The amazing color changing ability of shrimp....

[Mustafa]

I have noticed over the years that pretty much all of my dwarf shrimp species have the ability to adjust the coloration to the background over time. Hence, a given shrimp may look totally different in two different tanks. To give you guys an example I have taken a picture of my *black" Sri Lanka shrimp:



This is an ovigerous female. Compare her color to the other shrimp around her (which are males and juveniles). Notice also the white line going down her back. I have these shrimp in two different tanks, one with this blackish gravel and another tank with yellowish sand. In the sand bottom tank the ovigerous females remain more or less clear (although they do develop some interesting patterns).

She looks great, doesn't she?

[Neonshrimp]

Beautiful shrimp, thanks for sharing.

I have also seen color changes when I have shrimp in white sand compared to black sand.

[YuccaPatrol]

That is really very neat. Nice looking shrimp too!

Do you have any idea how long it takes for such a change?

I recently moved a few cherry shrimp into a community tank with fish that would be safe for an adult cherry. After about 2 weeks, I noticed that the female I moved became very red, more than any I have in the shrimp-only tanks.

[Annako]

Remeber when I posted the magical "colour changing shrimp" (sold as Neocaridina blue) that you guys possibly IDed as hybrid? Well, now I have them on a new set up with a white substrate and now they are back to being clearish with little tiny dots, instead of being brown. The female eggs are beige.


When I first turn on the lights in the morning my reds(white substrate), even most of my females. except the brightest in the bunch are very pale and almost ghost like. After the light gets on, I witness them brighten up. I dont know if this is normal (someone is probably going to be like 'you shrimp id dying'). But I tell ya! These red females have a great variety of red colour! I have ones from burgandy with greenish eggs to ones full and red all over with a dark prominant pink shrimp and orange eggs to lighter girls with differnt patterns abd back stripe I am going to be setting up a new invert only tank this week with a black substrate, after cycleing, i hope it will enhance the colours of the shrimps.


Your black shrimp with white stripe is something very beautifu! I'd buy me a tank of those in a heatbeat and root beer shrimp! I cannot wait to see what other instances or conclusions people come to with shrimp cammo and adaptation. And I hope people don;t come up to the conclusions my shrimp are sick. It sure is nervewracking being a first time dwarf shrimp owner at times, especially when I monitor the water a lot..

[Neonshrimp]

Do you have any idea how long it takes for such a change?

My RCS took only a few hours to turn much more red in the black substrate. Annako said his brigten up after he turns the lights on.

root beer shrimp!

I think Mustafa decided on the name "orange cherry shrimp" for these shrimp. Have you heard them being called root beer shrimp some place else?

[Mustafa]

Do you have any idea how long it takes for such a change?

That's a good question. I did not really pay attention to this tank, so I have no idea when she switched to black. She was clear first and was also carrying eggs several times as a clear shrimp. Then, some day I just noticed that she had turned black. I'm pretty sure this happened more gradually than it seems, though.

I recently moved a few cherry shrimp into a community tank with fish that would be safe for an adult cherry. After about 2 weeks, I noticed that the female I moved became very red, more than any I have in the shrimp-only tanks.

Is there anything dark in your tank, like a dark substrate or dark driftwood..dark filter...etc...etc.? If so, then the shrimp is probably trying to camouflage by making itself "darker." In the wild type Necoaridina spp. that works very well as they usually get either dark brown or black/dark gray, but with the red shrimp the red just gets more intense. So, here we have a shrimp that "thinks" it's adjusting its color to the background to "hide" from the fish, but in reality it's getting more obviously visible. This nicely demonstrates to everyone why a shrimp with such a gene "defect" (i.e. red color) cannot survive in the wild (unless its environment gives an advantage to red shrimp of course).

[YuccaPatrol]

Yes, there is a very very dark piece of driftwod that it was on when it was showing its darkest most intense red coloration.

[Neonshrimp]

This nicely demonstrates to everyone why a shrimp with such a gene "defect" (i.e. red color) cannot survive in the wild (unless its environment gives an advantage to red shrimp of course).

So this is the shrimps natural instinctive way of protecting itself in it's environment. I guess you can try adding/removing something dark or light in the tank and see if your shrimp react to this. You then have the ability to stimulate color/pattern change. However this might be stressful to the shrimp.