New Orange shrimp purchase

[justrick]

Last night I purchased a dozen orange colored shrimp(similar in appearance to RCS) from my LFS and they were labled Orange Bee Shrimp. I am wondering if this is a new color morph or if they are artificially colored in some way like the blue shrimp. They saved these shrimp for me and gave them to me at cost($3.50 each) as I regularly supply them with RCS, Indian Zebra Shrimp, Dwarf Cajun and Shield crays. The shrimp differ in appearance from the blue shrimp as they look more like yellow shrimp in color. My males(2 out of the dozen) are lighter in color in both the orange shading and the red, thin striping on the carapace. The saddles on the females vary from a bright yellow to a deep orange. I guess time will tell if the offspring carry the orange trait. I hope to post a pic soon of them and wonder if anyone else has seen this variety.

[Mustafa]

Do your shrimp look like this?:





I know shrimp are imported under all kinds of names, but if your shrimp are these, then they might actually be artificially colored. In this batch of imports there were several shrimp of the same species that did not have the orange coloring but were naturally see-through.

As for offspring...these guys have tiny eggs (size of Amano shrimp eggs) so the larvae likely need saltwater, and, in the rare case that the larvae are actually freshwater larvae despite the tiny eggs, the larvae will take weeks to morph into benthic postlarvae. And yes...males are a rarity among imported shrimp.

[justrick]

Hi Mustafa,
The shrimp are more uniformly orange similar to the coloring of yellow shrimp. Some have red striations on the carapace. The males are a paler orange and are similar to the paler version of the male RCS. The only reason I took them was that they did not have that "artificial" look that the "blue" shrimp do. I have a great rapport with my LFS and it was because of me that they started stocking freshwater shrimp. The LFS acclimates the shrimp that they get for 2 weeks before putting them on sale and they have me come in when they receive a shipment to sort out shrimp that could possibly hybridize. I thank you(or at times, I could curse you, haha ) for getting me into this great hobby and an excellent forum. Keep up the great work.

Rick

[justrick]

The shrimp that I received seem exactly like the ones being offered on a bid sight by someone in Germany and he calls them caridina sp. orange. But time will tell if these are truly the same ones.

[Mustafa]

Your shrimp, my shrimp and those shrimp you are talking about from Germany are the exact same species. It appears that they are being exported in larger numbers from Asia now. The odds are pretty high that they are aquacultured.

[Newjohn]

Here is a picture of the Auctioned Shrimp



John

[zapisto]

is it the shrimp they call redfire in europe ?

[Mustafa]

No. Red Fire = Red Cherry.

[ToddnBecka]

Speaking of orange shrimp, how are your selective breeding projects coming along Mustafa? Any new developments, or progress with the several colors you had been working on?

[Mustafa]

As you may remember my population of my really orange shrimp crashed and I was only left with a few "orange-bluish" shrimp with that gene. Now my shrimp from that line are mostly bluish with orange mixed in. I'll keep my eyes out for orange shrimp among my offspring in the future. I even had a few orange-neon sri lanka dwarf shrimp a few years ago, but that population also got wiped out during my "big die off" about 1.5-2 years ago. Mutations happen once in a while if one breeds large numbers of shrimp. Some are worth exploring further, some are not.

[zapisto]

on a german site i see some ref to caridina propinqua.
what do you think about it mustafa.
anyway time will tell us as soon as some offspring show up we will have a bit more info

[Pugio]

I bought orange-colored shrimp recently from my LFS - was told they were not artificially colored - bought them because the orange was so (unnaturally) vibrant - like Orange Crush or Fanta soda - if you know what I mean. I guess I'll see what their offspring look like. I'd love to know if this is a natural coloring.

Some pics of my shrimp:
[/i]

[Newjohn]

Hi Pugio

Is that a berried female pictured on the left ?
If so, can you tell what size the eggs are ?

John

[Pugio]

No, unfortunately my females have not berried yet (should be soon) but I'll keep an eye out for egg size/characteristics. That's the same female shrimp in the two pics. Problem is I have RCS in the same tank - not sure if those will interbreed with these orange FWS. I don't have much experience speciating Neocaridina...

[Mustafa]

Folks, read my first post above regarding egg size and natural coloration so things don't get repeated unnecessarily. I had an ovigerous female already, which, unfortunately, dropped her eggs a few days later.