Blue Amano shrimp???

[chiahead]

I stopped at one of my LFS today to see that soem of his amano shrimps had a blue tint to them. Anyone ever hear of this. I know the guy selling them very well and he keeps them really healthy and never medicates them with anything. They have been in the tank for 3 weeks and some are just blueish. The are acting normal oterwise so I bought some to see whats the deal with them.

[Mustafa]

I've seen bluish color on C. japonica before. However, that seems to be quite rare. Blue color does not usuall indicate disease or stress.

[amber2461]

All my Japonica are bluish ... one is very blue (a mature female) .. the rest just have a tinge of blue.

[Adrianna]

I've heard that keeping Procambarus sp. in malawi tank can make it so blue that it can be mistaken for blue crayfish. Could very hard water turn amano shrimps blueish?

[Robert]

Hi,
normally wildcaught yamato shrimps are not bluish. But some LFS sell bluish or even really blue ones. They can be the resullt of added ink into the water or they injected it directly into the shrimp's body. This cruel practise becomes more and more popular and can also be see on Neocaridina denticulata denticulata from time to time. They sell them then as "blue shrimps". I wouldn't buy them at all because these shrimps are stressed and it's a cruel behavior which nobody should support. The wholesalers just want to make a bit more profit out off this "ever-green" of the hobby. It does not help the shrimp nor the customers.

regards

Robert
shrimpnow.com

[jwarper]

That is horrible to hear Robert. Hopefully that is not the case here, and that it is just some different strain of 'Amano' due to selective breeding. However, ink injected shrimp are probably not far from the truth, since that is what they do to "painted" glassfish.

[fugly]

All my Japonica are bluish ... one is very blue (a mature female) .. the rest just have a tinge of blue.

do you have a pic? it would be nice to see. i've never seen blue amanos. how long have you had them? any signs of illness?

[JaVaGiRl]

Wow, that is SOOOO Funny ! You CANNOT *Ink * a shrimp hehee
Of course you CAN, but they will not survive more than a few days.
Thats like saying they inked my puppie NO SHRIMP can hold ANY kind of synthetic color. Whatever color they are suppose to be, thats what they are. I've seen some pretty funky colors in all different kinds of shrimp. This could be caused by a few different things :
1. Interbreeding with other species.
2. Water Conditions.
3. Lack of pigment.
Have a lovely day
Yes fish can be inked, but fish are fish, and shrimp are shrimp

[blenny]

I knew a hobbyist acidentally increased CO2 injection and his amano shrimps turn nice blue, and massy death after that.

So is blue an indication of health/stress? You decide. Or simply it is natural? I guess you have to see the conditions they are in to decide and if they live pass tomorrows.

[chiahead]

well, the blue color has faded or gone away completely. It was prob due to something in the water because they look like normal amano shrimp now.

[Jackie]

Wow, that is SOOOO Funny ! You CANNOT *Ink * a shrimp

It would be wonderful if you told us why

I've seen some pretty funky colors in all different kinds of shrimp. This could be caused by a few different things :
1. Interbreeding with other species.
2. Water Conditions.
3. Lack of pigment.

Mine where bright blue, water conditions didn't change and the colour was gone in a few weeks... any idea why?

[JaVaGiRl]

Mine where bright blue, water conditions didn't change and the colour was gone in a few weeks... any idea why?

Well Jackie ~ Ever wonder why your fish are pale when you first take them home ? Ever wonder why most fish and shrimp color turns when they are sick ? It's stress


JaVaGiRl wrote:
Wow, that is SOOOO Funny ! You CANNOT *Ink * a shrimp


It would be wonderful if you told us why

SUUUURE ! ~~

1. shrimp don't have scales (cannot hold ink )
2. many people don't know, shrimp are very sensitive (dye kills ))
3. if you dye a shrimp they will either ::
* die right away
OR
* shed, and loose there dye very quickly

[Jackie]

Well Jackie ~ Ever wonder why your fish are pale when you first take them home ? Ever wonder why most fish and shrimp color turns when they are sick ? It's stress

I know this. What does this have to do with the situation I described above? The shrimp where bright blue when I bought them, bright blue for a couple of weeks in my tank, then they lost their color, right now they are colorless. Ther have babies, eat and function normally - they are some kind of Caridina or Neocaridina. They share the tank with Red Nose and M. mirbile. I'm sure they are not stressed. Other people who got these same shrimp in the same store reported an identical sitation - the shrimp lost color in a matter of weeks.

The only thing that comes to my head is either they were artificially colored, or something was missing in their diet.

1. shrimp don't have scales (cannot hold ink )

Below you write: *if you dye a shrimp*. So can they be dyed or not?

2. many people don't know, shrimp are very sensitive (dye kills ))

There are many non-toxic dyes.

3. if you dye a shrimp they will either ::
* die right away
OR
* shed, and loose there dye very quickly

And maybe this was exactly what happened in the case of my blue shrimp?

I am saying all this because I heard gossip from a few sources of this procedure. Shrimp are getting very popular, but it is easier to sell brightly colored shrimp. Alas, most shrimp are not so colorful...