Magnificent Black Cherry Shrimp

[Baccus]

I am totally in love with stunning girl, the blue black and glossiness of her shell never ceases to make me say WOW

. And the other thing that makes her (and at least 5 other females) so special is all the set backs I have  had from the original chocolate cherry shrimp I got a couple of years ago. But sticking with the program and doing a few revamps of different tanks has really started to pay off.
 

 

 

 
If you look closely at this picture there is a few various shades of chocolate cherries, at least one baby cull and what appears to be the beginnings of a rili baby.

 

[Akasha72]

now it's well known on the forum (at least I think it is) that Akasha doesn't like shrimps but these look interesting. I can't get rid of the Goth in me ... everything in my life is black and purple and these would fit right in in my tank lol

ps ... you have a snail population like me! They're taking over 

 

[DrRob]

Mine are all getting redder and redder. I know this isn't regarded as a bad thing as they're really good cherry colour now, but I do like the black ones.

 

[Baccus]

I know the MTS are a royal pain, you cant feed the shrimp without the snails coming out and swarming all over the food. But since I want the shrimp and the tank is also housing nerites I guess the MTS are there to stay.
 
See I knew that the right colour shrimp would eventually soften your resolve on them

.
​
These blacks are actually the distant descendants of some chocolate/ black cherry shrimp. The original 10 (I think it was) where in their own tank for a while till I noticed their numbers where decreasing thanks to an invasion of dragonfly caddis. So the remaining shrimp where put with a depleted population of red cherry shrimp. Eventually I ended up segregating the reds and what I could see as wild type and a couple of nice chocolates into separate tanks. The original chocolates all carry blue gene in them, so that is what is giving these lovely girls the bluey undertones. Eventually I plan to remove the last of the chocolates and leave a purely blue/ black strain of cherry shrimp in the tank. They will look really stunning with the Pacific Blue Eyes they are sharing the tank with.

 

[Akasha72]

I just console myself that they're keeping things clean for me and saving me a lot of time and effort. I glanced in my tank last night after the lights had been out half an hour and the substrate was just a mass of MTS.
 
I have one of those substrate cleaners that runs off an air pump and sucks debris into a cotton bag. I keep going in with this and sucking up snails. It keeps the population down a bit. Going by last night I need to dig the cleaner and pump out again - it's been a while

 

[Baccus]

Just because she is being obliging and within photo range and because she is such a little stunner, here are some more pictures of the beauty.

 

 
I even quite like her little white knees, hubby reckons call the shrimp Midnight shrimp but if they keep the stripey legs I might go with zebra legs

.​

 

[benthyer]

She's stunning! I hope I end up with a shrimp like this one day

 

[Baccus]

Thanks, I am glad I actually have around 5 just like her, but they arent always co-operative in the photo department.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Lovely photos and black shrimps sure are pretty

 
Though not very often seen in LFS around me, but when thase black shrimps are around, they tend to be on the expensive side and not in the LFS for long

 

[Baccus]

Generally where I am you will be lucky to find even cull grade red cherry shrimp. My original red cherry shrimp came from a dedicated fish shop (mostly around where I am there are only pet shops that cater to all pets) that has since closed down. All my other shrimp have come from online sellers, only one of which is a business but he specialises in native fish, shrimp and plants.