bs6749
Aquarium Advice Addict
Couple things -
You don't want to buy adults, you want juveniles. They transition into new waters, and ship, far better.
Very red cherry shrimp simply means old shrimp. Females get more red as they get older - very young ones can look like a male with a big of extra color. I have yet to see anyone show a discernable difference in the "redness", but that is just me.
My experience, as well as taught by some of the experts, including a talk I sat in on given by Mr. Eric Do.
Advantages of buying adults: 1. instant shrimp colony, 2. RCS babies within 5 weeks, 3. better algae eaters, 4. more visually appealing
Disadvantages of buying adults: 1. cost, 2. not many more breeding cycles to complete before they expire/die, 3. don't ship as well
There ARE in fact differences between red cherry strains out there. The main difference is in the AMOUNT of red and not the quality of red, which is about the same. If you saw some pics I'm sure you'd be able to tell which is higher quality. It's true that they get more red with age but if you have red babies you know you are going to have some nice red females when they are adults. It's all genetics and a little bit of the environment which influences the amount of red.
