My new blue shrimp is pregnant!

[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?