Red Rili Shrimp Sex Identification

[snazy]

Well, more pictures once you get them going
I've done a bit of experiment in my shrimp tank and I am changing the water the same as in the other tanks. Dose the tank with dechlorinator and then pour the temperature matched water from the tap directly, slowly enough. Yes, I am lazy. 3 weeks so far with no issues doing 50% water changes like that. I know shrimp aren't supposed to be stressed with big water changes but no casualties or problems so far.

 

[Baccus]

Cherry shrimp are pretty darn resislient. I have put them straight into tap water without dechlorinator and no hassles they just keep swimming about. I am not saying its a good idea to do this to cherry shrimp but just proves that they are pretty tough. The really fussy shrimp ar Suliwasi shrimp, CBS, CRS and any other overly specialised/ bred shrimp.
 
I have a few pics up of my shrimp already but I do need to do some more updates.

 

[snazy]

Oh, lovely. I can't wait. When I went to buy the forktail rainbows they had mandarin shrimp(neocaridina of some sort) but looking very strikingly orange almost like they had a lamp inside them. The males were fully orange too. I guess similar to sakura orange but not sure they are the same kind. I nearly went home with some but when I thought I can only put them in a breeder box or with the betta I gave up

 

[Baccus]

Mandarine shrimp might be what they are calling orange cherry's, I have also heard of them being called Pumpkin. The orange cherrys are very striking. So are snowball cherrys, especially the berried females carrying snow white eggs rather than green or yellow.
Just a shame you can't put all the colours of cherry shrimp into one tank, they would look great until they all bred and then you would just have a mess of possibley wild colour cherry's. Although it could work if you only put females in the tank they cant breed on their own but you would have all the best colours that cherry shrimp have to offer.

 

[snazy]

I love the neocaridina varieties. I don't even want any other types at the moment considering how difficult it is to keep them and the cherry types are as beautiful as any others.

 

[Baccus]

It almost seems like everytime I check a couple of shrimp forums I know of there is another colour cherry shrimp being produced.
My main ambition is to get either some blue or even green cherrys both look amazing. Sadly for now they are super expensive, one place I know of was selling a pair of really green cherrys for $300

 .
I really need to get my dark reds back on track, I left poor stock (lousy colouration) in the tank for too long and am paying for it now. But I will get them happening back to their old standard soon enough.....hopefully.
Here are some quick pictures of some of my better females that will be going back into the breeding tank. I think I even have some well coloured males in the group too.

 
In the last picture there is also a native chameleon shrimp.

 

[snazy]

Wow, these are really nice. Mine aren't as beautiful I am afraid. I think the cherries I bought were poor stock but the "babies"(already adults) turned out good enough except a few although not a deep wine colour like yours. I'll be probably paying for my negligence too soon enough  if I don't try to improve them. I've just been given the green light at home from my lovie to swap my 130 litre tank with a 300 litre and I am intending to have just corys and extra shrimp in it so I will be able to experiment with them. I can't wait

 

[Baccus]

Thanks, to get the better shrimp you really need to be ruthless with removing anything that isn't up to your standard.
good luck with your experimenting.

 

[snazy]

I saw one of my female cherry like shrimp with a white saddle instead of yellow. All the rest I have and seen have yellow saddles.
I am wondering what this is about?

 

[Baccus]

I know snowball cherry shrimp have white saddles, but as far as I knew the standard red have orange or yellow saddles. Would be interesting to see if your white saddle female ends up with green eggs.
The only thing I can guess is maybe the white saddle has something to do with rili genes

 .

 

[snazy]

Probably the mix, I haven't noticed any different colour eggs but I haven't paid much attention recently either. The berried ones are in the moss and plants and couldn't see now but will have a look later.
 
Here are are a couple with white saddles:
 

 

 

[snazy]

And also, colour wise they are all so different. I've got a lot of work to do and sort them out a bit.  Look at the difference of colours between the females on the bottom picture.
 

 

 

[Baccus]

There is definantly some sorting out to do. If you dont already have a good magnafying glass then I would invest in one. They come in really handy to help spot and tiny colour shifts that you maybe missing with the naked eye.
And all you really need to decide is which direction you want your shrimp to go colour and pattern wise. The really pale shrimp with a almost clear section could be a poor grade normal cherry or she could have some rili in her, but still low grade rili at that.
From experience the most sort after cherry shrimp are the ones with the best and boldest colour and pattern, so the darker and more solid the red the better and the cleaner the line between the red and the clear section of a rili the better.
But ultimately it comes down to what you like, so breed for colour and pattern that your happy to see in your tanks.
Personally I would love to see a rili with the pattern of an A grade crystal shrimp, that would be really cool and so much easier to look after than crystal shrimp.

 

[snazy]

Yeah, the one with the white saddle is really a poor grade whatever shrimp she is. There isn't many that pale, most are very cherry like and some very dark wine like, some rilis, so it isn't too bad. It was just that the white saddle on this one was pretty visible. I've got lots of small ones as well so it would be interesting what will turn out from the next generations.
Strange that the rili looking ones are all females, although the rili pattern came from the father. I looked at the tank today and all the males I saw are totally transparent, not even red dots on them. There's maybe 2-3 max that I saw were looking like cherry males, one more like a rili male but not so good. One of my original rili males doesn't have much red on him either, mostly transparent too, just a blotch on the head. So how is the rili pattern transferred I wonder, and all the genes for that matter. I think I need to do a lot of reading.

 

[snazy]

Well, another poor grade cherry/rili cross but she's got a green saddle. Sorry for the bad photos. I am wondering how the cross worked because the strangest ones are not the nice coloured cherries but the poor coloured ones, white saddles, green saddle now, mostly the ugly ones show the trait. I wonder in another generation or two what the outcome would be as these are just the first cross.