Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Does anyone know why the Caridina gracilirostris "Red Nose" shrimps change color? Sometimes they have a bright red stripe on the back and a red "nose", at other times the red color is gone. Because it's almost impossible to see tham all at once I don't know if they really do change color, or is it that some of them have color and others do not.

Could this be connected somehow to the pH that slightly changes during the day in a tank with a lot of plants? Or maybe this is how the shrimp signalises that it is looking for a mate?

I searched the net but found nothing, except that the males have a more intense color than females. But what about changing of the color?

Hello,

Yes, I have had a friend with a red-nosed shrimp and we both have noticed this trait. At that time I didn't have shrimp so I thought this was normal behavior. He said they change color willingly to attract a mate. However, I don't think this is the right info.

Chris

Hi Jackie,

C. gracilirostris, like most other shrimp species, change color according to many factors. The most common factor is plain and simple "mood." Their color changes according to mood. The other factor is food. Depending on the food items they eat their colors can change one way or another. Yet another factor is background color.

There has not been much research done into this, so that's all the information you are going to find. By the way, it is not right that the males are more colorful than the females or vice versa.

My C. gracilirostris even get a yellow rostrum ("nose")...even more so than a red one (which is why I am researching if they are a different species altogether).

This reminds me that I should put up an information page about C. gracilirostris under my "Shrimp Varieties" page soon.

By the way, all the information you find about this shrimp on other people's websites, including it's latin name Caridina gracilirostris, comes from me. Before I told these people the real latin name of this shrimp, they all called it "Paleamon scarletti", which is total nonsense.

Of course they added their own "info" to mine, too, which I don't want to take credit for (like the males being more colorful part).

I am really trying to educate *everyone*, including retailers trying to sell these shrimp about shrimp species and their origins and requirements etc. in general, so no false information is spread. Unfortunately, false information is still out there....and a lot of it.

Mustafa

Petshrimp.com wrote:I am really trying to educate *everyone*, including retailers trying to sell these shrimp about shrimp species and their origins and requirements etc. in general, so no false information is spread. Unfortunately, false information is still out there....and a lot of it.

Wow, let's say I'm impressed.
Thanks a lot! Here I go to spread this info all around Poland

Petshrimp.com wrote:Depending on the food items they eat their colors can change one way or another.

But what kind of food exactly?

For example, Spirulina will make your shrimp look more reddish and intensify the colors of shrimp that are already red. So will carrots. Just an example...

Mustafa

Petshrimp.com wrote:For example, Spirulina will make your shrimp look more reddish and intensify the colors of shrimp that are already red. So will carrots.

This makes sense, I feed my shrimps mainly with spirulina. My tank is quite "fresh" so there isn't any algae yet.

Thanks!

does molting make shrimp (cherries in particular) more pale?

The cherries I got from Mustafa (thanks again!) are all growing well. No matter when I look in there though, there's still 3 or 4 out of 14 that are very pale in color. I'm quite sure that they are different shrimp at different times too, because some of the smaller shrimp are occasionally white, then it seems like all the smaller ones are nice and red

Molting does affect the color of shrimp adversely. However, with the red cherries color is especially affected by current mood, light and food. The ones that are almost totally pale are probably males, which you need for reproduction. Only the females get really red. The older they get the redder they can become...but even that varies from shrimp to shrimp.

I have females here that are so dark red that you cannot even see the eggs through their skin, although they are carrying eggs. At the same time I have females that are carrying eggs and are just light red with the eggs fully visible.

Other shrimp are not that variable in colorarion. The Crystal Red Shrimp I have here, for example, stay red pretty much all the time...both males and females.

Take care,
Mustafa

Mustafa,

Just out of curiousity, how many shrimp tanks you have? and what kind of shrimps are they?

Hi WinWin,

I have about 15 tanks, most of which are 10 gallon tanks and one is a 55 gallon tank. I have almost all the shrimp listed on my website, plus some more that I have not listed yet. I am too lazy to type it all up now. .

Take care,
Mustafa

Petshrimp.com wrote:For example, Spirulina will make your shrimp look more reddish and intensify the colors of shrimp that are already red. So will carrots. Just an example...

Mustafa

Must the carrot be cook?

Yes, the carrots should be cooked until they are soft. You can also get already cooked carrots in the can from the supermarket. If they are not cooked, they are too hard for the shrimp to eat.

Mustafa

Hello Mustafa,


Wow, 15 tanks (with all kinds of species)?

...only in my dream; envy u!!!

Hi Winwin,

And I think I don't have enough tanks! Only if I have hundreds of tanks and a couple of pools outside will I be really satisfied.

Mustafa