What Cherry Shrimp Cost: The Red Neocaridina Family, Priced
The hobby's default first shrimp, from plain cherry to Bloody Mary — current per-shrimp prices across US vendors, and where the red family's price lines actually sit.
Published July 29, 2026 · figures recomputed from data through September 2, 2026 · by Shrimp Price Index
The cherry shrimp is the hobby's default first shrimp, and "cherry shrimp" is really a family: the same red Neocaridina selectively bred into grades and named lines. Here is what each red line costs per shrimp across the vendors we track, updated daily.
The red family, priced
| Line | Listings | Vendors | Per-shrimp low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Rili Shrimp | 22 | 5 | $2.50 | $3.20 | $3.99 |
| Fire Red Shrimp | 10 | 4 | $3.00 | $3.20 | $4.09 |
| Red Cherry Shrimp | 27 | 6 | $2.50 | $3.55 | $6.00 |
| Painted Fire Red Shrimp | 9 | 2 | $2.50 | $4.00 | $4.00 |
| Bloody Mary Shrimp | 33 | 6 | $2.50 | $5.14 | $15.00 |
| Red Onyx Shrimp | 5 | 1 | $6.20 | $6.20 | $6.20 |
Reading the family
- Plain cherry vs. graded red is mostly a label difference at today's prices — the whole Cherry → Painted Fire Red grade ladder spans well under two dollars at the median (measured here).
- Bloody Mary is the red family's premium line — a distinct deep-red lineage rather than a grade, currently at a $5.14 median across 6 vendors — and the most-listed red line on the index.
- Rili patterns price near their solid parents. A Red Rili (red-and-clear pattern) isn't a premium product; it's an alternative look at commodity pricing.
- Buy the pack, not the single. Red Neocaridina are the cheapest per-shrimp in 10+ packs, and a starter group breeds to a colony either way — the pack math.
Grade names and what they actually mean (with live prices per grade) are on the cherry shrimp grades page. As of September 2, 2026, prices above are from in-stock listings; the morph pages linked in the table update daily.