RCS Babies - Born with full color?

[MartyMA]

This question probably has been asked before but I could not find an answer. Are RCS babies born with their full color or do they become darker red over time? I have a lot of deep red cherry shrimp and now quite a few tiny ones. All of the baby shrimp look pink. None of them appear to be the deep red of most others in the tank. I do have quite a few adults that are not the deep red color, however, and of course a large number of almost clear ones. I wonder if the whole colony is getting watered down colorwise.

 

[jetajockey]

They'll darken over time if they are going to. Males are typically lighter to begin with. Baby shrimp are kinda pinkish or offwhite for the first few weeks and then should start getting some color as they get older, especially if they are female.

 

[shrimpbako]

by 4-5mm you should already see coloring intensify if you have quality stock.
males are always less colorful and skinny then females

 

[MartyMA]

Thanks all. Each day, I can see some darker color in the tiny ones.

 

[shrimpbako]

hey

Thanks all. Each day, I can see some darker color in the tiny ones.

yep every week you'll see them get darker and bigger and the colors get more dense

 

[Lonestarbandit]

They'll darken over time if they are going to. Males are typically lighter to begin with. Baby shrimp are kinda pinkish or offwhite for the first few weeks and then should start getting some color as they get older, especially if they are female.

Let me ask you this then. As you know I recently purchased 30 shrimp and half of them seem cleanish light brown while the others are red. Did I get robbed blind for low quality or did the travel strain them?

 

[jetajockey]

Its normal, the males get really clear when they aren't settled in yet.

If they stay that way for weeks they could be lower grade, but rcs boys dont have a ton of color to begin with.

 

[Lonestarbandit]

Its normal, the males get really clear when they aren't settled in yet.

If they stay that way for weeks they could be lower grade, but rcs boys dont have a ton of color to begin with.

Ok thanks. I was a bit worried lol. Based on that info I have a good mix of he/she. Now just have to wait I guess. I assume the 20g is plenty for 30 ?

 

[shrimpbako]

Let me ask you this then. As you know I recently purchased 30 shrimp and half of them seem cleanish light brown while the others are red. Did I get robbed blind for low quality or did the travel strain them?

Yes males are less colorful but they should be red still not brown.
What you have half of is probably wild coloration and the other half red strains.

You can let them interbreed again hoping they are from two red parents meaning most of your offspring will come out red again. What you got is super low quality and if you paid more then 1.50 a piece you got ripped off.
I give those away to people frequently.

20g is enough for 200-300 shrimps !in my 40 gallon I had 750 crystal shrimps in it before!

 

[Lonestarbandit]

Yes males are less colorful but they should be red still not brown.
What you have half of is probably wild coloration and the other half red strains.

You can let them interbreed again hoping they are from two red parents meaning most of your offspring will come out red again. What you got is super low quality and if you paid more then 1.50 a piece you got ripped off.
I give those away to people frequently.

20g is enough for 200-300 shrimps !in my 40 gallon I had 750 crystal shrimps in it before!

Figures. Well I won't say who I got them from then but it's a seller on aquabid. There was much ballyhooing the "bred selectively for best red color" etc etc. I paid 1.00 ea or less factoring shipping was incl. I DO have to quantify this however by saying I have only had them 1 day so far. And they were packaged well and arrived with no DOA. Since you are a breeder and Jet you have been.... Thoughts on these examples? Sorry for the quality. I must drink at the well of knowledge as I am totally new to this.

 

[shrimpbako]

First picture looks like a good color male. I would use him to breed.
2nd pic also a male.

Culls out the ones without good color after a week.

They look like lower grades of fire reds. The red is kinda purple

 

[jetajockey]

They look fine to me. I just did maintenance on my shrimp tank earlier today. I had progressive unexplained losses so I corralled the majority of the ones I had in a 40b shrimp tank and moved them into a 15 while I redo their 40. I can't decide what kind of substrate to put down so they've kinda been in limbo for a few weeks now.

 

[jetajockey]

Re: the colorations, this site has some great photos to get an idea.

Neocaridina Heteropoda .:. Freshwater Aquarium Shrimp Species Information Page

Red Cherry Shrimp .:. Neocaridina heteropoda sp. "Red Cherry" .:. Freshwater Aquarium Shrimp Species Information Page

 

[shrimpbako]

Jetajockey.

For soil get AdA if your a baller but for RCS just go with inert gravel.
That's what I do.
I only substrate for CRS n CBS type shrimps

 

[fort384]

I was going to say, I use Aquasoil in my shrimp tanks, and it seems to buffer the water really well - very stable pH and GH, even after 2+ years. But David is a Hater...

I would agree though that to the OP, they look A-OK.

 

[jetajockey]

I don't think I'll be buying any ADA stuff at this time, I'm not into paying for designer brands. Although I do like the look of some of their tanks.

I'm likely to just transfer some black sand from some other pre-existing setups. I was going to use Oil-Dri but they blend into the coloration really well.

The tank they were in had ecocomplete in it and they did really well with several hundred, if not up to a thousand at times. It ran that way for 2-3 years without many changes but began to dwindle over the course of a few months so I'm restarting fresh.

 

[fort384]

Told you

 

[jetajockey]

Haha, I'm not a hater, I'm just frugal and don't like paying for a name. I keep utilitarian type tanks though, if they were all furniture displays I wouldn't mind spending a little extra for the flashy stuff.

 

[Lonestarbandit]

Haha, I'm not a hater, I'm just frugal and don't like paying for a name. I keep utilitarian type tanks though, if they were all furniture displays I wouldn't mind spending a little extra for the flashy stuff.

Mines just pool sand lol. Which I disliked the natural color at first but it's grown on me.

 

[shrimpbako]

I agree I wouldnt want to pay big bucks for soil but I do pay big bucks for shrimp so why cheap out? That's my way of thinking. I just bought 500$ worth of Oebt shrimp and because of that I would spend 100$ a bag on soil just to know its safe and good to use