Orange-Based Black Boa

A black shrimp whose thick white Boa pattern carries an orange tone.

The orange is already clear on the pattern when they arrive, which is unusual for a young shrimp. The white thickens and the head coverage spreads as they mature, and a metallic blue tint can come through on the head over the same period.

Three price levels, set by how deep the orange is on the pattern and how far the white covers the head. Both are visible when they arrive, and the dearer grades carry more of each.

Caridina need soft, slightly acidic water and a tank that has been running a while. They are not a first shrimp. Numbers in the FAQ.

The Orange-Based Black Boa is a Boa on a black body: a thick white hood over the head and a thick stripe down the body, with the white carrying an orange tone instead of blue or green. “Orange based” is the hobby’s name for that tone on the white. The body itself is black and never changes. The orange form emerged as a mutation out of the Blue Boa line. We line-breed our colony to hold it stable and to keep the heavy shell the Boa lineage is known for.

About the photo. The shrimp pictured is High or Collector grade. It shows the target this line breeds toward and not what arrives in the bag. The orange tone is already visible on our juveniles, but shell density, head coverage and the blue tint on the head keep developing with each moult (each shed of the shell). Adults are available on request.

Five traits define a true Boa, and each keeps developing after arrival.

• The hood: White spreading over the head and carapace, down to the cheeks.
• The body stripe: A thick “fishbone” stripe running down the back and reaching close to the edge of the belly. It is either a clean, straight-cut “boa” look or a saw-edged “jagged” look, and both are correct. The fewer breaks in it, the better.
• Shell thickness: A thick shell looks shiny and solid. A thin one looks dull, with see-through patches.
• Colour on the pattern: The black base stays black. The orange tone on the white is there at the size we ship and deepens with age. Because the line descends from the Blue Boa, the head can also carry a subtle metallic blue or teal over the orange. It shows most on the better-patterned animals, and most after a female has carried eggs (been “berried”) for the second time, at roughly three to four months old.
• Spider legs: The body pattern carried onto the legs, with black patches and white. The white takes the same tone as the body, only subtler. Leg colour follows shell thickness, so the higher grades show it first.

The pattern keeps spreading and shifting as the shrimp ages. That is normal, and a Boa looks better with time.

We grade by the traits that vary within a batch. On a Boa five things vary, and all five can be read at the size we ship, so this line sorts into three grades.

• Head coverage: How much of the head is covered in orange. Mid sits around 40 to 70%, High up to about 80%, Collector 95% or the full head.
• Body pattern: Thick, in the boa look or the jagged look. The higher the grade, the fewer breaks and flaws.
• Shell thickness: High and Collector are thick throughout. Mid can be a mix of thin and thick.
• Colour: The higher grades carry a deeper orange on the pattern and are the most likely to show the blue tint on the head.
• Leg colour: Grows in with age on every grade. High and Collector already show strong spider legs at the size we ship. Mid may show less and may never fill the legs completely.

Mid is lighter orange with 40 to 70% head coverage and some flaws, a sound base that saturates as it grows. High has a thicker, deeper-orange shell, coverage up to 80% and very few flaws, and is the grade most likely to develop the metallic blue over the head. Collector is the best of each batch: a near-full head, the deepest orange and the fewest flaws. There are only ever a few.

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