[cwilfinger]

I have an all rcs tank and had a question on a few things.... I have several males that are extremely white/pale. Now if they were to mate, would the offspring be lighter in color? Does it matter on how light or dark the males are? Also, several of the females are more bluish in color but have a reddish pink stripe on their backs - possible mixes (with a blue shrimp)??? Also a few of them have a yellowish tint to them - another possible mix with a yellow perhaps? Or are these normal colorings for rcs? I got the rcs from 9 different sources, and have had them for about 2 months now.
Here's a pic of one of the bluish tinted one

 

[bra_van_drakh]

well, from what i know [newbie's experience + knowledge of genetics LOL] of course both parents contribute to the colourings of the offspring, just 1 thing u shud find out bout ur RCS, do they become paler because of the stress, or they're just that colour since the first time. ..

the white-pink colour is normal i think, because my RCS had the same lining as well. ..

bout the bluish tint i dont really know, because mine are all bright red, just the males have darker colours

i know that some shrimps can play with their pigments, thus altering their colour as their wish, but I dont really know if RCS can do that thou

 

[southerndesert]

If you are feeding with color enhancing foods it will sometimes cause a blue tint in RCS and Yellow Shrimp...

 

[cwilfinger]

Well, the whiter ones are the culls from other people's shrimp tanks, that I have already figured out. But I have invested money into getting really dark cherry red ones. I was just wondering if the darker ones were to mate with a lighter male, if their little ones would be darker like the mother or lighter like the father or somewhere in between. I have about 4 of the ones with the bluer tint to them, they have been like that for about a month and a half now. So I do not think that it is due to stress or anything - same with the yellow ones - I have about 2 of those and they are both males. My tank is the same temp year round 78f, no amonia, no nitrite, nitrate is at 10. I have tons of moss - 5 different kinds and I feed them once a week with HBH crab & lobster bites.

 

[adimeatatime]

Well, the whiter ones are the culls from other people's shrimp tanks, that I have already figured out. But I have invested money into getting really dark cherry red ones.

If I was trying to selectively breed RCS I would remove any that I didn't think were as good or better than the shrimp I like the best. If you have males that have better color, I would leave them and remove the others along with any that are any color other than red. That way you have the shrimp you consider to the best reproducing. :smile:

 

[[email protected]]

My two cents worth.
If you've only had the shrimp two months they may not be mature yet. Also, a dark substrate helps alot. I was getting bothered by lack of color until I put them on a black sand substrate. In a couple of days some colored up enough to notice. After they babies started coming, all the adults are a nice red color.

I feed about every other day. I alternate Shirakura from Gabe with HBH Crab & Lobster bites. A bit of an algae wafer when I remember.
Good luck.

 

[cwilfinger]

I had in mind to get some Shirakura from Gabe but the last time that I had checked, Gabe was out until 11/15. I have heard of nothing but raving reviews on Shirakura food. When he gets more in, I'll be one of the ones in line to get some from him.
As far as the rcs, I have them in a 10gal tank next to the computer and the lighter color ones do not bother me nor do the funky colored ones. I was just curious on if I might have some mix breeds in with the "pure" rcs. I think that shrimps are really cool and I really enjoy watching them. I got them strictly for my enjoyment, not for breeding and making money off of them.
One thing that I have noticed, I seem to have much more males than females. About three to one ratio. Also my females are not getting preg. I have had a total of 3 berry up but 2 dropped their eggs and the third one had 3 eggs to begin with. Majority of the shrimps are at or almost an inch long so they are basically at mature age. Right now I have one female that has a saddle and the rest have nothing. Everyone keeps telling me to have patience. But I am begining to wonder if I might be doing something wrong. I have had 4 deaths in the past 2 months and they were adult shrimps. I had a problem last month with plant worms and what I thought was Planaria (but turned out to be baby leaches) so I dosed the tank with dog deworming meds for about 3 days until I saw no more of them (I was also removing them manually as I saw them). My tank now is being over run by Seed Shrimps, but I am told that these are completely harmless.
The tank is stuff full of plants - 5 different mosses(java, peacock, fissidens, flame, and stringy moss), crypts, riccia, pellia, didiplis diandra, and guppy grass and a small tree stump with a hole down the center of it.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.....

 

[customdrumfinishes]

seed shrimp and worms are usually from over feeding but you only feed once a week. adult shrimp deaths. cherrys only live 2 years so they may have been old and died. do lots of water changes for shrimp. i find a dead shrimp every few months, theres no problems as i have lots of juvis and pregos, just figure it was an old one.

i also have 1-2 cherrys with purple color in them, been that way for months to and no change. sometimes theres wild colors in them like all shrimp.

 

[cwilfinger]

when I feed, I place the food in a small lid and place it into the tank. When they have eaten all the food, I remove the lid. I do have gravel for a substrate. I have fert tabs under the crypts. Would any of these be cause for the HUGE population of seed shrimps? I don't syphon the gravel when I do water changes due to the huge amount of plants and mosses that I have in there, and because I do not want to accidently suck up a shrimp. When I do water changes in this tank, I scoop out the water by hand and inspect every cup that get scooped out before it goes into a bigger bucket to get dumped out. I'm really careful with this tank. I do not want to lose anymore shrimp do to my carelessness. I also have a HOB filter with a pantyhose over the intake tube.