Blue Dream Shrimp

Blue Dream is the shrimp visitors point at first in our breeding room: a navy so deep it reads almost black until the light catches it. Underneath the colour it's a cherry shrimp, which is the best possible news, because it means it's hardy, prolific and genuinely easy to keep.

Blue Dream at a glance

What is a Blue Dream shrimp?

Blue Dream is a colour line of Neocaridina davidi — the same species as the red cherry shrimp, selectively bred for deep opaque blue instead of red. When a shop lists "blue cherry shrimp", this is usually the animal it means. The line was developed through blue velvet and chocolate Neocaridina lineage, and it breeds true as long as you keep it unmixed.

The comparison everyone asks about is Blue Velvet. Velvets are a lighter, more translucent sky blue; hold one up to the light and you can partly see through it. A good Blue Dream is deeper and opaque: solid navy, no see-through. Plenty of sellers use the two names loosely, so judge the shrimp in the photo, not the name on the listing.

Colour and grading

Blue Dreams are graded on the depth and evenness of the blue. Standard grade shows good blue with some lighter or translucent patching. High grade is a deep, even navy across the whole body. "Extra blue" is the top of the line: no clear patches anywhere.

Genetics set the ceiling, so the grade of the parent stock matters more than anything you do afterwards. Environment decides how much of that ceiling you actually see. In our tanks the same shrimp sit visibly darker over dark substrate and wash out over pale sand, colonies on a steady algae- and spirulina-based diet hold colour better than sparsely fed ones, and stress from unstable water fades any shrimp. Females run larger and deeper-coloured than males, and youngsters typically deepen as they mature, so don't judge juvenile stock too early. How grading works across all Neocaridina lines is covered in the grades guide.

Care

Care is identical to any other Neocaridina, so the full cherry shrimp care guide applies wholesale. The short version: a cycled tank of 19L or more (10L at a push), a sponge filter, inert substrate, and stable water at 18–26°C, pH 6.8–7.6, GH 6–12, TDS 150–250. Stability matters more than any single number. An unheated UK room at 18–21°C is fine; breeding just runs slower than it would at 21–24°C.

Most UK hard-water areas can run Blue Dreams straight from the dechlorinated tap, while soft-water areas need remineralising first. Check your region in the UK tap water guide. And as with every Neo: dechlorinate every drop, and never use copper-based medications.

Breeding true

Blue Dream breeds true. Pair blue with blue and the offspring are blue, generation after generation, but only if the line stays unmixed. Every Neocaridina colour line is the same species, so Blue Dreams will interbreed freely with red cherries, yellows, anything, and mixed-line offspring drift back to wild-type brown within a couple of generations. One colour line per tank is the rule.

Even a well-bred line throws the odd pale or patchy shrimplet. We pull those into a separate tank before they reach breeding age at 3–5 months; it's the only way a line's quality holds over years. Otherwise breeding runs exactly as it does for any cherry: berried females carry 20–30 eggs for 14–21 days, and the whole process is in the breeding guide.

Tank mates

Same rules as every Neocaridina. Snails are safe, small peaceful nano fish will take shrimplets even when they ignore the adults, and our own breeding colonies stay species-only. Deep blue against dense green planting is one of the best-looking combinations in the hobby anyway, so a heavily planted shrimp-only tank costs you nothing visually. The full tank mates guide grades the usual candidates.

Buying Blue Dream shrimp in the UK

Expect £30–50 per 10 for genuine high-grade Blue Dreams in the UK, with standard-grade blues at the usual £2–4 per shrimp. If "high grade" comes in much cheaper than that, ask why.

Before buying, we'd check three things: photos of the seller's actual stock rather than library images; deep, even blue with no clear patches if the listing claims extra blue; and the seller's water parameters, so you know how far your acclimation has to travel. Younger adults are better value than full-grown ones too — with a 1–2 year lifespan, you want their breeding life ahead of them, not behind. There's more in where to buy cherry shrimp in the UK, and whoever you buy from, drip acclimatise over 1–2 hours.

A straight answer on our own stock: we're rebuilding our Blue Dream colony and sales are paused while it restocks. There's a waitlist; join it and you'll get first refusal when the next batch is graded.

FAQ

Are blue dream shrimp the same as cherry shrimp?

Same species, different colour line. Both are Neocaridina davidi: "cherry shrimp" strictly means the red line but often gets used for the whole species, which is why Blue Dreams are sometimes sold as "blue cherry shrimp". Care, size, lifespan and breeding are identical.

Why is my blue dream shrimp losing colour?

Check water stability first. Fading is a classic stress response to swinging parameters, so test before you change anything. If the water's steady, look at the surroundings, since pale substrate visibly washes blue out; then at diet; then at age and sex. Males are naturally smaller and paler than females, and no amount of feeding turns a standard-grade shrimp extra blue.

Can you keep blue dream and red cherry shrimp together?

You can, but you shouldn't if you care about either colour. They're the same species, they'll interbreed, and the mixed offspring trend back to wild-type brown within a couple of generations. One line per tank; run a second tank if you want both. Most of us end up with more tanks anyway.

How much do blue dream shrimp cost UK?

Around £2–4 each for standard grade, and £30–50 per 10 for high grade — roughly £3.50–5 per shrimp. Prices well below that usually mean lower-grade or culled stock; prices well above it should come with photographic proof of extra-blue quality.