There has been many confusion and misunderstanding on the difference of Taiwan and German pinto in Singapore. These two shrimps are totally two different things. A German pinto will never be a Taiwan pinto and vice versa. I would like to share today, the difference and a little about the origin of these pinto shrimps.

Pintos are mainly classified into two different types. Namely, “German Pinto(德系P)” and “Taiwan Pinto(台P)”.

German Pinto

“German Pinto” was founded by a German breeder named Astrid Webber back in about 2011. The two pattern variation of pinto shrimp that was founded by Astrid Webber were mainly:

1) Black or red coloration shrimp with white stripes at the top back

2) Spots on the head

These shrimps quickly gain popularity in the Asian market when they were first released in Japan, and subsequently to Taiwan. Taiwanese breeder quickly grab hold of this opportunity and started to breed them massively. For retail purposes, these shrimps are graded differently and as follows.

• Zebra German Pinto 德P扛型

These shrimps are graded by how nicely spaced the stripes are and how many stripes are there at the back. A maximum of usually 6 stripes could be seen as perfect with no other spots on the body.

• Spotted head mosura German Pinto 德P白躯头洞洞

These shrimps are firstly graded by a clean white body. Any spots below the head would be deemed as imperfect. Secondly, the number of spots on the head, a maximum of 10 spots can be deemed as perfect. Lastly, how big the spots are on the head.

Till date, these shrimps are still named “German Pinto” as a form of respect as the pattern of these shrimps are founded by a German breeder. “German Pinto” don’t breed true, however, they can be narrowed down to close to 90% offspring as pintos, even so, it’s pattern cannot be stabilize. It is almost impossible for these shrimps to breed true due to complicated genetics that has been passed down by past generation.

Taiwan Pinto

“Taiwan Pinto” has surfaced at about 2012 after the craze of “German Pinto”. “Taiwan Pinto” started out in Taiwan when some breeders have experimented crossbreeding after seeing the success of “German Pinto”. The only distinct pattern of “Taiwan Pinto” is the tiger stripes on the shrimp.

These shrimps have gained popularity in Japan and soon, grading of this shrimps have surfaced. The main pattern that any one breeder would look at is whether the tiger stripe is distinct enough to see close to the tail of the shrimp. The more stripe it has, the more valuable it is. It’s stripes have to be separated and reach the lower end of the body. Secondly, whether this shrimp has any spots on it’s head. A “Taiwan Pinto” with a burst of small spots at it’s head is also named Galaxy Pinto (银河) in Taiwan.

There are several mutations of Taiwan pinto which makes it very popular in Japan. Other mutations like fish-bone(鱼骨) and skunk(金背) pinto are the higher ends of “Taiwan Pinto”. Slowly, breeders have combined the different patterns of “Taiwan Pinto” into one shrimp. All of these shrimps can be bred out by just Taiwan Pinto genes alone.

In summary, a “German Pinto” will not breed out patterns of “Taiwan Pinto”, and vice versa. As all pinto shrimps, they will not breed true.