Black Fancy Tiger

A black-and-white striped shrimp with as much clean, bright white as a Crystal, laid out in tiger bands.

Arrives young. The white thickens and brightens and the black solidifies as they grow. Every one is patterned a little differently, which is normal for the line.

Three price levels, set by how solid the black is, how thick and bright the white is, and how many clean stripes the shrimp carries. All of it is visible when they arrive.

Caridina, but a hybrid, so hardier than most of the family and a reasonable first step into it. Numbers in the FAQ.

The Black Fancy Tiger is a Caridina hybrid, a Tiger crossed with Crystal Black (Black Bee), bred for as much thick, bright white as possible, deep black patches and sharp tiger stripes. Unlike our galaxy lines it carries no metallic sheen, and the white takes on no colour tone. The look is clean black and white, as on a Crystal. Hybrid vigour makes them hardy, active grazers that breed readily in a standard Caridina setup: easy to keep, hard to master.

About the photo. The shrimp pictured is High grade. We ship unsexed juveniles (too young to tell male from female), so the photo shows what they grow toward. White and black both build with each moult as they mature. Adults are available on request.

What to expect as they settle in:

• Every shrimp is unique: This is a hybrid line, so striping, white coverage and black patching land differently on every individual.
• Colour builds with age: Juveniles arrive still developing. The white thickens and brightens and the black fills in solid as they moult. A thick shell looks shiny, a thin one dull with see-through patches.
• Legs: Leg colour is rarer on Fancy Tigers than on our galaxy lines. Spider legs (the body pattern carried onto the legs) can appear on High grade, subtly, but are not guaranteed even there.
• Keep the water clean: On a white-focused line poor water shows fast, and the white can turn yellowish. Stable, clean water keeps it bright.

Every shrimp arrives pale from the trip and colours back up within hours to a few days.

A Fancy Tiger is a Crystal cross, so it is graded differently from a Galaxy Tiger. Three things count, and all three can be read at the size we ship:

• The black. How solid and intense it is.
• The white. As much as possible, thick and bright, judged the way a Crystal is judged.
• Tiger bands. The number and neatness of the white bands around the body, on the same scale as our galaxy tigers: Entry 1 to 3 bands, Mid 3 to 4, High 4 to 5.

The higher grades look brighter and more solid. Leg colour can turn up on High grade as a bonus, with no promise of it.

This line comes in Entry, Mid and High grades. There is no Collector grade on the Black. Entry is the same lineage at the lowest price, with the least white and the fewest bands showing yet. Mid has sound white and black with a broken stripe pattern. High is the best of each batch: thick, bright white, solid jet black and clean, even stripes.

Grading is done by eye at shipping size, on what the shrimp shows then. Shrimp rarely move a grade as they grow, but water matters: poor water costs colour and shell.