Shrimp question

[heislertj]

Hi,
I bought some cherry shirimp at an auction...about 16 of them. They were young and clear. Some about 3 turned cherry red(females) and most stayed clear(males). I just noticed some holding eggs but the color of the shrimp is mostly clear with spots of either dark red or brown all over the body. Are these cherry shrimp or something else?
I know...get a pic. My camera will not take a good pic of something that small. Any input will be appreciated.
T.

[pbmax]

Could be wild type coloration, could be a different species or genus entirely. My female RCS are occasionally almost entirely clear depending on where they hang out in the tank. Time to buy a new camera? :D

[Frogmanx82]

RCS don't breed true. You have to continually cull out the dull colored ones or they revert to their natural colors. It just like fancy guppies or anything else that has been selectively bred.

Sounds like you got some of the culls. Good news is that they have the genes for redder color and you should be able to selectively breed. Also picking up a bright red one or two would help you get there.

[The Zigman]

RCS don't breed true. You have to continually cull out the dull colored ones or they revert to their natural colors. It just like fancy guppies or anything else that has been selectively bred.

Sounds like you got some of the culls. Good news is that they have the genes for redder color and you should be able to selectively breed. Also picking up a bright red one or two would help you get there.


I've never heard this before. Not sure what i think about it, but I have only had mine for about 3 years, so i might be misinformed.

To my knowledge, and experience...
RCS color depends on several factors, just like fish, dependant on diet, stress, and even hormonal levels. If you have ever noticed a fishes colors get much darker during spawning?

Anyway, I have never had to cull any brown shrimp out of my 3 RCS tanks, and no they dont revert to their natural colors, unless they are interbred with other color neocaridina species like pearl blues, and yellows. Unless they are interbred, they do breed true. Although it is possible you do have some very light colored female RCS carrying eggs, it is very difficult to be sure without any pictures. from your description, it sounds like you may have some amanos mixed in the bunch. Having som einterbred wild type neocaridinia species is another possibility.

If possible, post dome pix, or google some images of amano shrimp. see if maybe that is what you have.

[supersudo]

one of my RCS males seem to change from clear, to red, to yellow-ish, and red again depending on the day... it's weird :/

[Frogmanx82]

Cherry shrimp are a manmade color morph and so there will be degrees of color variation in the successive generations. If you don't cull out the duller colored ones you will get fewer shrimp with intense red color.

The same is true for crystal reds, thats why they have a grading system, but you could also grade the cherries as well.

[blue2fyre]

Not true at all. Cherry shrimp breed true. I've had mine for a while now and all of the babies are bright red. In fact the newer generation has been redder without any culling from me. I've never even seen a brown one in my tank. Like Zigman said, their color depends on a lot of factors.
Crystal red are a bit different.

[pbmax]

Yup, I'm with blue2fyre and Zigman. I have at least 4 generations in my RCS tank and I haven't seen any real color variation. I'll see color changing (clearer) from time to time depending on where the shrimp is sitting, but no browns or anything like that.

[stephenpence]

hey what color is your substrate?? Red cherries definitely breed true, although its also true that some are varying degrees of brighter red, the intensity of the red will ggrow as the little guys mature. HOWEVER with a lighter substrate the rcs will go clear-ish as a defense mechanism! i found this out with my white WHITE pool filter sand substrate! they came in a beautiful red color but by 2 or 3 weeks all but the adults were nearly clear. i found a thread by Sarahann31190 where she had an issue like this but the thread never resolved so when i contacted her she said that she'd switched to a darker substrate and that her shrimps had gotten much darker.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=212818
here's the link to the thread. so if you have a black or dark substrate, this was all non-sense, but if it's light... i think this is your problem! when i move in a month i'll switch my shrimp haven over to black sand but until then i'll have to take her word for it that it'll help!