I was at my LFS today and saw some small unidentified shrimp in with the japonicas. The people at the store didn't even know they were in there, let alone what they were. I suspect they might be escapees from their original batch of green shrimp...
The number of eggs the female is carrying is a lot more than I've seen in a green shrimp though.
The darker ones aren't really this dark (they were hiding under a plant) -- they're more of a tan colour (the last pic is more accurate). When I first saw one, I thought maybe I'd found the elusive male cherry! Can you i.d. them for me?
Last edited by amanda_h on Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Here's a pic showing some distinctive markings on the tail of one of the shrimp. I don't think they all have this colouring, so maybe I've got more than one type of mystery shrimp?
You are showing us at least three different shrimp species from Asia here. It's next to impossible to ID these shrimp just by looking at them. For example, I have a shrimp here that looks almost exactly like the blackish shrimp with the white markings on the back (above), but mine have much bigger eggs and their young are fully developed when they hatch. The above shrimp seems to have many tiny eggs, which indicates that its young are going to go through several larval stages (probably free-floating).
The way you really ID shrimp is by looking at dead animals or shed skins under the microscope and comparing the results to scientific literature.
Mustafa
Last edited by Mustafa on Sat Sep 18, 2004 7:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Well, thanks for trying. I guess I'll just wait and see what happens. So far thay're all pretty comparable in size to my cherries & green shrimp. The one with the markings on the tail is a bit larger, and the really pale one is slightly smaller.
The LFS has no idea where they came from! The only small shrimp they've carried have been the greens & cherries, and they had them floating in a breeding trap to make them easier to catch -- which is why I was thinking maybe these escaped from the trap & into the aquarium.
If not from those batches... I would think they hitchhiked in on some plants, except that I know this LFS treats all their plants for parasites before adding them to their aquariums. I would think maybe they came with the japonicas by accident, except the japonicas came from ME!
Someone at another site suggested that this might be the shrimp I have -- the stripe down the back bleeds onto the sides, and the same markings on the tail.
Does anyone know more about this species? (or able to read German?)
The last picture you post seems to be commonly known as Malayan shrimp or Rainbow shrimp in my country judging from the tails patterns and the line behind the back of the shrimp. They do change colour depending on their mood or conditions of the environment.
As for the centre pictures they look like what is commonly described as blue shrimp.( I do have a couple of this type of shrimps)
Unknown for me for the first picture.
They are most probably not the true names for the shrimps but just sharing what I do know.
Interesting that you call them "blue shrimp" because once they settled into the tank, they turned a blue colour!
Here's a shot showing the new mystery shrimp as well as a cherry and a green shrimp for size comparison...
And here's another shot of the pregnant female. You can't really tell from this pic, but she does have the same stripe and tail markings as the other shrimp -- it's just not very visible because she's a much paler colour right now...
So, of the four mystery shrimp I bought, I think three are the same, and the small pale one is likely an escapee from the batch of green shrimp.
What you called "green shrimp" there is not a green shrimp at all. Does it ever turn green, red, orange and get a white stripe on its back? Those are attributes of "green shrimp".
And as to the pattern on the back...many shrimp from the indian-indonesian region have that pattern on their backs...but they are, for sure, different shrimp species.
Are you referring to that very first picture? Or the group pic?
If it's the group pic, I can't say for sure that this particular shrimp ever changes colour, but it was one of the batch of shrimp I bought that you had identified for me as green shrimp. In general, yes, they all change colour and often have white stripes. One of them is always a reddish colour with a clearly defined white stripe (don't know why, but he's my favourite ).
It's entirely possible that there were some other shrimp mixed in with the greens I bought. They're in a heavily planted tank so it's impossible for me to say for sure that they're all showing attributes of green shrimp. But yes, there are a few that look kinda pale like that.
The day after I posted the pics showing the mystery shrimp with the blue colouring, all three had changed colours again. One was green, one was pale tan, and one was red.
They seem to be changing colour to match their background. The red one was on a piece of driftwood, the pale tan one was on the sand, and the green one was on a plant. Cool!
It's not unusual for invertebrates such as shrimp and crayfish to turn blue when they are in total darkness (e.g. after they are shipped or brought home in a dark bag). That is temporary though.
The "green" shrimp do change colors are lot, but usually blue is not one of the colors.
).
