My new blue shrimp is pregnant!

[sed03f]

I have had them less than a week, and already one of my blue shrimp are pregnant. I couldnt get a very good picture, but she is lovely and the eggs are real dark unlike the picture

[pik01]

congratulations! how many shrimp did you get and what do you have em in?

[sed03f]

I got an order of 100 as a grad present and keep them in a 30g, unfortunately I have lost 3 in molt so far. One arrived dead, and two more died a few days ago, they were the largest shrimp he sent, so I dont feel so bad since I know how hard it is to deal with grown shrimp

but actually all the shrimp he sent me were full grown and in breeding age. I got lucky

[sed03f]

these guys absolutely love the driftwood my husband made,they are always on it

[msjinkzd]

What species were those sold as? Just out of curiosity. They are the same as my blue/black shrimp that I have (sold under the name blackberry with nospecies). I am curious as to what they were labeled as.

[sed03f]

they were sold as blue shrimp from TFD. I really enjoy the different variations, it makes them aesthetically beautiful

[msjinkzd]

I adore mine as well. They have a more aggressive feeding style. They are looking great! :)

[captmicha]

Are they "Blue Pearl Shrimp"? Beautiful bold color.

[msjinkzd]

No blue pearls are a frostire appearance and are smaller. The blue pearls are derived from snow balls. I don't know that these particular blue shrimp pictured have been positively given an id in the hobby.

[sed03f]

I have two pregnant now, the second one has like 3 times more eggs! hopefully they hatch

[sed03f]

so, Im really getting frustrated with this tank, I keep finding dead ones, doing water changes, adding more plants, but im loosing like two a day when they molt. Water specs are good, but I dont get it. and another one is pregnant! so, two prego shrimp, but they keep dying? I dont get it. I havnt lost not 1 bumblebee, and none of them are pregnant. I have only lost 3 zebra shrimp, and that was only the first couple of days. But they are not pregnant either, but are so fat! Im getting really depressed finding these dead shrimp in there. The "blue" shrimp are lovely, but make me sad to see them go

[justahannah]

They started selling these guys as "Blueberry" shrimp at my local Petco, as well as cherries. $5 each for either species! Are you using a water conditioner that removes metals? We just lost a ton of snails at work due to copper in the pipes...

[chazsgirl]

I love the dark ones, tried to get them once but ended up with something not even close! GL!

[H3D]

Congrats! Sweet shrimp!

[cam191919]

gah, i wish i had shrimp. i did keep some crayfish and the same death-after-molt thing happened. sadly they all eventually passed

[murraycod]

I grind a little rinsed shell grit, (and I do have hard water - calcium and magnesium), and haven't lost shrimp or crays during/after moult. I'm not certain that it's a contributing factor, but....
Is there calcium in your shrimp food?

[msjinkzd]

These shrimp have a high die-off rate. Some people say they are dyed, some say they are fed foods to get them to this color. If you get the females to live to reproduce, they do fine, but its very common for the adults to have a short longevity. I doubt that you are doing anything wrong.

[sed03f]

I removed the red ones and the ones that were not blue, while acclimating them into another tank, they turned blue! Some werent as strong a blue as others, but seriously they confuse me A LOT!

I had another 4 die last night, I have about 60-70 in a 30g hex, with 1wpg and plants. an UGF and a HOB with pool filter sand ontop gravel, I only seem to find dead ones in the morning.

I havent noticed any of them die during the day, I dont have a moonlight,

What kind of different foods should I try?

[msjinkzd]

I feed mine predominantly crab cuisine or kens catfish pellets. Occasionally some veggie or algae wafer.

[peter22]

Like many say, these shrimp don't have a very long lifespan but their offspring should be very hardy (probably caught from the wild like many shrimp). But once you get over that initial hump of finding dead ones, the rest should live pretty long. Take into account that their "usual" lifespan is only about a year or two so the bigger ones are probably nearing the end of their lifespan anyways. So like everyone says, its nothing to worry about. :)

A newbie mistake I made though was not giving them a high enough protein diet in the beginning of shrimp keeping. Keep in mind they are ominvores in the wild and need protein in their diet unlike some other shrimp. I feed mine anything from fish flakes, shrimp pellets, veggies, to algae wafers for a balanced diet. Just don't feed too much, only what they eat in a few hours or too much food can kill too... good luck with the babies hatching!

