Breeding - Shrimp Color Question

[jwcarlson]

Right around Christmas I bought six cherry shrimp from a local shop.  At least a couple of them had some stripes down their back, looking like what I've since seen be called "bloody mary" shrimp.  Anyway, since then the shrimp colony has probably grown 25x... there are just GOBS of them in the 37 gallon tank.  And I greatly enjoy them.

I am not really bothered by what colors the shrimp are, but have noticed some very cool colors being thrown.  One that looked like a rili shrimp, one that was very close to being black, one that's a beautiful deep purple color... and then this one I saw last night.  In person it looks like a lighter green with purple accents.

My question is... what happens if I don't select these shrimp out?  I don't necessarily have a plan to do so.  But if I don't, am I just going to eventually dilute down to more-or-less clear shrimp?  The VAST majority are decent red and none of these odd balls have probably reached breeding age yet.  I am planning on tossing some into my discus tank at some point as I've been told by a number of people that their discus don't bother their neos.  And if mine do, if it's the off colored stuff then it's just a nice snack for the discus, I figure. (but also have so many that it's not that big of a deal)

So... should I fish out the odd balls and drop them in my discus tank... or should I just let the community tank just remain the thunder dome of breeding that it has been?  I'm not overly concerned either way and if I'll have reasonably colorful (any color) shrimp for the foreseeable future, then I've got zero issues just letting it be.  But I might want some shrimp with the discus either way.  Additionally, is there such thing as an "over population" of neos in a tank?  I don't think that I'm overexaggerating the population at all.  There are SO many of them...  I thought that the thick lipped gourami might take out a good number of shrimplets, but if he's feasting on them... it's not making much of a dent.

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by jwcarlson

[JettsPapa]

First, whether or not to cull the off colors is entirely up to you.  If you want to maintain good red color then yes, you need to, since the percentage of off colors will almost certainly increase over time if you don't.  If you don't care, then you can leave them.

Also, Bloody Mary is a grade of red shrimp.  The lighter color down the back is called a racing stripe, and is very common with some colors of shrimp (especially red and yellow). 

[Tihshho]

Selectively keeping specific traits in the tank will lead to more offspring of said traits, i.e. that's how you get tanks of a specfic color. In the long run if you have shrimp that are being thrown as rili's, cherrys, and darker ones you will continue with that. Depending on the dark coloration, you might end up with browns down the line. 

If you bought bloodymary shrimp I doubt you'd be getting these colors thrown, you more than likely got cherry's. Bloodymary shrimp have red flesh and a clear carapace, where cherrys have clear flesh and red carapaces. 

[jwcarlson]

I realize my rambling was probably unclear.  I understand that different colors will eventually cloud the overall coloration, and I'm fine with that.  I think I'm more asking if I'm going to have a bunch of clear shrimp in two years, something that I think I don't really want so maybe I'll start culling over the oddballs to the discus tank.  But if it's just a bunch of random-ish colors I'm cool with that.  I'm not selling these or doing anything with them other than letting them do their thing in the tank.  

Re: bloody mary shrimp - I bought them as cherry shrimp and he said "well, we have fire red".  To be honest, I'm entirely unconcerned with what they're called.  I just know I've seen some pics of shrimp called bloody mary with the "racing stripes" down their backs.  Most of the shrimp are very well colored, a good and solid bright red.  They're a little more orange looking when they're younger, but it seems once they get full sized they seem to be well colored for the most part.

[Jennifer V]

I'm not very experienced with shrimp yet, but I did start my colony with random "culls" from a local breeder and none of them are clear. A couple are lightly colored and kind of speckled looking but I think that's cool. Granted, mine are from a mix of Cherry, Orange Sakura and Blue Dream. I'm assuming that getting some with no coloration is a possibility but I'm not sure that's predictable. If you're worried about that, then I say separate out the ones you don't particularly like but if you don't really mind what colors you have, maybe just let them be. Could be kind of fun to see what you get! 

[jwcarlson]

On 5/11/2022 at 12:56 PM, Jennifer V said:

I'm not very experienced with shrimp yet, but I did start my colony with random "culls" from a local breeder and none of them are clear. A couple are lightly colored and kind of speckled looking but I think that's cool. Granted, mine are from a mix of Cherry, Orange Sakura and Blue Dream. I'm assuming that getting some with no coloration is a possibility but I'm not sure that's predictable. If you're worried about that, then I say separate out the ones you don't particularly like but if you don't really mind what colors you have, maybe just let them be. Could be kind of fun to see what you get! 

I think that's what I'm going to do.  And am considering also populating the discus tank for grins... I've got plenty of shrimp!

I thought I heard if you let them intermix they'll eventually revert back to a clear version.  Maybe that's the case, but it takes a longish time.  If that's the case, I'm cool with whatever happens.  

[Tihshho]

You'll see browns more often than pure clear. Pure clear is actually a trait a lot of people aim for in some lines.