Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Nice pictures. What type of substrate are you using in that tank?

Hi GB,

Great pixs. I'm confused by the following though...

I must say, RCS multiply fast! After the 5th batch of shrimplets (resulting in about 125 shrimplets total), I had to do something since I was starting to run out of room.

Why not sell them? Even if you do so at a 1$ each. I'm sure that an LSF would take them.

TKD

Used - In this 20 gal, I have Tahitian Moon Sand. The good is that it is a little more course than the regular sand I was using, so it's less compacting. In fact, the texture is really nice. The minus is that it's not completely black - it has little flecks of white and also, reddish and other colored grains, though the overall look is black - it's hard to get a reasonably accurate picture of the color.

TKD - Yes, selling/giving them to a LFS was the most likely option that I considered (other thoughts were, for instance, keeping fish that would keep the population in check, etc.). Without divulging too much info of my personality, the various options gave me angst (both in feeling responsible to the LFS/others and feeling very anxious about the shrimplets... Read: Hard for me to let go), so the current solution is the one I can deal with for now. It could be argued that I'm not giving the shrimp a chance to propagate and spread, true. Luckily that role is happily filled by others, which I encourage and admire; my role seems to be relegated to sharing in the interest of keeping and caring for shrimp.

-GB

Very nice shrimp! Thanks for the update.

GunmetalBlue wrote: Here are questions I've posed for myself, which may in time play out:

1.) After several cycles of having unfertilized eggs on their swimmerettes, will they stop, without the presence of males? And when they are put back in with a male after this process, will their ability to reproduce have been compromised?

In my experience they just seem to continue developing eggs "just in case" there is a male around. Who knows, maybe after dozens of cycles they might stop, but I have not kept female alone for that long to find out.

2.) Since pregnancy seems to enhance the color of RCS, will the fact that most of these females won't ever get pregnant, affect reaching an optimal color?

--It won't affect it permanently. Females get most colorful when they are carrying fertilized eggs. If you ever put your females back with males again they should be just as colorful as the other, non-separated females when carrying eggs.

3.) I've been trying to observe what causes color intensity or a lack thereof in RCS females. So far I have found substrate darkness plays a big role.

Yes, it does play a role since shrimp are like chameleons in a way. A shrimp on a dark surface will adjust its coloration to become darker and blend in more. On a very light colored background the shrimp would try to have as little color as possible to blend in. Since the red cherry shrimp is a mutation, when it tries to become darker to blend in it's red color just intensifies and the exact opposite of blending in is achieved on dark substrate.

I've also found RCS can vary in color intensity throughout the day. For mine, they seem to be the most colorful late at night when the tank lights have been on for a long time. Conversely, they seem most pale in the morning/early afternoons, when tank lights haven't been on - incidently, lights on from 2PM - 1AM. Not sure what they look like at the crack of dawn since I'm never awake then... I would guess less intense color?

Again, good observation. Shrimp become pale in the dark. That's why the shrimp I ship in a box (total darkness) arrive totally pale and color up with time. Also, the mood of a shrimp and its health can determine coloration. The more vibrant the colors of a shrimp, the healthier and happier it is. That obviously only applies to fully colored out adult shrimp as juveniles are still in the process of coloring out.

Also, RCS tend to be sexually mature long before they reach their full coloration.

Yep. It takes months for red cherries to reach full color intensity.