Pink-Based Red Boa

A red shrimp whose white markings warm to pink rather than settling dull white.

Arrives young and well short of its final colour. The pink deepens and the white thickens as they mature — the bigger they get, the more vivid it is.

Four price levels, set by how much white covers the head, how clean the body pattern is and how thick the shell is. All already visible when they arrive; the dearer ones simply have more of it.

Caridina — wants soft, slightly acidic water and a tank that has been running a while. Not a first shrimp. Numbers in the FAQ.

The Pink-Based Red Boa is a Caridina from the Red Boa family, bred here for one uncommon pigment trait. The red body never changes. On a standard Red Boa the white pattern layered over it often settles dull or yellowish; in this line it warms toward a luminous pink instead. Over solid red, that upgraded layer gives the shell a three-dimensional, lit-from-within look.

About the photo. The shrimp pictured is High or Collector grade. We ship unsexed juveniles, so treat the photo as the target, not the arrival. Head coverage, body pattern and the pink itself all sharpen with maturity — the older and larger they get, the more vivid the pink. Adults are available on request if you would rather skip the wait.

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 — either a clean, straight-cut “boa” look or a saw-edged “jagged” look. 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.
• The pink: The red base stays red. The white pattern warms toward pink as the shrimp matures, and intensity tracks size — juveniles land well short of their final colour. It shows most on females, and most of all 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 — red patches with white, and the white takes the same pink tone the body does, only subtler. Leg colour follows shell thickness, so the higher grades show it first.

Two things that are normal, not faults: the pattern keeps expanding and shifting as the shrimp ages, so a Boa looks better with time; and every shrimp arrives pale from the trip, colouring back up within hours to a few days.

A Pink-Based Red Boa is graded exactly like the Blue/Green Galaxy Boa, over red instead of black. Five things vary, and all five are readable at the size we ship, so this line sorts into four grades.

• Head coverage — Mid sits around 40–50%, 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; Entry and Mid can be a mix of thin and thick.
• Colour — the higher grades show the pink earlier and over more of the pattern.
• Leg colour — grows in with age on every grade. High and Collector already show strong spider legs at the size we ship; Entry and Mid may show none when young and may never fill the legs completely.

Entry is the lightest coverage and the most flaws in the pull — the same genetics at the lowest price. Mid is 40–50% head coverage with some flaws. High is up to 80% coverage with minimal flaws, a thick shell and strong legs from day one. Collector is the top of the pull — a near-full head, the cleanest pattern and the fullest legs, in limited numbers.

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.