridina davidi, the hardy East Asian atyid that aquarists in Taiwan and Japan spent two decades selecting from wild stock for ever-deeper red. Compared with the original wild-type cherry, the Sakura grade shows an even, translucent pink-red over the whole body with a darker cherry saddle on the back. It reaches 2-2.5 cm, grazes algae and biofilm all day, and tolerates 18-26 °C across a wide pH and hardness range, which makes it the standard starter shrimp and a genuinely useful cleanup crew in planted community tanks. It breeds readily in pure freshwater: the female carries 20-30 green eggs under her abdomen for about three weeks, and the hatchlings emerge as miniature adults needing no special food beyond fine powder and the biofilm of a mature tank. Keep ten or more for stable groups, avoid copper medication, and provide dense moss so the young survive alongside small fish.
Ten to fifteen. Shrimp are social in a quiet way — larger groups graze more confidently, show better color, and establish breeding faster than a lonely pair.
Two usual causes: mixed bloodlines (crossed with other Neocaridina colors, which drifts back toward the wild brown form), or stress from high temperature or nitrate. Keep colors pure, water below 26 °C, and nitrates under 20 mg/L.
Adult cherries usually survive with a calm betta in a planted tank, though babies will be eaten. Goldfish and any large-mouthed fish will eat adults too. Dedicated shrimp tanks are the only way to raise a colony.
Usually not. They are comfortable from 18 to 26 °C, which covers most living rooms year-round. Stability matters more than the exact number — avoid spots near windows or radiators that swing the temperature daily.
Almost always acclimation shock or an uncycled tank. Drip-acclimate new shrimp over an hour, match temperature, and verify ammonia and nitrite are zero before adding them. New arrivals also hide and refuse food for a day or two — that is normal, not illness.