Male rcs question

[E's_Crab_Shack]

My RCS are about that numerous. I recently sold off over 150 of them, so I'm having to let them rebuild their population. They got darker after I sold off all the others.

What kind of substrate? I went with black sand because I heard they get a little darker with that. Seems to be working on most of the females. Oh, almost forgot. This morning I saw my biggest female stuffed with eggs, cant wait for babies

 

[jamesstill84]

I too use a black sand substrate. It does help them darken up quite a bit. However, I put some in my 55 gallon community and it has Flourite (brown) substrate and they get even darker. They're blood red in my 55.

 

[E's_Crab_Shack]

Hmmm I didnt want to use flourite. I was gonna use root tabs for the plants and maybe some flourish but I wanted to start slow so I dont harm the shrimp at all.

 

[jamesstill84]

Yeah. It's my first go at Flourite. It really helps the plants grow and root fast. I didn't expect them to brighten up like that. I'm not sure what's actually causing them to brighten up though.