An open grade standard for Neocaridina
There is no certification body for shrimp. Grades like Sakura, Fire Red and Painted Fire Red are community consensus, and every seller applies them a little differently. That means a grade on a listing is a claim you cannot check until the box arrives, which is a large part of why buying shrimp online feels like a gamble.
So here is ours, written down. It is free. Anyone may use it, quote it, print it or apply it to their own stock, including sellers who compete with us. A standard nobody else can use is not a standard, it is marketing.
Why we are giving this away. A grading standard owned by a shop has a conflict of interest. The only way it means anything is if you can hold us to it, and if our competitors can adopt it and beat us on it.
Version 0.1, draft. Giving it away for free does not resolve the conflict of interest, it only makes it visible. Right now this is one breeder's written opinion, published so it can be argued with. It is not yet a standard in any sense that should carry weight, and we would rather say so than let the word do work it has not earned.
What would make it one: independent breeders applying it and disagreeing in public, a photo protocol precise enough that two people grading the same animal reach the same answer, and a test of that. We have not run that test. When we do, we will publish the disagreements rather than only the agreements.
Licensed CC BY 4.0. Use it, print it, sell against it, fork it. Attribution is all we ask, and only so a keeper can tell which version they were quoted.
Changelog
| Version | Date | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | 2026-08-07 | First published version. One breeder's written opinion, versioned so it can be cited and argued with. No independent review yet, and no inter-rater test run. |
Found something wrong, or grade differently and can say why? Mail hello@moltandmoss.com. Disagreement with a reason attached is the most useful thing anyone can send us, and it goes in the changelog with a name on it if you want one.
The three rules
- Grade describes colour only. Not health, not size, not breeding vigour. A lower colour grade does not prove that an animal is less healthy, but it does not prove equal health or breeding performance either. Every animal offered for sale must pass the same separate health check.
- Grade is judged on a group, not an individual. Anyone can photograph their single best shrimp. A grade claim means a randomly chosen handful from that tank all meet it.
- Grade is judged under ordinary light, over dark substrate, at a consistent time of day. Colour reads differently under different lighting and right after feeding. Editing a photo past what the animal actually looks like is a false grade claim.
The grades
| Grade | Standard |
|---|---|
| A | Solid opaque colour across the entire body, including legs, rostrum and tail fan. No translucent patches at any lighting angle. Where the line is selected for a dorsal stripe, the stripe is unbroken and well defined. |
| B | Solid colour on the body. Minor translucency permitted on legs or the tip of the rostrum only. Stripe present but may be thinner or slightly broken. |
| C | Visible clear patches on the carapace, patchy or washed colour, broken or absent stripe, or any wild-type banding. Sold honestly as culls at a lower price, never quietly promoted into B. |
Check the entire animal, including the legs, rostrum and tail fan. Record the age range, background and lighting because visible colour changes with context.
What a grade claim should come with
- The scientific name as supplied and the exact trade-line label
- The seller or source population and acquisition date
- A photo of several shrimp from that grade, not the best one
- The water they were bred in: GH, KH, TDS, pH, temperature
- A scale reference in at least one photo
- What the seller culls for, in words
We publish all four on every listing. If you sell shrimp, take this and do the same. If you buy shrimp, ask for it. The category gets better either way.
Using it
Copy it, adapt it, cite it, ignore the parts you disagree with. No permission needed and no attribution required, though a link back is appreciated. If you think part of it is wrong, say so: hello@moltandmoss.com. A standard that never changes is one nobody is using.