Cherries vs Crystals

What are the differences between RCS and Red Crystal Shrimp? (besides the price @.@). I saw some nice Crystals at the LFS and really wanted to get some, but I dunno about spending $10 a shrimp... I also have RCS in 5.5. Would they interbreed? Would that be bad? How hardy are they? Etc, etc, etc. Just throw stuff at me ;3

 

Well I know that they won't interbreed with RCS. Rcs are neocardinia and CRS are cardinia. Crystal reds are very sensitive to water condtions. That's basically all I know.

 

So only getting one is pointless then I just can't bring my self to spend $10 a shrimp that may or may not live, and if I only get two, may or may not be of the opposite sex! >.<

 

Crystal are a highly prized show shrimp, you get them, you want to have a shrimp tank set up for them without any potential predators, because they are $$$ XD. Cherries can handle a bit more abuse.

 

Thread moved into the Shrimp and Crabs forum.

Agree that if you are going to purchase one of the more spendy varieties of shrimp you'd want to have a species only tank to avoid predation.

 

Crystal shrimp are soft water shrimp, so they are more particular about their breeding conditions than RCS. RCS breed like rabbits no matter what, so they do ok in a tank with a small amount of predation, as long as they have enough hiding spots.

Crystals are also rather sensitive because of the amount of interbreeding that's done to create their appearance. Lower grades are hardier than higher grades.