Shrimp grading scales...?

[Umbra]

(Edited this after realizing something )

So, I am new to shrimp and quite confused as to what shrimp grading is and how it works. I'm even more confused as to how inconsistent it is because one site uses ss and another says its fire this and fire that and another says it's cherry...  Ok, I realize they are all cherry shrimps, but why do people say rili shrimps are cherries too when they are two different species (Davidi and heteropoda)? And how does the letter scaling system (a, aa, aaa, aaa+, b, bb, ect...) work compared to just giving them a name like sakura or fire red? And what about the other colors like for example orange cherries? how do you grade them?

[pucksr]

Ok, there is a lot to unpack.

First things first.
Cherry shrimp=Neos=Neocaridina Heteropoda=Neocaridina Davidi
They changed the species name at one point. They are all the same species. 
Rilis are special coloration of Neocaridina Davidi.
(Honestly, almost all shrimp you see in the hobby that are in the Neocaridina genus are the same species. There are a few other Neocaridina species, but they are not very popular in the hobby)
Stealing this from another forum


Now, there is another species of red shrimp.
Caridina Cantonensis(Crystal Red Shrimp)
Totally different genus
Stealing yet another image:

[Umbra]

20 minutes ago, pucksr said:

Ok, there is a lot to unpack.

First things first.
Cherry shrimp=Neos=Neocaridina Heteropoda=Neocaridina Davidi
They changed the species name at one point. They are all the same species. 
Rilis are special coloration of Neocaridina Davidi.
(Honestly, almost all shrimp you see in the hobby that are in the Neocaridina genus are the same species. There are a few other Neocaridina species, but they are not very popular in the hobby)
Stealing this from another forum


Now, there is another species of red shrimp.
Caridina Cantonensis(Crystal Red Shrimp)
Totally different genus
Stealing yet another image:

Oh, I see.... Holy heavens, this helped a LOT! Do you perhaps have more of these pictures? I find them stupidly helpful. actually, the whole post helped me a LOT! My question now is how would you know of the shrimp's lineage?

[chappy6107]

from the seller.  That is why buying from a trustworthy source can be very important.

[Umbra]

2 minutes ago, chappy6107 said:

from the seller.  That is why buying from a trustworthy source can be very important.

Actually, we don't have sellers in South Africa. these shrimps are TOTALLY illegal to import and the ones we got were ones that people smuggled in. a lot of crossbreeding happened and we have tainted strains we have to breed ourselves all over again.

I searched a month, exactly a month just for someone to sell me cherry shrimp and even when I did find someone it was about an hour to two hour's drive (depending on the traffic) for shrimp that may or may not be cherry-grade shrimp

[pucksr]

Umbra, not exactly sure what you are asking.

You said you are buying "cherry shrimp". Don't worry about lineage. What you see is basically what you get.
If you buy a sakura red cherry shrimp, then it will probably breed true. There is no other lineage to worry about in that case.

"Cherry" isn't a grade. It is a nickname for the entire species of Neocaridina Davidi. Particularly the red variety
The grade of cherry shrimp is pretty straightforward, the more solid the color the better. 

Even if you did need to be worried about lineage, there would literally be no way to test. Fun thing about recessive genes is that you can't see them. 

[huntingtrees]

There's a member here from South Africa, you should ask if he knows where to get shrimp

http://www.shrimpspot.com/index.php?/profile/2027-maurice/

 

[oem]

Hi Umbra,

 

 Just started working with genetics in shrimp but have been doing it for years with my plants and larger animals to get the desired traits.  It literally takes years due to life cycle of these plants or animals.  The good news is that shrimp with their shorter life span and lots of recessive genes, you can get numerous generations in a couple of years to get closer to the traits you are looking for !

[Umbra]

13 hours ago, pucksr said:

Umbra, not exactly sure what you are asking.

You said you are buying "cherry shrimp". Don't worry about lineage. What you see is basically what you get.
If you buy a sakura red cherry shrimp, then it will probably breed true. There is no other lineage to worry about in that case.

"Cherry" isn't a grade. It is a nickname for the entire species of Neocaridina Davidi. Particularly the red variety
The grade of cherry shrimp is pretty straightforward, the more solid the color the better. 

Even if you did need to be worried about lineage, there would literally be no way to test. Fun thing about recessive genes is that you can't see them. 

Nevermind, You just explained it perfectly Thanks again!
 

To everyone else, thanks for all the help! You all helped a lot!