Family: Atyidae
Blue Pearl Shrimp — a blue-grey spotted morph of Neocaridina palmata with red-brown speckles, a natural-patterned contrast to solid-color cherries. Reaches 2-2.5 cm, hardy at 18-26 °C, breeds freely in freshwater.
Blue Pearl Shrimp is the blue-grey spotted morph sold under the scientific name Neocaridina palmata — a small East Asian atyid from the hill streams of southern China and Taiwan. Unlike the solid-color davidi morphs, the blue pearl wears a slate-blue to grey body dotted with red-brown speckles and often a red band along the back, a pattern that echoes its wild ancestors and gives it a distinctly 'natural-history' look compared with the candy-colored cherries. It reaches about 2-2.5 cm and is as undemanding as its cousins: 18-26 °C, pH 6.5-8.0, moderate hardness, and constant grazing on algae and biofilm. In the aquarium it is slightly shyer than N. davidi, preferring plant cover and low light at the margins, but once settled it forages openly across the hardscape. Breeding follows the standard freshwater neocaridina pattern with no larval stage. Keep it with other small, gentle tankmates and avoid copper; it mixes well with shrimp of other species, and its spotted pattern makes it a favorite for natural-style planted tanks where solid-bred colors would look out of place.
Difficulty: easy. Extremely peaceful. Groups of 10 or more.
Hold 18–26 °C and keep it stable — 18–26 °C stable range. Stable 18–26 °C; very tolerant.
Expect 2–2.5 cm as an adult, living bottom — grazing plants and hardscape. A 20 L tank or larger gives it room.
Algae and biofilm grazer; color foods deepen the blue. It forages naturally over fine inert gravel or shrimp-safe sand, so let some food reach the bottom.
Yes, with care. Extremely peaceful — pair it with Neocaridina davidi morphs — Different enough in pattern; hybrids rarely an issue, colors differ, Small rasboras and tetras — Adults safe in planted cover, Otocinclus catfish — Calm, same-niche companion and skip Copper-based medications — Lethal to all invertebrates, Bold, fast-swimming fish — Stress shy shrimp into hiding, Large-mouthed predators — Shrimp are prey.
Its home waters are Selective-bred form of the Chinese Neocaridina palmata — any stable freshwater community aquarium, with gentle current.
Breeds in freshwater like other Neocaridina — a three-week egg carry, then miniature hatchlings. Clutches are smaller than N. davidi's, typically 15-20 eggs.. Females are larger, deeper and more vividly speckled; males slimmer with fainter spots..