[sed03f]

i feed them mostly shrimp pellets, and then everyfew days they get a vegetable. Ill give them algae wafers today

[sed03f]

Oh, today I woke up and checked all the tanks, I noticed that my Blue shrimps eggs turned lighter the last few days instead of usually being black

This morning she was on a high leaf where I could see her underbelly. I saw a little white wiggly thing in the eggs, it looked like a tiny itty bitty baby just flapping his lil tail. Im pretty sure it was one hatching, she was acting very strange and staying still.

The rest of the shrimp are doing well, only one dead one in the last 6 days

[Gerber]

congrats on the baby shrimp I hope the offspring become alot more hardier than the parents. Good job they look great

[kidbookrev]

They started selling these guys as "Blueberry" shrimp at my local Petco, as well as cherries. $5 each for either species! Are you using a water conditioner that removes metals? We just lost a ton of snails at work due to copper in the pipes...

Does Prime remove copper?

[sed03f]

My shrimp has hatched all her eggs as of last night, Toward the end of the gestation the eggs turned a light almost clear color with little dots in them. Last night she had only one small black egg left in her sack, and it was probably infertile. Im so proud of her for being so strong

[sed03f]

Very exciting, today was the first day I spotted the babies! I should have tried looking the last few days, but I forgot. I cant believe I saw them after only one week!

Okay, the strangest thing about the shrimp is that the babies seem blue, all of them, but they will probably change, here are some pics,

[Gerber]

Very nice sed!!!!!! Congrats on the new babies.

[chazsgirl]

awww... they are so cute!

[sed03f]

here is a pic of two of them, look real close

[sed03f]

I just counted 34 babies!

[BreellaBlue87]

Gratz! thats so awesome. What substrate is that?

[sed03f]

pool filter sand, love the stuff

[Dwarf Puffers]

Awesome! I have some, too, but they haven't bred yet. At least I haven't seen fry out of the prego females (They were in the endler tank, they aren't now...). Maybe you got a bad batch? I got mine from Katalyst (Kim) and lost 0, although I think these are ones she's bred already. Good luck, they're very pretty shrimp.

[Damodred]

Very nice!

[Bubbles2112]

Congrats on the shrimplets!!!!:thm:

[bs6749]

These shrimp are dyed to get that color. Dark blue parents will produce lighter colored offspring and the dye isn't even noticeable in the 4th generation. You may not even see any more blue in the 3rd generation.

[msjinkzd]

I don't know that they are dyed, I do know that they are fed foods to enhance that coloring. If you feed foods with alot of astaxanthin, their colors get much bluer and bolder. I have a few offspring that are blue as well, but the majority do not get the opacity and vivid coloring as the adults.

[bs6749]

I don't know that they are dyed, I do know that they are fed foods to enhance that coloring. If you feed foods with alot of astaxanthin, their colors get much bluer and bolder. I have a few offspring that are blue as well, but the majority do not get the opacity and vivid coloring as the adults.

LOL! Astaxanthin is a RED pigment and it has absolutely nothing to do with enhancing the BLUES in these shrimp which ARE artificially dyed. Blue/violet is on the complete opposite end of the color spectrum and whoever told you this about astaxanthin ehancing the color of these blue shrimp was feeding you a line of crap. Astaxanthin enhances yellows, reds, pinks, oranges and intermediate colors, it has no effect on the the blues. A simple test of your theory would be to feed the babies frozen bloodworms exclusively, which are high in astaxanthin. I guarantee you that you won't see any improvement of their blue coloration.

The reason that they don't get more blue is because they are dyed and the amount of dye in their bodies does not increase as they get larger, so in effect they get more pale as they grow. Less of the dye is passed on to their offspring and by the 3rd-4th generation after the original shrimp were dyed, no blue is noticeable.

