Breeding Golden Back Yellow Shrimp
Golden Back is a yellow Neocaridina davidi morph that breeds readily in freshwater; females carry 20-30 eggs and hatch miniature adults with no larval stage.
Overview
The Golden Back Yellow shrimp is a yellow 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 translucent yellow morphs the developing eggs on the ovaries are often visible as a saddle or dorsal line through the shell. 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 bright yellow coloration consistent across generations.