Distinguishing between Neocaridina sp and Caridina sp

[hroom88]

I had been offered what supposedly looked like yellow shrimps and blue velvet. However, the blues have some uncanny markings on their body[actually looks good to me].
I got them real cheap(@ < $1.00 ea or its equivalent in my currency), however the downside is, the seller had no clue if they were neocaridina or Caridina or both. Since I did not want to miss on this deal I searched the net but did not find too many posts for my education.

So question is, can anybody tell me how to differentiate between the 2 genre by visual appearance[I've never had Caridina]?

P.S. I tried to take a pic, however the crits are <1/2 in. and my cam does not have macro lens. Pics came out real bad so I ditched the idea.

Thanks.

Update:
I finally managed take a few pics. While its not of stunning clarity, it should help.

 

[andresdeo]

Can't help you with identification (pretty new to shrimp myself), but eager to hear a response. On the other hand you have a bunch of females on the blue side and two of them are berried! Congrats. They dont look fully mature, so there is always the chance they drop them, but fingers crossed!

 

[Fishdude3233]

I'd separate them to be safe. If they are the same specie they will inter breed and the shrimplets will be brown/gray


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[hroom88]

Thanks for your response. Actually there are 3 blues and about 4 yellows that are berried.

Anybody has any idea which genre they are?

 

[Andrew McFadden]

They look like neos to me. Blue velvet, orange and yellow. They look orange to me in the pictures so I said both.

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[Fishdude3233]

I was going to say neo, but did not want to give false info when it will have pretty severe consequences.


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[Andrew McFadden]

I don't have a chart in front of me but Caridina I don't believe has a orange except maybe tigers but they have different markings. As far as blue go they are usually deeper in color or striped or something along those lines.

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[Fishdude3233]

Ya cardia tigers are orange but have black/grayish spots IME.


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[Andrew McFadden]

I'm pretty sure they are neos and need to be separated. I'd take the holding females to another tank or container to have the shrimplets and move the moms back with their color morphs. As the shrimp grow put them with what color they gap to or feed them off.

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[hroom88]

I have a 10g that I had put on hold since I had not yet thought of a scape. Might have to use that as a last option since I do not want to keep those in a trough for the rest of their lives.

 

[hroom88]

They look like neos to me. Blue velvet, orange and yellow. They look orange to me in the pictures so I said both.

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Actually I did not expect these to come by so quickly so I had been putting off the 10g set up for some time now. Guess there is a price for procrastination.

You say blue velvet? I thought velvets were more uniform with bright blue colouration without any markings? These appear to have deep blue markings on their otherwise light blue body. Or is it coz of the stress due to transportation?

And yes, I had been given shrimps with both, a mildly orange coloration and bright yellow. So was thinking to segregating those too. Btw any ideas on whether they are the same strain or mixed?

On the flip side, was thinking if I keep the yellows together[both orangish and yellows] is there a remote possibility of getting a higher grade coloration?

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Actually I did not expect these to come by so quickly so I had been putting off the 10g set up for some time now. Guess there is a price for procrastination.

I split my ten gallon with plexiglass and left the bottom unsealed under the sand so the water could pass but not the shrimp.

[/QUOTE] You say blue velvet? I thought velvets were more uniform with bright blue colouration without any markings? These appear to have deep blue markings on their otherwise light blue body. Or is it coz of the stress due to transportation? [/QUOTE]

They may not be then it's hard to tell from the pictures. There are different grades of blue velvet just like anything else but I don't believe any have dark markings. They may be something else then. I'd go to a site like shrimps.com and look at their pictures and see if any match.

[/QUOTE] And yes, I had been given shrimps with both, a mildly orange coloration and bright yellow. So was thinking to segregating those too. Btw any ideas on whether they are the same strain or mixed? [/QUOTE]

They could be the same strain just throwing different colors. The only way to get that to stop is to cull them. But you'll need a lot of different tanks to keep them separate

[/QUOTE] On the flip side, was thinking if I keep the yellows together[both orangish and yellows] is there a remote possibility of getting a higher grade coloration?[/QUOTE]

By culling them yes



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[hroom88]

If they are both Neos, then I can house them in both the 10g and my 75g alongwith caridina[red][green or tigers locally caught].

However this leaves the question still unanswered. Is it possible to distinguish between neoc & cars by their demeanour?

 

[Andrew McFadden]

I can't tell the difference other than coloring or markings. I brought this up in a couple other places with other shrimp keepers and nobody can really answer the question. To me cardinia seem to have a thicker shell but that's me. One person said neos eggs are smaller. I'll keep you updated on answers but your best bet is to compare them to pictures online

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[hroom88]

I can't tell the difference other than coloring or markings

Thats what I would do. However with new varieties of the same strain made available in the market frequently, it sometimes gets difficult to ascertain for sure.

 

[hroom88]

I split my ten gallon with plexiglass and left the bottom unsealed under the sand so the water could pass but not the shrimp.

Wouldn't that affect the filtration/flow, or do you use an undergravel filter?

 

[Andrew McFadden]

No i use air sponge things but i have one in each section

 

[Jack.m]

Blue velvet and yellow or orange (can't tell from that pic) are both neocaridina