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Ghost and Red Cherry shrimp questions

1163 Views 4 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  kunerd
I have ghost shrimp(about 20-30) and red cherry shrimp(about 30), in seperate tanks. I haven't had them long, so I have a few questions.

1. Ghost Shrimp coloring. I have some that have red bands on the legs. I have some that don't. I have some that have two red dots on the tail, some that don't. Some are totally colorless. Are they all just different variations, or are they different types of shrimp?

2. Red Cherry coloring. Some of my reds are very red, mostly females that are berried or saddled. Several have very little coloring. Are the ones with little coloring less mature, or more wild, or has the coloring been bred out of them by line contamination? One of the males(must be... never seen him saddled or berried) has 3 pinstripe lines of red, one down the length his back, one down each side. Other than the three lines, he is as clear as a ghost. Looks rather cool.

3. I have more than a half dozen reds that are berried, a couple have been for a couple weeks... huge egg masses being carried. How long before the eggs hatch?

4. Two of the berried reds actually look to be saddled as well. Is this possible or are my eyes playing tricks on me?

5. The reds that are berried have eggs that are different colors ranging from light yellow to dark green. There must be a reason for the wide variety in coloring. Could it be something to do with the purity of the line? Maybe the lighter color is a more pure line and the darker green indicates line contamination, maybe from ghosts somewhere in the line?
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The cherry shrimp with dark/vibrant red are the females. Males are more pale w/ just a hint of red.
Eggs take a few weeks to hatch. I believe it's somewhere around 3-4 weeks.
green, yellow, other color eggs aren't a problem. I've heard of the eggs taking on a few different colors without any apparent problems. My cherries are usually yellow eggs though...
Ghost shrimp and Cherry Shrimp will not cross. But my main words of caution would be that most ghost shrimp are wild caught and often carry parasites that could spread to the cherry shrimp. Cherry Shrimp are much more sensitive to parasites as they are all aquarium bred and raised.
also some ghost's have nippers on them and can hurt the cherries. I never could get my cherries to breed when i had ghosts with them BUT that is only my experience
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