[bs6749]

Also look at this link: http://www.petshrimp.com/neocaridinaspblue.html

It confirms what I've said basically. In short it says that they are a Neocaridna sp. and they are artificially dyed, which is why they don't live very long and have high die off rates (sound familiar?). The successful breeding of them produces no blue offspring as can be seen in the picture of the link and from the pictures on here as well. The link is slightly "old" because now there is obviously a Blue Pearl shrimp so there IS a blue shrimp that isn't artificially dyed. This, however is not one of them.

[sed03f]

Awesome! I have some, too, but they haven't bred yet. At least I haven't seen fry out of the prego females (They were in the endler tank, they aren't now...). Maybe you got a bad batch? I got mine from Katalyst (Kim) and lost 0, although I think these are ones she's bred already. Good luck, they're very pretty shrimp.


sweet, I want to see pics, I have seen Katalyst on aquabid, but I dont live in Canada, I ordered these from Tropical Fish Distributors with 2 other species, zebra and bumblebee, which I have 5 prego zebras, and 5 prego bumblebee, I only lost 3/50 zebras and no bumblebees when I got them. I should have ordered more zebras and no blues, but hopefully someone will learn from this post.

[sed03f]

here is a pic of the new berried blue shrimp, over all not very blue, but still pretty

The baby shrimp are distinctly different sizes, some babies are twice the size as others, Im not sure why, maybe they hatched days before the others, maybe there was a berried shrimp I did not see, Maybe the larger ones are female

[sed03f]

I also happen to see this beauty in here, I seperated her from my zebras/ bumblee bee tank (I cant remember which one) but she is suppose to be of cardinia sp. She looks like a hybrid or an odd mutation. Well, she is berried now with tons of eggs. She has a red color with very few stripes, we'll see what comes out.

Im surprised this one is pregnant since they are low ph shrimp. This neocardinia blue variety tank has a higher ph and hard water than cardinia sp like. I cant wait to see the babies

[Dwarf Puffers]

sweet, I want to see pics, I have seen Katalyst on aquabid, but I dont live in Canada, I ordered these from Tropical Fish Distributors with 2 other species, zebra and bumblebee, which I have 5 prego zebras, and 5 prego bumblebee, I only lost 3/50 zebras and no bumblebees when I got them. I should have ordered more zebras and no blues, but hopefully someone will learn from this post.


Hmm, all of their pics look like unhealthy and shocked fish when I see them. Glad your experience didn't go too badly. :)

And I'll post pics later, gotta get to work soon. Now that they're in with the cories and CPD's, they're usually more brown-blue than their original navy blue, though sometimes they'll change colours.

[msjinkzd]

LOL! Astaxanthin is a RED pigment and it has absolutely nothing to do with enhancing the BLUES in these shrimp which ARE artificially dyed. Blue/violet is on the complete opposite end of the color spectrum and whoever told you this about astaxanthin ehancing the color of these blue shrimp was feeding you a line of crap. Astaxanthin enhances yellows, reds, pinks, oranges and intermediate colors, it has no effect on the the blues. A simple test of your theory would be to feed the babies frozen bloodworms exclusively, which are high in astaxanthin. I guarantee you that you won't see any improvement of their blue coloration.


Actually I have these shrimp and was doing food trials. Here is a link from naturose (brand name for astaxanthin):


The largest percentage of the carotenoid fraction of NatuRose consists of astaxanthin, with lesser amounts of the pigments cantaxanthin, lutein, and beta-carotene. Carotenoids are generally associated with the flaming orange, lobster-reds, and striking yellows found in ornamental fish.
Less widely known is that when carotenoids form complexes with lipids and proteins, they also express themselves as the blues, greens, purples, and browns of the aquatic world.


Regardless of you quoting other sites and arguing, I can say what i have SEEN and TRIED. these shrimp get more blue when fed foods with naturose. I don't know if htey are dyed, what I was saying, which is based on experience not regurgitated knowledge, is that although the offspring do not gain the opacity of the blue, they do most definitively have some blue regardless of what htey are fed.

Congrats on the babies!

