Bumblebee Color Variation Questions - Updated!

[bochr]

The Bumblebees have all 8 gallons to themselves.
They are kept in tapwater with a little peat in the filter. No waterpreparation or chemicals added.

[GunmetalBlue]

I'm going to update my current Bumblebee situation:

About a month ago, when I called my semi-LFS, they said they had Bumblebees and Zebra shrimp. Knowing Zebra shrimp are rare here, I thought hmmm! So I went to the store to pick up 5X BB's and 5X Zebra shrimp.

As the guy was catching the shrimp for me, I was looking into the tank and it dawned on me that what they were calling Zebra shrimp were actually Bumblebee shrimp that were reddish! So I had to tell him to dump the red ones and just catch me 7X normal colored Bumblebees instead. My thinking was that the reddish ones were the most stressed ones and that they might not last long. It's hard enough already getting them to survive, I certainly didn't want to start with a disadvantage. So I hope I didn't make a mistake and that my reasoning was correct. I looked at the Zebra shrimp picture here and they did not look like those; I also wondered if they were actually a possible color variation of the BB and not stress. I just didn't know the answer so I skipped on the reddish ones...

Anyway, on the way home, I looked in the bag and one shrimp was already on its back . He/she died the next day; however, the rest of them (6X) have done well for the past month. The next step, if they do not reproduce, is I will lower the pH a bit more (slowly of course) and/or possibly add peat to the filter. I am patient right now, for I am happy just to have them here.

Their color variation is different from my original Bumblebees. One of them has especially good striping depending on mood/lighting. The rest of them have broken lines.



I guess I should have cleaned the aquarium glass before taking pictures.








There was a discussion in another thread about sexing. So I'm thinking this is a female:


And my guess here is probably a male:


So hopefully one of these days, they'll oblige me with shrimplets...

-GB

[bochr]

Very nice pictures GB.
It looks like yours has an extra black band compared to mine.

I'm not sure the red colouration is bad. One of my bb females sometimes become red for a couple og days, and then change back to normal colours again.
She has done it several times over the last couple of months, and is still looking healthy.

[BlueEL]

GunmetalBlue, Very nice pictures. The first few pictures look like a high grade bumble bee, with very clear black and white strips. My bumble bees lose most of the white as they grow bigger. The second last pic is definitely a female, but not sure the if its male in the last pic.


bochr, I know if my bumble bees look that red, pretty much they going to heaven soon. Hey maybe if you selective breed it, you might have red crystal bumble bee...

[edinjapan]

GunmetalBlue, Very nice pictures. The first few pictures look like a high grade bumble bee, with very clear black and white strips. My bumble bees lose most of the white as they grow bigger. The second last pic is definitely a female, but not sure the if its male in the last pic.


bochr, I know if my bumble bees look that red, pretty much they going to heaven soon. Hey maybe if you selective breed it, you might have red crystal bumble bee...

I have several different groups of BB shrimp. The Othello and CRS are constant sources of irritation and are constantly throwing normal coloured BB shrimp in each brood that need to be separated out before they interbreed.

The normal coloured BB shrimp fall into 2 groups-the culls and a group of slow reproducing shrimp with faint markings that look like Mustafa's mystery BB shrimp.

[Mustafa]

You're confusing bumblebee shrimp with bee shrimp here, Ed. Crystal Reds are red Bee Shrimp, not red bumblebees. Bumblebee Shrimp and Bees Shrimp are totally different shrimp species altogether, despite the superficially similar markings. To add to the confusion several bumblebee shrimp varieties with the white heads are called "new bee shrimp" in Japan and some other parts of asia, so I can understand your confusion.

[Mustafa]

Nice Shrimp GB! I hope they will survive and reproduce.

[bochr]

bochr, I know if my bumble bees look that red, pretty much they going to heaven soon. Hey maybe if you selective breed it, you might have red crystal bumble bee...

That's also what I have learned so far. But when I look at the first 2 pictures here: http://www.wirbellose.de/arten.cgi?acti ... &artNo=053
I get a tiny hope, that it's not true

[Mustafa]

That picture is different from the sickly, pale red we're talking about though. When a shrimp is sick the colors usually fade out along with the color change. Bumblebee shrimp can look slightly brownish red at times especially after molting.

