Hi all-
I bought (online order) of RCS years ago. These weren't sakura rated, just plain RCS (and they were red). Most died, but the few that survived, bred. And bred. And bred. It's been years and many generations since then, and the colors are mostly grey or some speckled red. Occasionally will have rated sakura grade, but also black and white-ish (albino I assume). This is all genetics I assume, but I have a higher proportion of grey/dark grey than anything else. My question is is there a way to get more red colored RCS by diet or some other method? They mostly subsist on fish flake leavings, shrimp pellets, and the occasional dead fish. I tried breeding for a while by putting redder/red shrimp together in a small breeding enclosure, but it didn't seem to make a huge amount of difference, I still got varying colors. Or maybe I just wasn't dedicated enough in taking out the non-red ones? Fresh blood might help, but given I have hundreds in my tank of varying colors, I'd have to separate them out from the rest. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
ET
I bought (online order) of RCS years ago. These weren't sakura rated, just plain RCS (and they were red). Most died, but the few that survived, bred. And bred. And bred. It's been years and many generations since then, and the colors are mostly grey or some speckled red. Occasionally will have rated sakura grade, but also black and white-ish (albino I assume). This is all genetics I assume, but I have a higher proportion of grey/dark grey than anything else. My question is is there a way to get more red colored RCS by diet or some other method? They mostly subsist on fish flake leavings, shrimp pellets, and the occasional dead fish. I tried breeding for a while by putting redder/red shrimp together in a small breeding enclosure, but it didn't seem to make a huge amount of difference, I still got varying colors. Or maybe I just wasn't dedicated enough in taking out the non-red ones? Fresh blood might help, but given I have hundreds in my tank of varying colors, I'd have to separate them out from the rest. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
ET