Blue dream shrimp

Overview

Blue dream shrimp are a striking solid-blue colour form of Neocaridina davidi — the same tough, beginner-friendly species as the cherry shrimp, just selectively bred for deep blue. They’re cheap, colourful, hardy and useful cleanup crew, grazing algae and leftovers in a planted nano. If you want blue instead of red with no extra difficulty, this is the shrimp. Their deep colour also stands out far more against green plants and dark substrate than paler strains, making even a modest colony a genuine focal point in a nano tank.

Tank & water

A 19 litre (5 gallon) nano easily houses a starter colony. Like all Neocaridina, blue dreams want stability far more than precise numbers:

• Stable, cycled water — cycle fully before adding shrimp; they’re sensitive to ammonia and nitrite.
• No copper — lethal to shrimp; check medication and fertiliser labels.
• A gentle or sponge filter — so shrimplets aren’t sucked in; see our filter picks.
• Dark substrate and plants — a dark shrimp substrate deepens their colour and gives grazing surfaces.

Feeding

Blue dreams are omnivores that graze biofilm and algae, so an established planted tank feeds them much of the time. Supplement twice a week with a quality shrimp food, blanched vegetables or a biofilm booster — only a little, since excess food fouls the water and fuels pest-snail booms. A good rule is to offer only what the colony clears within a couple of hours, then remove any leftovers so the water stays clean and the shrimp keep grazing natural biofilm.

Tankmates & breeding

Blue dreams are entirely peaceful but tiny, so most fish will eat shrimplets and some adults. For maximum breeding keep them species-only or with very small, non-predatory fish. In stable water a colony breeds continuously — females carry eggs under the tail until fully formed shrimp hatch, so numbers climb quickly.

See the best shrimp tank and compare with classic cherry shrimp and blue velvet shrimp.