[mistergreen]

Are all males small and not as red?
A have all red cherries. 2 are carrying eggs.. One just released some baby shrimps.

 

[guitardude9187]

males are just lighter in red but will still be red..less color pigments

 

[TAF CAF]

Some males are almost colorless and some have quite a lot of red speckles and stripes, but none of them are as brite and fully colored as the females.

 

[mistergreen]

I have a very pale female carrying around eggs.

 

[guitardude9187]

then she must be CULLLLL!!! jk, it happens...nothing is ever perfect

 

[mistergreen]

Well, she's kinda small.. so I think she's not mature yet.

 

[tundragirl]

Females can look just like the males til they are fully mature. Young females breed well before they become their trademark color. Don't cull her yet!!

 

[Burks]

Well, she's kinda small.. so I think she's not mature yet.

I've had that. One of the females from my first batch of eggs really looked like a full grown male when she was carrying. Sadly she dropped her eggs but is now a bright red.

It seems they are like humans. Some color up fast (like humans growing fast), others color up slowly.

 

[chlorophyll]

what environmental factors are known to affect the Cherries' color?

I have a population where the males have almost no hint of red.
The glass tank has some plants but no substrate. There is an air stone creating moderate to very strong current. And the temperature is quite warm (mid 80's at least) in the daytime. Natural sunlight (dampened, not direct) is also the sole light source.

It's actually a friend's setup, not mine. I supplied the shrimp, which were red. I advised him that it was probably the high temperature that caused them to all but lose their color. Could be too much circulation as well? They are breeding though. And the young have grown extremely quickly in those temperatures.

 

[dknydiep1]

I believe ph can possibly affect color. I put some cherries into a tank with AS and they are all bright red, whereas the ones in my other tank with SMS are somewhat red to dull.

 

[TAF CAF]

I have also seen them get less colorful when the PH was lower in the tank (down to almost 6.4). I am not sure about the temperature, but I am thinking it may also have soemthing to do with it.

 

[tundragirl]

I believe it has to do with food supply also- the more variety I started to give my shrimp the brighter they became... when I anly fed them shrimp pellets and algae almost all were very blah. now that they get algae wafers, squash, fishfood, spinich, crab bites, spirulina, brine shrimp(FRZN) female have turned a bright red:flick: guess they needed more variety.

 

[Burks]

I believe it has to do with food supply also

I've noticed this as well. Ever since I switched to feed multiple kinds of foods, my females are all very red and *active*. :icon_smil

 

[chlorophyll]

Interesting observations... I'm gonna have to take some of those bland shrimp and test them out on some different water chemistries, temperature, and diets too! I don't think they really like how strong the aerator is going either.

I never really thought about diet because the tank is teeming with moina and other little things with lots of algae growth. In fact, the shrimp mostly ignore pellets and fish food in favor of grazing on what's already there.