Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

I work part-time in an aquarium specialty store and am preparing myself to start up my first freshwater shrimp tank. While I was checking up on the fish today, I noticed that the blue velvet shrimp we have had completely turned green. When I let the owner and manager of the store--who knows all there is to know about most of these things--about the change in the shrimp color, he didn't have an explanation either!

We keep the shrimp in a small container with a few floating plants above them while they're stored at the shop, and we think it might just be their diet or something, but does anybody have an certain explanation for this? Just trying to match the color of the plants, perhaps, and extremely succeeding? Somebody with more knowledge than I would be great!

I assume you're talking about a relatively recent mutation of Neocaridina heteropoda that *usually* has a blue transparent blue color. I have that variety and I can tell you that the healthy shrimp all look blue. I personally have never experienced them turning green, but others reported the same phenomenon to me. I don't think it's them trying to adjust to anything...I think it's something that is not under their control (it's not food, either). Shrimp can change coloration when something is not right in their environment. As shrimp are sensitive, and something isn't right in their environment in most setups out there, that's probably the reason why some of them turn greenish.

Either way, some pictures would help in evaluating the situation more accurately.