Help with shrimp ID?

[Enchantress]

Hi,
I recently bought 5 of these in my local lfs - they were labelled as "amano", but tbh I'm having doubts whether that's what they are. They are average sized, the biggest ones are maybe 1.5 inches (~3cm), not counting the antennae). They are translucent and milky-white all over and don't have any of the markings characteristic of amanos. The only discerning feature is a lighter coloured stripe that runs down their back, but that's about it. They appear perfectly healthy, no signs of illness of stress. I'm attaching some pictures - please excuse the awful quality, but that's the best my phone can do and the little imps are not very easy to photograph I'll try to snap a few more pics once they decide to come out of the bushes to the front of the tank Anyway - do you think these are just some exceptionally washed-out amanos, or did I accidentally end up with something else, like N.palmata or N.zhangjiajiensis, and if so, d'you reckon they'll breed? I want to add some other shrimp to this tank, but I don't want them to hybridize so getting a positive ID on these ones would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[earhtmother]

Without markings of any kind I would be tempted to say NOT Amanos but I am DEFINITELY NOT an expert on shrimp.
*Autumnsky* is usually good at invert ID so hopefully she'll put her thoughts in

 

[libertybelle]

Ditto, autumnsky is the expert!

I really can’t tell from the pictures if they have markings; they can be a bit faint in younger shrimp. But if you’re looking in person and don’t see any then not amanos.

Look up “short nose algae shrimp” online and see if they look like what you have?

 

[Enchantress]

I really can’t tell from the pictures if they have markings; they can be a bit faint in younger shrimp. But if you’re looking in person and don’t see any then not amanos.
Look up “short nose algae shrimp” online and see if they look like what you have?

Thanks I've looked at them closely in person, they have absolutely no markings and no colour on them whatsoever, with the exception of that dorsal stripe. I don't think they are the short nose shrimp, their body shape is different (more rounded), and they don't have as much colour. They kind of look like White Pearl shrimp, which is why I'm holding off on adding any Neocaridinas to their tank until I'm more certain of what they are.

 

[Autumnsky]

Hello,

As mentioned there should be markings, dots or dots and dashes on an Amano. Shipping, and incorrect water parameters and or/ wrong temp or sometimes a predator or white substrate can have shrimp looking pale.

It looks like a Snow Ball, or Snow White aka White Pearl (Neocaridina zhangiajiensis).
The pic close up here looks to have a line down the back. Top pic, close-up view, you can see it.
https://aquaticarts.com/products/snowball-shrimp

A Crystal White shrimp (Caridina) would usually have little specks, I call sparkles (usually there is a large range of course, of grades for all the shrimp). Sometimes has a blush of rouge on the part of the carapace near the head, like a Red Bolt, but more pale. You might see some different babies in the Crystal White line. So more ways to tell which it would be.

The actual names have been reclassified in shrimp now as they get better at identifying which are which. So best guess. It is sometimes really hard to tell by a pic. White there really are only a couple possibilities.

 

[Enchantress]

Thanks, Autumnsky! That was kind of my feeling as well, they do look exactly like Snowball Shrimp, but I wanted to make sure. I guess I'll have to move or rehome them before I add any Neocaridina shrimp to that tank...luckily I have a spare cycled 8gal that's currently sitting empty, so they'll probably end up there & we'll see, maybe in time they'll set up a nice colony of their own.

 

[Autumnsky]

They are really pretty in a planted tank.

 

[Lokilow]

One thing i'd like to note is that there are different Amanos and depending on age, stress, etc they will look different.

Im willing to bet they ARE amanos. They look to big for snowballs but in anycase, only time will tell. Over time they may start to color up to look like normal amanos, and if they don't, you have some pretty snowballs.

Ive bought Amanos that looked clear like that before and after a few weeks to a month they were spotted and had browned up like they should.

However shops get stuff wrong ALL THE TIME. I cant count the number of shops that sell exclamation point rasboras as chili rasboras with refusal to fix it.

 

[Enchantress]

One thing i'd like to note is that there are different Amanos and depending on age, stress, etc they will look different.

Im willing to bet they ARE amanos. They look to big for snowballs but in anycase, only time will tell. Over time they may start to color up to look like normal amanos, and if they don't, you have some pretty snowballs.

Ive bought Amanos that looked clear like that before and after a few weeks to a month they were spotted and had browned up like they should.

Wow, thanks! I had no idea. I've only had them for 2 weeks, so it's possible that their appearance might still change, although I haven't noticed any differences yet. I've tried measuring them again, most of them are around 1" long with very long antennae, although there's one female (I'm assuming, none of them have saddles so I can only tell by size/body shape) that's a bit bigger than that. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. If they breed, then I'll know for sure that they're NOT amanos For the moment I'm rather stumped.

 

[Enchantress]

I managed to snap a few more pictures, including with a measuring tape. They're in a tank that's currently semi-blackwater (the water is stained due to some new driftwood, so it might slightly affect the balance of colours). There are a few more shrimp lurking under the marimo ball, too

 

[Enchantress]

@Lokilow - What sorcery is this?! Less than 24h after reading your post I noticed markings on the shrimp! They so faint that they're almost invisible, you really have to look closely, but they're there. So I guess they are amanos after all, and they just needed time to colour up (I'm assuming they'll continue to get more colour as they settle in further)...

 

[libertybelle]

Neat; make sure you have a cover, they’re climbers!