About the blue shrimp.

[mshuangchao]

Hi, I'm a 16 year old Chinese living in southern China (home to many freshwater shrimp). I mainly breed freshwater stingrays and also have some freshwater shrimp (most are wild caught).
About the blue shrimp, I collect them from a mountain spring and they are natrually blue, the water there is also somewhat bluish too. I took a few specimens home to find they turned transparent within months. The blue I'm 100% sure is nutral, it must be caused by the minerals in their natural habitat.

[Neonshrimp]

Hi mshuangchao, welcome to the forums. Thank you for sharing your interesting experiences with us. I too think that the blue comes from the shrimp's natural habitat. Do you keep the shrimp in water that is locally available to you instead of the spring water? If so that means they are probably no longer getting the elements (minerals?) that cause them to look blue. Other than the color change is they any other change in behavior or health of the shrimp?

Raising stingrays must also be very interesting and you could tell us more about it in the Other inverts section if you like. Pelase tell us what other type of wild caught shrimp you have come accross.

Again welcome and thank you for sharing

[southerndesert]

That is very interesting and I wonder if they would regain their color if you were to use water from the spring in your tanks. I would also be curious as to if it was something in their diet in their natural environment as opposed to the water itself. Thank you for sharing your experiences!

Bill

[zwergkrebszuechter]

I think that diet or even parasites might be a more likely reason than minerals.

[Neonshrimp]

I think that diet or even parasites might be a more likely reason than minerals.

If it is between those two, I think diet unless the parasites died from lack of access to the spring water.

[badflash]

Any chance you could get a water sample and see what makes the water blue?

[mshuangchao]

Hi mshuangchao, welcome to the forums. Thank you for sharing your interesting experiences with us. I too think that the blue comes from the shrimp's natural habitat. Do you keep the shrimp in water that is locally available to you instead of the spring water? If so that means they are probably no longer getting the elements (minerals?) that cause them to look blue. Other than the color change is they any other change in behavior or health of the shrimp?

Raising stingrays must also be very interesting and you could tell us more about it in the Other inverts section if you like. Pelase tell us what other type of wild caught shrimp you have come accross.

Again welcome and thank you for sharing

Thanks for the warm welcome. I keep the blue shrimp in tap water and they only change color. They still are very healthy!I've also caught bumble-bee shrimp from the same spring and they seem to be somewhat bluish.

[mshuangchao]

That is very interesting and I wonder if they would regain their color if you were to use water from the spring in your tanks. I would also be curious as to if it was something in their diet in their natural environment as opposed to the water itself. Thank you for sharing your experiences!

Bill

I'll take some photos on my next trip over there.
There is also a kind of motoro stingray which is bluish on the sides of it's disc and they soon lose this blue color after being kept in captivity for a period of time, could it because of the same reason?

[mshuangchao]

Any chance you could get a water sample and see what makes the water blue?

I will next time I visit the place and also get a sample of the substrate in the spring. The water there is very cold(about 5 degrees celcius) and there isn't any food for them beside the algae on the rocks.