Bloody Mary

A deep red shrimp — the red goes right through the body, not just the shell.

Arrives young and lighter in colour. It deepens as they grow.

One price, no grades. Nearly all of them colour up solid red, so sorting them would be splitting hairs.

Neocaridina — the easier of our two shrimp families, hardy and quick to breed, and a good first shrimp. Numbers in the FAQ.

The Bloody Mary is the deepest red Neocaridina. On a Fire Red the red sits in the shell, so the shrimp looks painted; on a Bloody Mary it sits in the flesh under a clear shell, so the colour looks lit from inside. The line came out of Chocolate Neocaridina stock in Taiwan.

Ours carries strong dark red genetics on top of that. As they mature, most settle to a solid crimson and some go past it to a deep maroon — the whole colony reads darker than a standard cherry shrimp can.

About the photo. The shrimp pictured is one of the best-looking adults from the batch. Juveniles arrive lighter; the red deepens with each moult. Around 95% of the juveniles we ship colour up to that solid, high-grade standard.

What to expect as they grow:

• The 95% standard: Over 95% of the juveniles from this listing colour up fully solid and meet what other sellers call high grade. The rest still colour up, a shade lighter.
• Natural variation: Because the colony carries the dark red gene, adults land anywhere from deep red to dark maroon. That spread is the line, not a fault.

We grade by the traits that genuinely vary within a batch — pattern density, colour saturation, how far colour wraps around the shell. Where those differences are visible in the tank from day one, we sort them and price each tier for what it actually is.

Bloody Marys do not need that. With 95% colouring up solid, splitting the batch into tiers would be splitting hairs and charging for it.

So Bloody Marys are one grade, one price — robust unsexed juveniles from the same colony.