The Ulgy Ducklings - My Blue / Brown Painted Fire Red Shrimps, 1 Year Later

[jumpsmasher]

I usually don't take too many photographs of my shrimps but when my initial group of painted fire red (PFR) cherry shrimps gave birth, a couple of baby shrimplets stood out almost immediately.

[sorry - didn't know big these photos were - should have resize / cropped them smaller :P]

All PFR shrimplets are borned clear but starting turning red within a few days to a week. Out of the hundred or so PFR shrimplets there were two that stayed clear / white.

Here is a shot of one of them at approx. 1 week old

Regular PFR shrimplet on the left (amber / redish tint, looking straight at the camera) and the clear / white PFR shrimplet just to its right

For reference, here is a picture of a normal PFR shimplet

Normal PFR shrimplet, clear / amber body with red markings

As they got older, while the other PFR shrimplets turned more red, they remained mostly clear with a slight blue tint.

Here is another shot of one of them at approx. 1 month old

And for reference, a group shot of a couple of adult PFR and and a bunch of shrimplets

At two months, the body remained clear with a slight blue tint but brown dots start to appear where you would see the red pattern on a regular (non-PFR) red cherry shrimp

On a mineral rock with a couple of other young PFR...

At the time I had high hopes that the two "blue" would remain blue as they turn into adults and they they were a pair (Male + Female).

As they matured, the blue got a bit more intense but they both turned out to be females. Unfortunately i seemed ot have put away my camera during those months because i can't find any photos of that "stage". But it was quite odd, even thought they both got saddles, for the longest time all my males PFR never touched them - maybe because they looked too different from the other PFR!

Well that all changed a month ago when i put in some males from one of other PFR tanks and within a couple of days both of my "blue" PFR were berried. As soon as happened they both went thru another change - the brown pattern they had became more intense and more redish in color and the strip on the back you see on some red cherry shrimps also became more pronounced. another thing that set them apart from their other PFR was that their eggs are dark blue / black in color as opposed to the standard yellow eggs.

Here is a shot I took the other day of them one them, now a bit over 1 year old. The shrimp on the right is one of my adult male PFR

This one dropped her eggs prematurely but last I checked my other "blue" one was still berried and due any day now..

As you can see it is more maroon than blue or brown now although the base color is still clear with slight blue tint. Their colors varies greatly during the day and when they are berried. In the mornings when the lights first come on the maroon / brown pattern is very faint and their blue base color is actually quite intense but that doesn't last very long as the maroon / brown pattern comes back within a matter of minutes. I will try to get a photo of them like that one of these mornings but they change color so quickly it is very hard to capture them within the small window of opportunity.

Hard to say if the blue will be passed on to their offsprings but i should find out fairly soon (hopefully : ) )... of course these could just be their "wild" form as they don't have the solid colors you come to expect from PFR's and are alot closer to the standard Red Cherry shrimp pattern but in a tank full of Painted Fire Red shrimps they are different!

Hope you enjoy the photos - hopefully there will more "off" colored PFR to come!

Hung

Edited April 15, 2012 by jumpsmasher

[Jarviek]

Thanks for this post. Even if it is just the natural Colour, the blue hue is quite cool.

[Wingin' It]

WOW!!!!!

I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY like your shrimp! They are absolute awesome!

If you ever get "too overrun" with Shrimp...please say the word! LOL

[Fisher]

WOW!!!!!

I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY like your shrimp! They are absolute awesome!

If you ever get "too overrun" with Shrimp...please say the word! LOL

+1 -ham-

[jumpsmasher]

WOW!!!!!

I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY like your shrimp! They are absolute awesome!

If you ever get "too overrun" with Shrimp...please say the word! LOL

Thanks!

I gave away so many of my shrimps the past year to friends & family but than after than about 6 months in the survival rate of the babies just dropped off... most of my current adults are from my initial batch of babies. I am in the process of setting up my first shrimp rack and got a few new tanks cycling right now.

That being said, it looks like latest batch of shrimplets from the last couple weeks are doing well so I might have a tank full of them once again : )

Just a update. I noticed the other berried "blue" female is not longer berried and thought i saw a couple of clear / blue shrimplets last night. Checked again this morning and confirm there were some off colored babies - was about to snap a quick shot of one of them.

Not the greatest of shots but from the size and color i would guess it is around 3 days old

Hopefully they will survive to adulthood!

Hung

[Wingin' It]

Crossing my fingers for ya!!

[OldCanuk]

Fantastic!! I also will keep my fingers crossed for you.

[pandaboy]

Beautiful

[Fisher]

almost forgot about this Hung. How are they doing?

[SuperGuppyGirl]

From my Rilis I've gotten the clear shrimps which after a few forays into some shrimp forums were being called Snowballs, I have also gotten a few green coloration a which I'm hoping will last through there moults to adulthood. Amazing how genetic throwbacks and recessive alleles come into play with the many colors of the Cherry morphs.

[jumpsmasher]

almost forgot about this Hung. How are they doing?

Sorry Fisher, didn't your post earlier.

I got around a dozen F2's but they stop reproducing when I separated them from my regular PFR's. Due to lack of tank space I had to move them into a tank with my Super Tigers and they didn't really enjoy that. Some of the younger ones stopped growing; they are 6-8 months now which means that they should be fully grown adults but they are still no bigger than a typical 1-1.5 month old shrimp.

I decided to dedicate the majority of my tanks to my Tiger and Crystal Red / Black shrimps and have only a couple of tanks left for my PFR and Orange Sakura shrimps. Judging by the evolution of these brown / blue Neos in the hobby - Chocolate, Blue Rilli, Blue Jelly, Carbon Rilli, and now solid Blue Neos - they have evolved a long ways from being "throwbacks" and wild culls!

From my Rilis I've gotten the clear shrimps which after a few forays into some shrimp forums were being called Snowballs, I have also gotten a few green coloration a which I'm hoping will last through there moults to adulthood. Amazing how genetic throwbacks and recessive alleles come into play with the many colors of the Cherry morphs.

Snowballs are actually a separate species from RCS / Rili's. They have white saddles / eggs. If they are clear / blue / green offsprings from your Rilli's, than they are generally refer to as "Blue Jelly" shrimps

[SuperGuppyGirl]

This is why I trust you guys the most lol google has lied to me soooo many times. Of course I should have known to watch for scientific names. Thanks for clearing it up jumpsmasher.