Shrimp Id

alexperez · Post by **alexperez** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 12:47 pm

Can anyone identify what type of shrimp this is. I received a bunch of shrimp and a few of these came in with the rest.

Thanks,
Alex

Post by **Mustafa** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 9:02 pm

It's a "blue shrimp." It's a Neocaridina species. It's bluish to blackish, but the offspring are never blue. I have a colony of them right here. Hence I and some other people who thought about why the offspring are not blue believe that it's highly likely that diet is the reason. Either they are being fed some artificial food coloring which becomes permanent in the shrimp's bodies so that even molting won't fade the color or there might be something in their natural diet that causes the blue coloration. I am leaning toward the food coloring.

alexperez · Post by **alexperez** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 7:27 am

Thanks Mustafa..
I did notice that some of them have a blue tint to them, while the others look like the one in the pics.

Post by **Mustafa** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 12:38 pm

Yeah, they are a greenish-blue color...the males are paler but more blue. I'll post a few pictures later on today. However, as I said, the offspring are colorless so it would be a moot point to try to breed for color with these guys as the color is not genetic.

Post by **Mustafa** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 9:19 pm

Ok, here are the pictures:

Female:

Male:

And this is what the females approximately look like when they get really dark:

By the way, the shrimp on both pictures you posted above appear to be both females (if they are not the same shrimp to begin with).

I'll put up a description page with pictures of the offspring once my juveniles have fully colored out. Right now the juveniles are more or less colorless, although some are almost as large as the adults. This will finally put an end to not so honest sellers claiming to be selling "blue shrimp" that produce blue offspring. Until someone can prove with pictures that they have a colony of blue shrimp with pictures of blue offspring at different sizes the "blue shrimp" will remain a myth. But who knows, maybe a natural mutation will occur at some point. After all, the hobby is still very young.

TKD · Post by **TKD** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 11:29 pm

They have blue eggs too?

Man that is some color additive.

TKD

Post by **Mustafa** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 8:43 am

TKD wrote:They have blue eggs too?
Man that is some color additive.

TKD

No, the eggs are not blue. They are brown, however since the shrimp is blue it might give the appearance that the eggs are blue, too. These blue seems to establish itself in the natural color cells of these shrimp so that the shrimp can change the intensity of their coloration according to how they feel. It all looks very natural and not like the artificially injected fish that you see in fish stores sometimes.

milalic · Post by **milalic** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:51 pm

It will have blue and brownish babies...more brownish than blue.

Post by **Mustafa** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 8:43 pm

milalic wrote:It will have blue and brownish babies...more brownish than blue.

Are you sure you're not convincing yourself that they have some blue on them? I don't see any blue whatsoever among the offspring and many of my friends in Germany have had the same results with these shrimp.

If you really think they are blue, can you post a picture? Post a picture of the brown ones, too.

Jackie · Post by **Jackie** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 3:32 pm

The offspring of my blue shrimp was brown.

Post by **Mustafa** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 9:23 pm

Jackie wrote:The offspring of my blue shrimp was brown.

Were they brown fairly quickly after hatching? My offspring are starting to show egg development in their ovaries and they are not brown. I do have a brightly colored sand substrate, so that might play a role. They might turn brown on a darker substrate.

Can you post some pictures of the offspring?

Jackie · Post by **Jackie** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 1:46 am

Mustafa wrote:Were they brown fairly quickly after hatching?

No, after hatching they were colourless, started getting brown after about 2-3 weeks. The brown pigment was light-coloured and delicate, they looked like very weakly coloured Cherries, only the pigment was brown instead of red.

Mustafa wrote:Can you post some pictures of the offspring?

Well... actually I don't have them anymore, I used them as food for my M. assamense

Stupid of me, I should have at least made a few pics.

Post by **Mustafa** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 12:16 pm

Jackie wrote: No, after hatching they were colourless, started getting brown after about 2-3 weeks. The brown pigment was light-coloured and delicate, they looked like very weakly coloured Cherries, only the pigment was brown instead of red.

Hmmm...interesting. My offspring are about 1.5 to 2 months old and don't show any brown at all. If I am right about the food coloring causing the blue in these shrimp, then it's highly possible that several different species of Neocaridina are fed this food and that's why the offspring are different in different batches of "blue" shrimp. Just a hypothesis. I'll post pictures of my offspring soon. I have a feeling that at least the females will get some kind of color once they start carrying eggs.

Lady Friesian · Post by **Lady Friesian** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 3:01 pm

I don't really know much about dyes in shrimp, but is it possible that there is a recessive "blue" gene? This would make any offspring appear normal (unless both parents were blue), but could turn up in later generations if bred back.

I've never heard of a blue shrimp until today, though, so don't get mad if my idea's off!