Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

i just joined the forum a few days ago and have been a frequent visitor for quite some time. i just wanted to ask, although i'm pretty sure that it hasn't happened yet, if anyone has seen a purple(merlot) colored cherry shrimp.

i have quite a few thats showed up in my tanks now, and they look amazing. if anyone has seen them before please let me know, if not get ready for a new wave of color!!!

Welcome etah,

It would be nice to see a picture of your shrimp. This is the first I have heard about purple(merlot) colored cherry shrimp but maybe someone else out there knows about them

yea, I have some purple cherries too. but at least mine aren't stable. some offspring of purples is red and via versa.

actually I was JUST about to post about the purple/bluish ("merlot" is a great description) female I found in my RCS breeding tank. I immediately suspected she was a hybrid, but then remembered blue Neocaridina do not breed true. I also have not introduced new stock in 6 months, so at least 5 generations ago.

These pics are all of the same individual, the blue-est and largest I found. She has been moved from my RCS tank into my community tank.


When she's 'pale' her stressed coloration is actually blue. So it appears that tint is in her shell, and when she's happy she adds the red to form the purple/merlot color. As you can tell, I've already separated her and was kind of alarmed/dismayed at her appearance.

Please let me know if anyone else suspects she is a hybrid of some kind. If so, I will have to trash my entire RCS colony (actually, probably give them away) and start all over. Not only that, but I'll try to hunt down all my past buyers and let them know they have hybrids [it will feel like I'm admitting an STD ].

If anyone has a suspicion as to what she is a mix of, please also share because I would like to know. I couldn't think of any dwarf shrimp with that dark coloration except maybe for Malayas and occasionally some super-dark wild-type Neocaridinas.

I am by no means an expert, I am a novice. What I would do is pay close attention to your colony over the next few months. Separate the differently colored varieties and breed them. Take notes of the prevalence of the new color morph, if they actually produce more of that morph.

If your colony, over the next few months, does not produce more of this color you may have a new color morph. If you notice that one female is producing this morph she is probably a hybrid, although, it could be the male. Tough situation, but I would not act to rash yet.

Careful observation and controlled breeding will tell you more about what you have.

Careful observation and controlled breeding will tell you more about what you have.

Good advice sstimac. Hope it is a new color morph, this would be exciting news.

Neonshrimp wrote: Hope it is a new color morph, this would be exciting news.

I tried not to get too optimistic about that possibility, but I'm cautiously hopeful *fingers crossed*

I will try to separate any more that pop up, but I'm running out of room!