# "Fire Red" & "Red Cherry"... difference?



## Cento (Apr 7, 2010)

Please forgive if me if this question is incredibly ignorant, but I'm very new to the whole freshwater shrimp hobby. 

At the pet store where I bought my Red Cherrys, I saw a tank with "Fire Red" shrimp which, to my eyes, look quite similar to the Red Cherrys but where double the price.
The guy at the store said they were a different breed of high quality species and I didn't contest since I'm no expert. However, upon returning home, I saw some thread somewhere about selectively breeding Cherrys for specific traits and colours, and that there were even grades for the cherrys.

So, are they the same species? And are there "grades" for Red Cherrys?

THanks in advance,

Cento


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## hyun007 (Sep 1, 2010)

Fire Red Shrimp is created from Red Cherry Shrimp through selective breeding to get the intense red colour.

If you look at a Fire Red Shrimp, you will notice that the body is totally red with no transparency. The Fire Red Shrimp also has very red legs which are more prominent than a normal Cherry Red Shrimp.

Fire Red Shrimp is a little more fragile than Cherry Red due to inbreeding.


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## happi (Dec 18, 2009)

are you sure you are not mistaking female cherry shrimp as fire red shrimp. because female cherry is completely red as well compare to the transparent male cherry. 

which store you saw them at?


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

A fire red is COMPLETELY red. A regular cherrys legs arent red, male or female. Even the antennae.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

fire red have no transparent parts on them )except the "knees")

it looks as though there is paint on the outside of them.


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## Cento (Apr 7, 2010)

Thanks for the info folks...

So then it appears I have 2 male and 1 female Red Cherry Shrimp (since she IS bright red, but not her legs)... 


Thanks again...:icon_smil


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## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

Not the case Cento. You should be able to see her saddle. Yellow/Greenish area on her back.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

you can only see a saddle if she is saddled... Females aren't necessarily always saddled.


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## Cento (Apr 7, 2010)

These are a few pics of "her"...

























By comparison... these I now believe are the males...





























Sounds about right, no?


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

correct!


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

here's a few pictures also, 

first is my drawing of male vs female in shrimp... The belly tells all, if it goes up to a point from their legs back, it's a male, if it bulges down like a beer belly, it's a female.









Then this is a fire red, the white balance is a little weird because of the bulbs i use in the tank, but you might be able to see that it's not transparent at all:









very nice looking cherries by the way, they look very happy


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## Cento (Apr 7, 2010)

Mordalphus, wonderful illustrations........:tongue:


I like your fire red. Very nice. I'd love to buy some shrimplet from you... too bad you live all the way over there (or is that I live all the way over here...:hihi. Oh well. Who knows, maybe I'll get some amazing colour morph from my cherrys...:icon_roll

Thanks for all the info! :icon_smil


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

Yeah, unusual to get a male of this coloration. The shrimp above is a male, but when he was younger, he was still a little clear. The fire reds show full coloration AFTER sexual maturation! How confusing, eh?

But if your LFS has the fire reds, they are very beautiful, but also slow and dumb... They will crash into things and walk like they are drunk, sometimes do backflips for no reason. I suggest that if you go buy fire reds, do not keep them in the same tank as your cherries, because when they breed, the cherry color is dominant.


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## hyun007 (Sep 1, 2010)

mordalphus said:


> fire red have no transparent parts on them )except the "knees")
> 
> it looks as though there is paint on the outside of them.


Wrong, Fire Red is totally red on their knees as well.
Mine, the legs are totally red and the colour is really red on body and legs.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

Yeah, I wasn't saying fire reds couldn't get red on their knees, but knees don't HAVE to be red for it to be considered a fire red. Fire red is referring instead to the opaque "painted on" style of red. The legs are just indicative of the fire red genetics. (IE. cherries have no red legs)


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## James A (Aug 13, 2010)

Hi..!!
Yes they are exactly the same species. "Fire Red" are supposed to have a more solid red colour.
Generally (in order of colour quality) it goes:
Cherry Shrimp
Sakura Shrimp
Fire Red Shrimp


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## vca2004 (Sep 7, 2009)

James A said:


> Hi..!!
> Generally (in order of colour quality) it goes:
> Cherry Shrimp
> Sakura Shrimp
> Fire Red Shrimp


That is not correct. 
The Sakura shrimp is the reddest and highest form of the regular cherry shrimp. But there is no clear definition/grading out there like we have it for CRS or Blue/Black Tiger. Sakuras can also be regular red, orange-red, or deep red. Calling a shrimp Red Fire or Sakura is not an easy task, mostly subjective, and there is much discussion about RF vs Sakura out there. Besides that, usually in a Sakura line the males will also be much more red than in a RF line.


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## Cento (Apr 7, 2010)

mordalphus said:


> ..But if your LFS has the fire reds, they are very beautiful, but also slow and dumb. They will crash into things and walk like they are drunk, sometimes do backflips for no reason.....


Ha! That's funny... I guess that's what happens after generations and generations of inbreeding... Kinda like (insert appropriate joke here).......:hihi:


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