Breeding Chocolate Shrimp
Chocolate shrimp is a dark-brown Neocaridina davidi morph that breeds easily in freshwater; females carry 20-30 eggs and hatch miniature adults with no larval stage.
Overview
The Chocolate shrimp is a dark-brown selectively bred color morph of Neocaridina davidi. Like all Neocaridina, it breeds readily in freshwater and has no larval stage, so a sexed group in stable conditions reproduces without intervention.
Sexing
Females are larger, have wider tails for carrying eggs, and show richer, more opaque coloration; in more transparent shrimp the developing eggs may appear as a green or yellow saddle on the back. Males are smaller, slimmer, and less colorful. Aquarium Co-Op reports females reaching up to about 4 cm and males around 2.5-3 cm.
Breeding Conditions
- Temperature: about 22-24 °C is most comfortable for breeding
- pH: 6.5-8.5
- GH: at least 6 ° (around 110 ppm)
- KH: at least 2 ° (around 40 ppm)
- Breeding requires only a sexed pair, stable water parameters, and a food source
Eggs & Young
A berried female carries roughly 20-30 eggs affixed to her swimmerets (pleopods) and fans them to keep them oxygenated. Eggs hatch in about 2-3 weeks (gestation is roughly a month depending on temperature). Hatchlings are tiny copies of the adults, only about 1-2 mm long, with no free-swimming larval stage. Sexual maturity is reached at roughly two months of age.
Color Stability & Culling
Color morphs of Neocaridina davidi are produced by selective breeding. Without culling, populations tend to degrade in appearance over time, so paler individuals are removed to keep the chocolate-brown coloration consistent.