Shrimp SD › Blue dream shrimp
Neocaridina davidi
Blue dream shrimp
The deepest, most opaque blue in the Neocaridina range, and the one that makes people who were not interested in shrimp suddenly interested in shrimp. Same care as a cherry; slightly more attention needed to keep the colour true.
Blue dream, blue velvet, blue rili — what is the difference?
| Blue dream | Solid, opaque, dark blue across the whole body. The deepest of the blues and the most sought after. |
|---|---|
| Blue velvet | A lighter, softer, more translucent blue. Often the same line at a lower grade, sometimes sold as a distinct strain. |
| Blue rili | Patterned rather than solid — blue head and tail with a clear midsection. A rili is a pattern, not a shade, and exists in red and other colours too. |
| Blue jelly / blue carbon | Trade names for lighter and darker variants. Naming across suppliers is not consistent, so buy by looking rather than by label. |
All are Neocaridina davidi, so all of the Neocaridina care applies unchanged, and all will interbreed with cherries, yellows and each other.
The colour is less stable than red — here is why it matters
The blue lines are newer and less genetically fixed than the reds. Even in a pure blue dream colony, a proportion of offspring come out paler, patchy, or brown. This is normal for the line and not a sign that your stock was mislabelled.
If you want the colony to hold its colour, you have to cull — move the off-colour offspring to a separate tank so they do not breed back into the line. Left alone over several generations, a blue dream colony drifts steadily paler. This is the main practical difference between keeping blues and keeping cherries, and it is worth knowing before you buy rather than after.
Look at the whole batch, not the best individual in it. A tank where nearly every shrimp is the same deep blue came from a well-culled line. A tank with a wide spread of shades will give you a wide spread of offspring.
Water and setup
Identical to cherries: GH 6–8 (tolerant to about 12), KH 2–8, pH 6.5–8.0, TDS 150–250, 65–78°F. San Diego tap runs harder than this (roughly GH 13, TDS 530–590 ppm), but dechlorinated it works for blues. Cutting it with RO is optional, not required.
Blues show best over dark substrate — a black or dark brown soil makes the difference between "nice" and "why is that shrimp glowing". Over pale sand they look washed out and, worse, they respond to the bright background by lightening further.
Do not mix them with other Neocaridina
Worth repeating on this page specifically, because blue is the colour people most often want to add to an existing cherry tank. Blue dream and cherry shrimp are the same species. They will interbreed, and within a couple of generations you will have neither — just wild-type brown shrimp. One colour per tank.
A Caridina colony in a separate tank is a different matter entirely: different genus, no interbreeding, but different water requirements.
Come look at them
Blue is the shrimp that photographs worse than it looks. Screens flatten it. If you are anywhere near Convoy, it is worth seeing a tank of them under normal light before deciding — and we will test your water for free while you are in, which tells you in about ninety seconds whether your tank is ready.
See also red cherry shrimp and the parameter reference.
Questions we get asked
What is the difference between blue dream and blue velvet shrimp?
Blue dream is a deeper, fully opaque blue; blue velvet is lighter and more translucent. They are the same species and often the same line at different grades, and they will interbreed.
Why are my blue dream shrimp having brown babies?
The blue lines are newer and less genetically fixed than the reds, so a proportion of off-colour offspring is normal even in a pure colony. To keep the colour tight you need to remove the pale and brown offspring rather than let them breed back in.
Can I keep blue dream shrimp with cherry shrimp?
Not if you want to keep either colour. They are the same species, they interbreed freely, and the offspring revert to wild-type brown within a few generations.
Do blue dream shrimp need special water?
No. They want the same water as cherries — GH 6 to 8, pH 6.5 to 8.0 — which dechlorinated San Diego tap roughly provides, though it runs somewhat harder (about GH 13).
Keep reading
Neocaridina care
One species, every color, and why San Diego tap already suits them.
Red cherry shrimp
The classic first shrimp, from cherry up to bloody mary.
Neocaridina vs Caridina
Which to keep, and why you cannot house them together.
Water parameters
The numbers for every shrimp we sell, in one table.
Come see them, or have them shipped
Our Neocaridina and Amano are held on San Diego tap water, so a local tank is the same water they grew in — no parameter shock on the drive home. Ordering from further out? Everything ships with a live arrival guarantee.
Or visit us at 4160 Convoy St, San Diego — open seven days, and we test your water for free.