Orange Based Blue Steel

A solid blue shrimp with an orange tone toward the tail.

Arrives young. The blue packs in and the orange on the tail deepens once they settle — and how much orange shows moves with stress and water changes.

One price, no grades. How much orange a young one shows today is not a reliable read on the adult it becomes.

Caridina — needs soft, slightly acidic water that stays steady, so a step up from a first shrimp. Numbers in the FAQ.

The Orange Based Blue Steel turns up now and then in our Orange-Based Black Boa batches: the same colour genetics without the Boa pattern. Where a Boa carries its orange tone on a white pattern, this one carries a thick, matte “steel” shell that reads blue over the head and takes an orange tone toward the tail. “Steel” is the hobby’s word for that dense, opaque shell with no see-through patches.

About the photo. The shrimp pictured is one of the best-looking adults from the batch — the target, not the arrival. Both the blue and the orange tone deepen as the shrimp matures and settles into stable water. Adults are available on request.

Two things to know before you buy:

• Blue head, orange tail: The blue sits thickest over the head and the orange tone shows most toward the tail and legs. How much orange shows can shift with stress, shipping and water changes.
• Stability matters: Sudden swings in pH, hardness or temperature stress this line quickly — a mature, cycled tank is essential before they arrive.

We grade by the traits that genuinely vary within a batch. The orange tone on this line shifts with stress and water changes, so how much shows on a juvenile today is not a fixed read on the adult — tiering on it would be grading our tank conditions, not the shrimp.

So Orange Based Blue Steels are one grade, one price — robust juveniles from a stable, established colony.