[southerndesert]

Actually I have these shrimp and was doing food trials. Here is a link from naturose (brand name for astaxanthin):


Regardless of you quoting other sites and arguing, I can say what i have SEEN and TRIED. these shrimp get more blue when fed foods with naturose. I don't know if htey are dyed, what I was saying, which is based on experience not regurgitated knowledge, is that although the offspring do not gain the opacity of the blue, they do most definitively have some blue regardless of what they are fed.

Congrats on the babies!

Ms J is correct and if you read up on Astaxanthin you will find that it indeed enhances Blues as well as Reds, Orange, and other natural colors in animals fed with it in their regular diet.

Following is a quote from the makers of Naturose... I too have used this product in some studies with shrimp color... An interesting side note is that Yellow Neocaridina heteropoda turn blue green when fed thid product within a couple weeks, stop feeding it and they go back to yellow.


NatuRose™ is a natural source of the carotenoid pigment astaxanthin, derived from a unique strain of the microalgae Haematococcus pluvialis grown under controlled conditions on the island of Hawaii.
Carotenoid pigments manifest themselves as the brilliant hues of yellow, orange and red found in the tissues of aquatic organisms. Carotenoid pigments are largely derived from phytoplankton and the algae, including seaweed and kelp. Captive-bred fish (and therefore the majority of aquarium fish) are unable to produce these pigments de novo and must rely upon carotenoids absorbed from their diets.
The Science Behind Nutrition

The largest percentage of the carotenoid fraction of NatuRose consists of astaxanthin, with lesser amounts of the pigments cantaxanthin, lutein, and beta-carotene. Carotenoids are generally associated with the flaming orange, lobster-reds, and striking yellows found in ornamental fish.
Less widely known is that when carotenoids form complexes with lipids and proteins, they also express themselves as the blues, greens, purples, and browns of the aquatic world.


The blue in my Blue Pearls, and Blue Tiger shrimp is definitely enhanced by feeding this product! Also wild type Neocaridina sp will take on a blue tint with continued feeding... I do not use it in my foods now though prefering the shrimps actual colors to food enhanced colors....

[southerndesert]

Whoops didn't see you had already added the info from Naturose...sorry

[southerndesert]

so, Im really getting frustrated with this tank, I keep finding dead ones, doing water changes, adding more plants, but im loosing like two a day when they molt. Water specs are good, but I dont get it. and another one is pregnant! so, two prego shrimp, but they keep dying? I dont get it. I havnt lost not 1 bumblebee, and none of them are pregnant. I have only lost 3 zebra shrimp, and that was only the first couple of days. But they are not pregnant either, but are so fat! Im getting really depressed finding these dead shrimp in there. The "blue" shrimp are lovely, but make me sad to see them go

It is like this with imported shrimp and likely no fault of your own. These shrimp are kept in poor conditions prior to sale and the stress can kill the days or weeks later. I do not often order from big importers for this reason. I went in on some Tiger and WHBB from the same folks about a year ago and did find their shrimp to be quite healthy considering they were imports and most of adult age... Still lost a bunch though before the colony stabilized unfortunately.

[southerndesert]

There is also an interesting topic at Petshrimp and a post by a young man in China who was catching a Blue colored Caridina sp., but after a few weeks or months in his tank they would turn brown. There was an interesting discussion that followed.... Food or water is likely the source of the blue color with food being the most likely and different forms of algae have different amounts of astaxanthin and other compounds....

He actually showed photos of the shrimp before and after as well as their mountain spring habitat....

[msjinkzd]

I remember that post Bill, I was looking for it and couldn't find the link.

I also agree about the likely cause of death in your shrimp sed, its probably just residual stress from shipping. I also had a significant die-off in the weeks following their addition to my tank, but once they establish they go like gangbusters.

[sed03f]

Thanks for all the helpful info, The population is pretty stable now. I havnt had any dead ones for a while, (knock on wood).

The bumblebees and zebras did great for me, I got them the same time as the blues. I highly recommend the bumblebees, they are my favorite. Out of 100, I havnt lost a single one. I got 50 zebras and lost 5-7 of them the first couple of days, but there are almost 10 of them pregnant now, wow! and they are gorgeous! I would like to see some pics of yours to see if they are the same as my zebras, someone else told me they look like tigers.

