Shrimp colour mutation??

[vanalisa]

AdoraBelle Dearheart. Not a name I would usually link to hustling.

Heck yeah!
I think the blue dream, velvets? Were like $7
last time.

 

[HoldenOn]

Heck yeah!
I think the blue dream, velvets? Were like $7
last time.

The ones at my LFS were 11. They only get them once in a blue moon (lol), so I'm hoping to nab some and then sell them back to the store.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

@Aussie_Bristle just saw you mention and remembered that you keep a mix of colours and species of shrimp, what do you think? Other than adding a couple of blues at times, months apart and the blues didn't last long except for my one remaining blue female who is only a few months old, these have all been bred from a single male/female pair of red cherry shrimps, since early May 2020. It seems early for them to be reverting to wild type or something?

I'm still pretty new to shrimp, so not sure.

There's also a possibility that the pesticide that came in on some plants in early August is still affecting them, despite them being moved to a clean tank. Perhaps that has had a negative affect and made their shells thinner or something,so the colour looks lighter. but that's purely a guess, usually the pesticide affects chitin production and makes them unable to moult, killing them.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Woah is there purple ones?!

I don't know, seems like purple is hard to get from them judging by a quick google. Beware google images, since a lot of shrimp pics have been photoshopped so don't trust that the colour is real.

As you said, I don't think they've reached full maturity and there's more time for them to develop their pigmentation. Also, it could be camouflage behaviour and due to your new, darker coloured substrate, it just looks different now?

Hhmm, I hope that isn't it! But why would some be orange, yet those darker red females are still a deep cherry red? I don't know whether shrimp can colour change to camoflage.

The ones at my LFS were 11. They only get them once in a blue moon (lol), so I'm hoping to nab some and then sell them back to the store.

I planned to sell some RCS back to the store too, but still haven't bought myself to part with any, lol. But, my population only really exploded for the first time at the end of May, I had them for months without breeding going on, then suddenly seemed to have shrimp everywhere. Then I added some plants that turned out must have been sprayed with pesticides and began killing off my colony, so only recently moved them to a new clean tank, and trying to save the remaining ones and hoping they go back to breeding and producing lots of shrimplets, and the deaths finally stop. If that happens, once I have tons of them again, I might see about selling some back to the store. Provided these oranges are a random colour mutation and not actually a sign of the pesticide ruining their shells or something, and the reds begin producing again.

 

[mbsqw1d]

Hhmm, I hope that isn't it! But why would some be orange, yet those darker red females are still a deep cherry red? I don't know whether shrimp can colour change to camoflage.

I've read about them camouflaging, well to a degree. In the wild that would be a case of turning a lighter/darker shade of brown. Given that we've bred the red colour into them, they'd either turn a lighter/darker shade of red. I suppose orange isn't exactly a shade of red so you probably an orange strain? I was attempting to say that because you have that black substrate now, their colouring probably looks a bit different to you as well?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I've read about them camouflaging, well to a degree. In the wild that would be a case of turning a lighter/darker shade of brown. Given that we've bred the red colour into them, they'd either turn a lighter/darker shade of red. I suppose orange isn't exactly a shade of red so you probably an orange strain? I was attempting to say that because you have that black substrate now, their colouring probably looks a bit different to you as well?

I didn't know that about them camoflaging, thank you.

I don't think it's that they appear different to the human eye on the darker substrate, or they would all look more orange, rather than seeming orange compared to the ones that still look red, you know? Like this:

The reds on the right still look red to me, while these look carrot orange, like Holden said. I think if it were a visual trick, they'd all look lighter.

But the camo thing is possible, or that they're a lesser quality and in the process of reverting to wild type, or, worse case scenario - these are youngsters that survived the exposure to the pesticide, but it affected their shell production enough to change their shell thickness perhaps, and that's affecting the colour? Haven't heard of that happening, just know that these pesticides affect chitin production, and usually means they can't moult properly and die as a result, which is what was happening to my colony. That it could also affect the thickness of the shell seems logical, but pure speculation.

But I'm hoping that it's the orange genetic variant being thrown, and that I can isolate them and breed them true, even if it takes a few generations. Also to preserve the reds and try to prevent them interbreeding and reverting to wild type.

Technically I should also move the blue one out, and cull the more dull wild types, but I don't have enough safe, uncontaminated tanks, and can't bring myself to fatally cull. Would rather keep the wild types than kill them and if they revert to wild type, oh well. I never set out to breed for profit.

 

[Aussie_Bristle]

I agree with @seangee here. Could definitely be a throw back from past generations. In saying that, just because you have orange throws now and say you separate and breed it doesn’t mean you will get orange. Red is the dominant colour here which means they can and will produce more reds then orange. As the strain weakens overtime as reproducing goes on, you are more likely to get clear/wild types and lower grade colours.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I have never had orange cherry shrimp. I know they exist though. Orange Cherries usually get brighter as more and more breed.

Sakura Orange shrimp are another I can think of.

If you keep that breeding up, you could have some valuable shrimp!