Blue Velvet shrimp giving off brown babies.

[jefferz]

I purchased some Blue Velvet shrimp on April 15th from an online retailer and haven't added any other shrimp to the tank.  Now my babies are almost all brown.  
Am I feeding them the wrong foods or did they just have poor genetics?

[shkote]

It's pretty common for blues to throw browns and even greens. I believe they originally came from blue based chocolates. From what I've experienced, Blues are some of the most unpredictable/unstable lines I've seen. Don't be discouraged though, those browns still carry the genes to produce blues down the road, and if you're willing to work with them, you can bring the blue back out. 

  I just got a new generation of little blues from some of my muddy brown/originally blue line. I haven't really worked with them and haven't been culling for awhile though. 

 

[jefferz]

1 minute ago, Lynze said:

It's pretty common for blues to throw browns and even greens. I believe they originally came from blue based chocolates. From what I've experienced, Blues are some of the most unpredictable/unstable lines I've seen. Don't be discouraged though, those browns still carry the genes to produce blues down the road, and if you're willing to work with them, you can bring the blue back out. 

  I just got a new generation of little blues from some of my muddy brown/originally blue line. I haven't really worked with them and haven't been culling for awhile though. 

 

Do I want to cull the brown ones then?

[Streetwise]

I would encourage shrimp-keepers to keep an oddball tank. Let nature happen, and you might not get pure colors, but you will get very interesting patterns.

[FrozenFins]

4 minutes ago, jefferz said:

Do I want to cull the brown ones then?

I would. They make a tasty fish to lots of fish

[shkote]

You can always separate them and see if the offspring produces more blues and continue culling that way, occassionally adding new blues into the line. That could be your "oddball" shrimp tank. 

[jefferz]

9 minutes ago, James Black said:

I would. They make a tasty fish to lots of fish

Unfortunately I only have 1 tank.

[Streetwise]

If you only have one tank, just enjoy your shrimp and keep all of them happy.

[Mastifflvr28]

Answered my question too!  I have a very unprofessional not for profit blue dream shrimp tank and got a batch of striped brown babies.  Super cute but was wondering why, now I know!

thanks,
Michelle

[shkote]

I agree with @Streetwise with just 1 tank, no harm in just letting the shrimp throw whatever colors they want to throw and enjoy the nature of it all. 

[jefferz]

1 hour ago, Streetwise said:

If you only have one tank, just enjoy your shrimp and keep all of them happy.

I'd rather have blue shrimp though.  If I wanted brown I would have bought brown.

[Spitzzard]

If you believe in this chart, it's possible you got a mix of blue dream and blue velvet and they are crossbreeding.

[Andy's Fish Den]

I had the same thing happen when I got my first batch of blue dream shrimp about five years ago, I was getting all shades of blue, greens, browns, black and reds. I talked to Rob from Flip aquatics at a local club event and he told me that the blues will throw all the different colors because that is how they all descended. I have been working with my shrimp lines since then, sorting and culling them regularly, and have a strong line of bloody mary that produce almost pure red, once in a while I'll get a red rilli, and a good line of blue velvet that produce some really nice royal blue color shrimp regularly. I have to fill the blue more often though as I will still get darker navy blue and black shrimps. I have a 40 breeder I throw all my culls in and they just go crazy, it's literally a Skittles tank. Earlier this fall I picked up some nice golden back yellows that I have going and I have thrown a few of the lighter colored ones in the cull tank and waiting to see what happens by introducing them into the mix. When the local clubs were holding auctions, I would just take random scoops out of the cull tank and people would go crazy for them, maybe because they got all the different colors in one bag, I'm not sure.

[Mastifflvr28]

Taste the Rainbow!

Love my piles and piles of shrimps.  I have some running around that are almost clear.  They are all cool to watch, no matter what color.