I havnt tried any of the color enhancing foods, Im interested in what they will naturally turn out to be, so far they look like wild caught neocardinia sp. If I wanted to use it on my yellow shrimp, what would I use?

[cymrufem]

sed, your baby shrimps are beautiful! You mention the variation in sizes. My blue cray mommy Agatha Lu had a brood of approx. 150 on Nov. 1st. The size variance is enormous............some are a good 2 inches long, and others are less than half an inch long, with everyone else somewhere in between. It is super weird! Also, she had many more boys than girls, prolly a good 80/20% ratio of M/F.
Invert reproduction, ya just gotta love it!

[sed03f]

oh, wow, thats very interesting, and makes a lot of sense now, thanks for sharing. some of the tiny ones are already showing a stripe down their back, I can see them growing by the day, very exciting, good luck with your cray babies

[msjinkzd]

As for your food question, I only have fed the color enhancing foods to a select group of my "blue/black" shrimp in order to see if it made any difference. Ken's fish has some micro pellets available with naturose in it that you could try, or he sells the bulk powder (2oz for $7) for you to formulate or mix your own foods.

[sed03f]

Here are some recent pics of the babies, they are getting so big!!!!! I counted about 40 of them the other day. I was not aware they had so many eggs at one time. The babies are very clear, but sometimes seem almost a little metallic at times. They are not fed any color enhancers yet. I was planning on maybe feeding them color enhancers on the next generation. And definitely photograph the changes.

[sed03f]

They are getting so big

[msjinkzd]

Looking great!

[sed03f]

Some of the babies are already pregnant! Well, I guess they are not babies anymore, wow, they grow up fast. I counted 3 pregnant ones today.

[sed03f]

Well, I have 3rd generation babies now! I have only seen two babies, but Im sure in a few weeks, more will appear. These guys really start showing their markings as they get older. They are not very impressive as babies, but I am very satisfied with the adult markings. Almost all of them have the bold stripes down their backs with speckles.

[bluekrissyspike]

ever cool!! and that pink snail is amazing.

[bettabrat]

They are so pretty! What substrate are you using I like that, makes their colors pop!

[sed03f]

Those would be beautiful snails from Msjinkzd!

I found some black aquarium sand on ebay a few weeks ago, 50lbs for 35.00, I love the black sand, all my fish have such brighter colors now.

[phreeflow]

Sooo....is the outcome that these blue shrimp indeed gave birth to non-blue offspring. I can't really see any blue on any of the grow outs. Is this normal?

I've never had blue shrimp so I'm not sure what is normal or not for them. For instance, I have Dark Green Shrimp and many exhibit reddish colors as shrimplets but start turning green as they get older...not all but most of them exhibit this pattern. Will the blues get blue with age?

I can't find the article but I've read that some of these blue shrimp have not been dyed but inoculated with a certain type of bacteria/virus (can't remember) that exhibits that bluish color in the shrimp. Supposedly, it's not toxic to the host shrimp but it also isn't passed onto the offspring either so the baby shrimplets end up looking tan with no blue on them.

Anyone else heard of this or remember the article?

[sed03f]

Yes, I will have to say that the "blue" is not natural with these shrimp. The mortality rate was terrible. Out of 100 shrimp, I only got 1 shrimp to hatch eggs. I did weekly and many times 2-3 waterchanges a week. They just kept dying. These were wild caught shrimp.

I really enjoy their natural colors, hopefully my population will grow larger soon. The second generation is much more hardy. I have had all the young survive. Most of mine are not full grown yet, but they are already displaying some gorgeous markings.

[sed03f]

The ones I have now are all tank born and raised. They do not have the strong blue the previous generation had, but I still think they are gorgeous!

I just bought some Malawa shrimp, unfortunately the breeder sent me tiny tiny tiny babies, I dont know how these guys could even fit into a net. Well, I put them in my 60g RCS tank, and have not seen them since. It has been 2 weeks. They were pretty when I did see them, so if you are looking for some blue shrimp besides the blue pearl, the malawa is a good option. I found a breeder on Aquabid. com