Photos

Videos

Snow Ball

Name: Snow Ball
Brand: Shrimp Zone
SKU: SZ-SNOWBALL-STD
Price: 8.0 AUD
Availability: InStock

Neocaridina · BeginnerPhoto vs. what ships

The photo shows a high-grade or best-looking adult from the batch. We ship unsexed juveniles, 0.6–1.2 cm — too young to tell male from female. They arrive pale from the trip and colour back up within days.

Tap-water safe

$8.00 / juvenile shrimp

Juveniles are young shrimp — they travel best at this size, and many strains only show their full colour as they mature. After display-ready adults? Contact us.

In stock

Save 15% on 20+ · auto in cart

Buy more, save more

Discount applies automatically in your cart.

Quantity

Buying several, or after a particular grade?

Description

Snowball Shrimp (Neocaridina) | Single Grade Colony

At a glance

A frosted-white shrimp — looks like frosted glass against dark soil.

Arrives almost see-through. The white builds as they grow, and females later carry bright white eggs, which is where the name comes from.

One price, no grades. The colour comes with age, so a “premium” juvenile would look identical to a standard one today.

Neocaridina — the easiest way into shrimp, forgiving of beginner mistakes, and quick to breed. Numbers in the FAQ.

Description

The Snowball is a classic Neocaridina — no elaborate patterns, no fragile mutations, just an icy translucence that pops like frosted glass against dark soil and green moss. Neocaridina breed prolifically and forgive the mistakes every new keeper makes, which makes a Snowball colony one of the easiest ways into the hobby and one of the quickest to multiply.

About the photo. We ship unsexed juveniles, and young Snowballs look almost clear. Treat the photo as the target, not the arrival — as they mature the tissue turns frosted white, and females carry the stark-white eggs the strain is named for.

Colour & Care

Two things to expect, so there are no surprises:

Juveniles arrive transparent: Young Snowballs are naturally clear — the icy white builds as they feed, moult and grow in your tank.
The white eggs come last: The signature only appears at full maturity, when females carry brilliant stark-white eggs like clusters of tiny snowballs.

Grading

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.

Snowballs aren't like that. Their colour is driven by maturity, not by sortable genetics: a juvenile we called “premium” would look identical to a standard one, and the difference wouldn't show for months — in your tank, not ours. Charging more for that is guesswork with a price tag.

So Snowballs are one grade, one price — robust unsexed juveniles straight from our clean Neocaridina vats.

The photo shows a high-grade or best-looking adult from the batch. We ship unsexed juveniles, 0.6–1.2 cm — too young to tell male from female. Shrimp arrive pale from the trip and colour back up within days. For detailed water parameters, tank setup guides, and our 100% Live Arrival Guarantee, see our FAQ.

Guarantee & dispatch

Live arrivalClaim within 8 h

Claim within 8 hours of delivery with photos and a short video, ideally of the sealed bag. Your choice of a refund of the livestock value, free replacements, or store credit — all at no cost to you.

Mon & TueDispatch days

0.6–1.2 cmUnsexed juveniles

10+ of one lineColony starter

Unsexed juveniles at ten all but guarantee both sexes — about 1 in 500 odds of a single-sex group, against 1 in 8 at four — and a group settles faster than a pair. Our 10+ and 20+ prices are built around that. In a fully cycled tank held in their temperature band, fed lightly and left alone, expect the first berried females in around three months. How to get a colony going →

We don't ship live shrimp to WA, TAS or NT — message us for further enquiries: Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp.

Full guarantee policy →

Water parameters — Neocaridina

TDS

150 – 250 ppm

Total dissolved solids — the quickest single number to check. Ours is what they are raised in: match it on arrival, then keep it steady. Swings hurt more than the number itself.

6 – 10 dGH

General hardness — the calcium and magnesium they build shells with. Too little and moults fail; too much and shedding gets hard.

2 – 6 dKH

Carbonate hardness — the buffer that stops pH drifting between water changes.

6.8 – 7.8

Set by your substrate and KH far more than by dosing. Hold it steady inside the band rather than chasing a number.

Temp

20 – 24 °C

Cooler slows moulting and breeding; warmer speeds everything up and shortens lives. Stay inside the band.

Tank

20+ L

The minimum for a settled colony. A bigger tank holds its water steadier, so we recommend larger groups in larger tanks — stability is what keeps shrimp alive.

Commonly kept 18–28 °C; breeding slows markedly below ~20 °C. Raised in remineralised Melbourne tap water.

Full care & acclimation guide →

FAQ — before you buy 8 quick answers

What actually turns up in the bag?

Unsexed juveniles, 0.6–1.2 cm — about the size of a grain of rice, and too young to tell male from female. Shipping at this size gives the best survival and the easiest adaptation to your water, and you always end up with both sexes. Adults are available on request at roughly twice the juvenile price.

Will they look like the photo?

Not on day one. The photo is a high-grade or best-looking adult from the batch; the shrimp you receive is young and still filling in. The colour packs in with each moult. Every shrimp is an individual, so no two carry exactly the same pattern.

Why is there no grade to choose?

Because nothing on this line is worth sorting at the size we ship — the differences are down to age, or to your tank, not to the shrimp. Every animal in the bag meets one standard, and the Grading panel above says why. Where we do split a line into Entry, Mid, High and Collector, the grade describes appearance only, never health.

Can I keep them in my water?

Almost certainly. Neocaridina live happily in ordinary treated tap water inside the ranges in the water card above, and forgive the mistakes every new keeper makes. Keep it steady rather than perfect: a reading a little outside the range is far better than one that keeps moving. A tank that has been cycled — run for a few weeks until it can process waste — is the one thing that is not optional.

Full care & acclimation guide →

They arrived pale and barely moving. Is that normal?

Yes. Every shrimp arrives pale from the trip and colours back up within hours to a few days — a Green Emerald can take about a week. Float the bag, then drip your tank water into it slowly over an hour or two before releasing them; the change in water should happen gradually. If any animal is dead on arrival, photograph it in the unopened bag and contact us within 8 hours of delivery — the Live Arrival Guarantee covers it.

Live Arrival Guarantee & DOA policy →

How do they travel?

Express post only, bagged with oxygen and insulated, dispatched on Mondays and Tuesdays so no animal sits in a depot over a weekend. Someone needs to be home to receive the parcel on the day — live animals cannot go to a PO box, a parcel locker or a safe-drop. We cannot send live animals to Western Australia, the Northern Territory or Tasmania.

Shipping policy →

How many should I start with?

Ten is the sensible minimum for a colony that breeds: with unsexed juveniles it all but guarantees both sexes, and a group settles faster than a pair. Our volume prices are built around that. Mixing colours of the same genus in one tank is fine to look at, but they will interbreed and the offspring drift back toward wild colouring — one colour per tank if you want to keep the line.

What do I do in the first 24 hours?

Lights off, bag closed. Float the sealed bag in the tank for 10–15 minutes so the temperature matches — darkness lowers stress.

Drip, don’t pour. Drip tank water into the bag slowly. A sudden change in TDS, GH or pH is the number-one cause of losses in the first week.

Something wrong? Photograph and video the unopened bag and email us within 8 hours — the Live Arrival Guarantee covers a replacement or a refund of the livestock value.

Full care & acclimation guide →