WHITE Supershrimp!!!

[Mustafa]

Ok, as promised in the "Yellow Supershrimp" thread, I am posting a picture of one of my white Supershrimp. Check out the blue-green eggs in the ovaries! This picture is from March 2007 and I have never published it before. I know for sure that I still have some white shrimp swimming around in various tanks, so maybe it's time to start a white colony. Oh, by the way, don't believe when someone offers "white" Supershrimp for sale...it's usually a rip-off attempt (and you may just get some pale, normal *wild-caught* Supershrimp..at best). There are no white colonies in existence, and there are no white populations of these shrimp in the wild, either. And, of course, there are no yellow colonies, either.

Ok, here is the first picture *ever* taken (in 2007), that I know of, of a white Supershrimp with blue-green eggs in development:

[BostonJill]

Could that be albino since it looks like the eyes might be red but it just might be the flash on the camera causing it to look that way hard to tell. If you put albino to normal you will only get normals carrying the albino gene and if you place albino to albino you will get all albinos. I'm sure you already knew all that. What ever it is it's cool!

[Shrimpkiller]

Looks like a possible albino. Very nice and love that little bit of blue. Cause that is my favorite color. I think a colony of these would be so much fun.
Good luck

[LeShrimp]

Wow! That is awesome. Just out of curiosity when you say the blue eggs are developing in the ovaries is it possible to tell when eggs are developing in red Opae' Ula?

[KenCotigirl]

Very cool shrimp. I hope you can start that colony today! I am in for a dozen or two. The developing eggs are appealing.

[Mustafa]

Very cool shrimp. I hope you can start that colony today! I am in for a dozen or two. The developing eggs are appealing.

Ok, done. I just started the colony and they already had offspring, which have grown up and are ready for sale. Go ahead and order them from the Petshrimp store. Joking aside, I will first have to locate all my white shrimp...I honestly have no idea where they are. I will have to go through 66 Supershrimp tanks to find them. On the plus side, that will give me an opportunity to keep an eye out on other mutations. I have a thing for wild-type animals, so I have not been into selectively breeding various mutations I have discovered over the years (even among my freshwater shrimp...and fish), but I find this particular species very intriguing. Ok, first thing tomorrow I'll look for the white shrimp. (I already know where the yellows are).

[Mustafa]

Wow! That is awesome. Just out of curiosity when you say the blue eggs are developing in the ovaries is it possible to tell when eggs are developing in red Opae' Ula?

Yes, instead of the blue area, you'll just see a brown area where the blue is. I replied more extensively in the actual thread you posted about this.

[KenCotigirl]

Mustafa do you have any close ups of what would be the saddle of a pale Opae? Something similar to the white opae but much closer. When looking at close ups of some freshwater shrimp the individual eggs in the saddle are visible. My photo skills are insufficient. Since the Opae eggs are so large it would easy.

[BostonJill]

I will have to go through 66 Supershrimp tanks to find them.

66 Supershrimp tanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope this is your main job.

[LeShrimp]

Mustafa should make a video showing all of his setups! It would probably take him a few hours to go through all his tanks thuogh xd

[AndyH]

Wow, no wonder you have a couple of mutations when you say you have 66 tanks and thousands of Supershrimp. Haha. I actually like this one better than the yellow one, although I think they are both very interesting and it'd be cool to see them have their own breeding tanks.
As mentioned in the other thread, blue or black mutations would be crazy too. Do you think colors like black or blue would be even rarer than the white or yellow or pink since it's further away from the natural color of the shrimp? Or does that even matter at all?

[brianc]

If you could selectively breed these yellow and white ones.. You would reinvent the species

Very cool. Keep it up.

[Mustafa]

As mentioned in the other thread, blue or black mutations would be crazy too. Do you think colors like black or blue would be even rarer than the white or yellow or pink since it's further away from the natural color of the shrimp? Or does that even matter at all?

Unless there is some genetic propensity in the species to produce certain color mutation more frequently than others, it seems quite random what mutation happens at any given time. Of course there is always the chance that "randomness" is just another word for saying: "We just don't know enough about what we are observing, so it appears random. I.e. nothing may be truly random...but we're getting off-topic here... So, I could have gotten blue or black, too, if color mutation are truly random. I'm just glad I got any mutations at all.

[Mustafa]

If you could selectively breed these yellow and white ones.. You would reinvent the species

Very cool. Keep it up.

The problem is not with being able to selectively breed them (I know I can), the problem is finding the space to set up the tanks for the project...and then creating thousands of shrimp from just a pair, or handful of individuals, before I can distribute them to the hobby. It may take a few years as this species is not very productive compared to other shrimp. I'm going to to do it though.

And, it's official, I discovered two white shrimp in one of my tanks today...so I know they are out there swimming around in various tanks still (the picture above was from 2007). I wasn't even looking for them, so when I start my official search for them, I should find enough to start a colony. And hopefully I'll find a few more mutations....

[Harry]

I would think that shrimp in the wild would exhibit these variations readily, as they have a huge breeding population. Do you know of any such "finds" or occurrences in the wild?