WHATS GOING ON ~ OH MY !

[JaVaGiRl]

My ghost shrimp !
As some of you know, I breed ghost shrimp. A few weeks ago, I swooped out 20 ghost shrimp that I felt they were getting old. They are VERY large. Therre the largest I have EVER seen, all of them are 2 inches OR LARGER! So, I put them in my 55 gallon so they can retire peacefully
BUT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I noticed something very odd happening to them. They are very active, and healthy, BUT ~ there colors are very funky. Some are orange with black stripes, some are greem with brown stripes, and some are purplish pink with all different stripes ( dark blue stripes,brown or black stripes ) !
At first I was very excited about this, but now I am very confused,,, because .......
I didn't know that one of them were carrying eggs, but they are now hatches, and they are completely black ! They seem to be really active, and are doing well. I have tested my water several times. I have checked the temperature inch by inch and deep and shallow. Temp does not exceed 80 at its highest point. I don't know what to do, i'm still excited, but the babies kinda look like little black ants, kinda creepy. My family and friends tell me to sell them, but I can't cause there so freakin cool.

[Veneer]

Please take some pictures, if possible. I suspect that at least some of your shrimp may be Macrobrachium sp. of some sort.

[Aphyosemion]

Yeah, those do not sound like the garden variety of ghost shrimp. I have a ton of ghost shrimp and none of them have taken on unexpected colors. Try identifying them a little better before you sell any. A picture would be work a thousand words here.
-Aphyosemion

[JaVaGiRl]

But there old though, they have been breeding for almost a year. Like I said , they are old so why are they now changing this dramatically ?

[Veneer]

But there old though, they have been breeding for almost a year. Like I said , they are old so why are they now changing this dramatically ?

What size were they when they first began to breed? Presently how long is your largest specimen?

Again, images would help immensely.

[JaVaGiRl]

I will post pix definatly, but it'll be a day or 2, I have 2 borrow my moms cam. I don't know how old they were when I got them (about a half inch long when I got them) thats when they were already breeding, most of them already were carrying eggs at that time. Right now, my largest one is a little over 2 inches long. I know thats kind of large, but I do know that most of my ghost shrimp do get very large like this. I have been breeding ghost shrimp for about 3 years now. These shrimp I had about a year now. VERY old for ghost shrimp.

[chlorophyll]

At first you seemed so surprised that the shrimp were 2 inches or a little larger. But now you're saying that most of your ghost shrimp typically get this large anyway?

Many shrimps' coloration is highly variable based on their environment. By moving them to a completely new tank (especially one that's presumably larger and nicer) it wouldn't be too surprising to see noticable body color change. And if these color changes are generally in the form of deeper colors, more patterns, and vibrance, it would seem the change of environemnt agreed with the shrimp

And of course, it also suggests these shrimp aren't true "ghost shrimp." There might be several species in your population. But it's also not at all out of the question that two healthy individuals of the same species could display clearly different coloration from each other, even in the same tank/environment, and even if they were both previously the same color when they were in another tank.

[JaVaGiRl]

I'm not surprised about there size but many people are. Every time people come over and see my ghosts, they are always saying that ghost shrimp only get about an inch big.

[JaVaGiRl]

I have found the answer to my question
I brought my shrimp and water samples to a very special man
He determined that somehow I have unusual amounts of sugar in my water. He also informed me that as long as this sugar is presant, the colors will continue to be vibrant. And that indeed they are ghost shrimp. We still have no idea how there is sugar in my aquarium. But, oh well, he said that it isn't large enough to hurt the shrimp. So, i'm not going to change anything. As long as my shrimpies are happy, i'm okay with that.