Firstly, a very happy 2018 to all shrimpers from all over the world. I wish that every of your shrimps would get berried and give you lots of amazing shrimplets!

I have previously talked about Pinto classifications and I have been asked by several hobbyist to further elaborate on Fishbone Pinto. You can look at my previous article here.

I do believe that pictures speak a thousand words. Instead of discussing about Fishbone Pinto, I am going to share how I would grade a Fishbone Pinto today.

I will be grading these shrimps base on just it’s pattern alone without taking into consideration of it’s size today. In choosing a nice Fishbone Pinto, here are some of the traits that I will look out for.

1. Fishbone pattern
2. Spots on the head
3. Spider legs

Let’s start with the first trait:

Fishbone Pattern

It is important that a very good Fishbone Pinto would have a well define Fishbone pattern. The skunk line at the top must be from it’s tail all the way to the head of the shrimp without any breaks. As the picture above, the skunk line has a short break just below it’s head.

However, this shrimp have a very well define line of the “bones” as they are all well separated and they show on both the left and right side of the shrimp.

The bones must not touch the bottom of the body. As the picture above, the last bone is connected from the top to the bottom of the body. It is still considered decent, but a perfect one would have at least 5 bones that are not touching the bottom of the body on both the left and right side.

This is the exact same piece as the picture before. The only flaw on it is that the last bone is touching the bottom on both sides. It is a great red Fishbone Pinto as it has very nice spider legs and also a very nice blood red.

Spots on the head

Very fine burst of spots would be considered very high end for a Fishbone Pinto. With spots even on it’s body, it would be just perfect like the piece above. Some of the Pintos tend to have big spots on their heads, I personally would prefer smaller spots and they look just so amazing.

This piece above has a very well define fishbone pattern, however the spots on the head are little. These spots tend to develop as the shrimp grows older, so give your shrimp a little patience sometimes.

Spider Legs

Spider legs are the most amazing thing. The legs are like a zebra crossing, with white and it’s body colour. This piece above has very nice spider legs and nice small spots on the head as well. A nice spider leg has no transparent portion, it usually only consist of white or it’s body colour. Transparent legs are considered low grades and are usually culled.

However, legs are mostly overlooked by hobbyist as they focus a lot more on the pattern of the body.

Here is two of my favourite Fishbone Pinto from SL-Aqua.

I would judge a Fishbone Pinto base on these three points. Price usually comes with quality so do watch out for what you are paying for. Some hobbyist focus a lot on the spots on the head and overlooked the fishbone pattern. I would say that if you are paying a very premium price, these 3 points are something that you would really want to look out for.

I also did mention that as your shrimp grow bigger, the spots and skunk line tend to change, so I would advise to purchase a matured shrimp for a Fishbone Pinto.

Have fun shrimping!