Green shrimp questions.

[Shrimp&Snails]

I might be able to get my hands on some green shrimp and I have a few questions before I take the plunge.

Firstly....how do I know what i'm buying is really green shrimp? If these guys react to shipping colour-wise like cherry shrimp i'm assuming the colour will be very faded or even see-through?

Secondly can I keep green shrimp with my amanos? My amanos are quite large (2 males, 1 female) and about a year and half old.

Thirdly is there anything I need to look out for to avoid buying sick green shrimp? I saw some photos posted here and there was some brown on the shrimp so I know to watch out for that but anything else I need to be cautious about?

Finally are there any shrimp that could be mistakenly shipped along with green shrimp that I should look out for?

Thanks for any advice in advance. I'm so hoping this works out....i've been after these little fellas for ages.....i'm off to stare at Mustafa's lovely green shrimp photos now.

[badflash]

Green shrimp have a very distinctive head and they are green. They almost have a greyhound like head that is easy to see different from other shrimp. They do lose color when stressed like most shrimp. I had a few that I got by accident with some zebra shrimp and did not know for a week or so that they were green shrimp.

They seem to be more shy than cherry shrimp and a little harder to breed. They are also more sensitive to water parameters as Ilost them all with one of my tank upsets, but saved the cherries and amanos.

[Kenshin]

Firstly....how do I know what i'm buying is really green shrimp? If these guys react to shipping colour-wise like cherry shrimp i'm assuming the colour will be very faded or even see-through?

For Green shrimps, they will bring back their green color (from almost clear) once you acclimate them well in your tank with a pH of at least slightly above 7 and at least semi-hard water. If they are from imports, then your possibility of getting pure Green shrimps are very low along with the fact that they are healthy - like playing the lottery!
Most of the Green shrimps that are imported are also mixed with Rainbow shrimps and they could be of any color - check "Shrimp Varieties".
And they are mostly females and unhealthy. If you read my previous threads about Green shrimps, you will read that I had 1 really bad experience with an importer of Green shrimps. All dead and spent too much money on it with nothing to show for - actually they were mostly Rainbow shrimps. If you do receive healthy shrimps and they do survive after a while, then one of the easiest way to observe is the female ovaries. If the shrimp is light to dark green in color, their ovaries should be a very nice bright green color like Mustafa's green shrimps. And their eggs should be that same color in the early stage. I hope this helps to answer part of your question.
To answer the 2nd part of your question: Yes green shrimps "can" live together with Amano shrimps. However, the Amano shrimp are more aggressive than Green shrimps and it would be very hard for Green shrimps to compete for food when it comes to feeding time.

[badflash]

The system I used then, and still use with keeping cherry shrimp and amanos together is to use lots of java moss. The little shrimp hide in it and feel secure. I feed finely crushed flakes that get trapped in the java moss. The amanos can't get it, so everyone gets fed.