yellow shrimp

[Mystery]

I ordered 5 yellow shrimp for a desk aquarium. I did not expect them to look very yellow on arrival, but none have any yellow yet and two have mild but clearly noticeable red striped coloring like my juvenile cherries at home. I was wondering if they could still be yellow var. or if I might have been sent cherries by mistake?

 

[black hills tj]

How long have you had the shrimp? How large are the shrimp you received?

 

[Mystery]

They have only just arrived and have been in the tank less than an hour after being "dripped in", and are various sizes from about 1/4 inch to about an inch. The largest are currently clear and the smaller are reddish--so I am guessing they grow out of it?

 

[black hills tj]

Most shrimp don't color up until they are near adulthood. They ship better when they are young, so most of them are small and pale/clear when you get them.

 

[Mystery]

The clear I was expecting, the red not so much. I will post a picture when I get home.

 

[msjinkzd]

Yellow shrimp never appear red and don't have striping. The yellows may in fact be very clear from teh stress of shipping, but I have had them for 3 years and have never seen a reddish or a striped appearing yellow shrimp.

 

[Mystery]

Yeah, I'm thinking these are actually cherries.

 

[black hills tj]

The largest shrimp looks like it could be a low grade yellow, or just a yellow that hasn't fully adapted to your tank yet. The other two do look fairly questionable.

 

[mgamer20o0]

i would contact the seller plus give them a couple days. the one on the right looks like it could have ate something red. my yellows even small you could tell apart from the red cherry shrimp. i dont even have any cherry shrimp that small that are that clear.

 

[msjinkzd]

none of those look like yellows to me

 

[Mystery]

I am betting tomorrow they will look redder. I think it was probably just a mix up as the vendor has both types. I also keep cherries so can easily pop these in with them.

 

[bs6749]

Most shrimp don't color up until they are near adulthood. They ship better when they are young, so most of them are small and pale/clear when you get them.

That is not true. My RCS babies that are 2mm or less have tints of red to them and most of my <1/4" shrimp have a lot of red to them. My CRS and CBS have white and either red or black on them when they are released or a day after. Same thing goes for my yellows. I'm guessing the diet played a substantial role in the coloring of the shrimp. If they are fed a red food such as Tetra Microcrabs, they will have red visible in their digestive tract and their feces will even be red. This can also make the yellow shrimp turn pale and somewhat green looking.

I'd work on feeding them other foods such as shaved carrot peels, yellow squash, etc. and see how they start to color up. Also, I wouldn't put these shrimp in with your RCS until you are positive as to what they are. Otherwise your RCS colony could become a wild color form shrimp colony. Either cull them or keep them separate from other shrimp until you identify them.