[edinjapan]

You're confusing bumblebee shrimp with bee shrimp here, Ed. Crystal Reds are red Bee Shrimp, not red bumblebees. Bumblebee Shrimp and Bees Shrimp are totally different shrimp species altogether, despite the superficially similar markings. To add to the confusion several bumblebee shrimp varieties with the white heads are called "new bee shrimp" in Japan and some other parts of asia, so I can understand your confusion.

Talk about confusing we have 3 different types of CRS, the B shrimp, BB shrimp, Othellos, RCS of which there are 2 types, minami numa shrimp, blue shrimp, tiger shrimp, shiroi ebi, Yamato (Amano) shrimp, Moh ebi, suji ebi, red, yellow and green pinochio shrimp, 3 different varieties of rock/bamboo shrimp and this represent only the ones that were judged at the last pet show I went to.

[GunmetalBlue]

Thanks Mustafa! It'll probably take a long while, but I'll keep trying to get them to produce.

That's also what I have learned so far. But when I look at the first 2 pictures here: http://www.wirbellose.de/arten.cgi?acti ... &artNo=053
I get a tiny hope, that it's not true

Wah! That sure is a big wad of shrimp. So then red is a real color variety for Bumblebees? If so, are they wild caught like that or is the (recessive?) trait bred into the shrimp, very similar to what is done for the Bee shrimp into Crystal Reds? And interestingly enough, some of those shrimps shown start with the light band first...

Bo, maybe you can try to observe what events precede the color change and try to figure out why it happens. Please let us know of any findings.

Actually when I first got my shrimp, they went through a phase where the dark parts on the lower half of a couple of the shrimp were blue. It may have been stress related. There have been threads in the past of this happening with some other kinds of shrimp occasionally, when people first get them, but that it disappears after a while. In those cases, I don't know if stress was involved.

This is a poor pic but you should be able to see that it has blue markings. Weird. It's for the most part gone now and mostly brown to black.

Bumblebee shrimp can look slightly brownish red at times especially after molting.

I think of that color as being sort of a maroon, very similar to the brownish red of java fern roots:


Hey Ed, I had been waiting for a picture update in your thread of the show you went to - but apparently you've been reeling with all the fabulous(ly confusing) shrimp you've seen - poor you!

[edinjapan]

Actually, I've been reeling from all of the earthquakes. There have been 6 ranging from a low 3 to a high 6.8 in as many days.

Pictures didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, I ran out of battery power too soon. My digital camera eats batteries the way an elephant eats peanuts. Attendance was also low at the show and I didn't buy anything at the auction due to prices being awfully high.

One large platinium arowana went for ¥5 million or about US$50,000.

[Mustafa]

So then red is a real color variety for Bumblebees? If so, are they wild caught like that or is the (recessive?) trait bred into the shrimp, very similar to what is done for the Bee shrimp into Crystal Reds? And interestingly enough, some of those shrimps shown start with the light band first...

Actually, I have not personally seen a red color version of any bumblebee variety yet. The reddish color you see on wirbellose.de is because of the flash of the camera, the animals are usually either black white or brownish white. I have seen that particular population in person, that's how I know. Pretty much all "red" animals that you see at stores are probably sick and about to die. Of course, this does not mean that sometime in the future someone might selectively breed a red mutation of one of the bumblebee shrimp varieties. It's just not happening right now as far as I know.

[GunmetalBlue]

Ah, okay Mustafa, thanks for straightening that out. Also, I finally figured out what you were talking about earlier - that what's called the New Bee are actually the Bumblebee shrimp that starts with the light stripe we were talking about. I never made the connection earlier because I figured a Bumblebee wouldn't be called a (New) Bee, but apparently it is in some other parts of the world.

Well for the last two days there's been a flurry of activity consisting of molted exo casings and dancing in the BB tank. That can only mean one thing and I now have two pregnant Bumblebees! The first female is doing a good job of hiding, cleaning and aerating her eggs - she has about 14. The second one that got pregnant unfortunately kept getting harrassed by the males long after she was already pregnant. She seemed confused and frightened and kept popcorning away from them, at which time I saw eggs drop. She has about 4 eggs left.

It's still some 3 - 4 weeks before hatching - during which, anything could happen, but I'll report back if any shrimplets make it!

-GB

[Mustafa]

That's great! If you get some young shoot some pictures and post them here! As for the naming of the shrimp...you got it, it's a bumblebee that is called "new bee" in some countries. It's a typical case of misidentification, where people thought the shrimp is somehow related to the bee shrimp and called it (ergo) the "new" bee shrimp. Little did they know... Misidentification is very rampant in the shrimp world.