Red Shrimp, Blue Shrimp, I'm Getting New Shrimp!

[gilltyascharged]

After nearly 5 months in the making, I think my 2.5 gallon shrimp tank is finally ready! With a moderate algal growth, plenty of copepods, some Ramshorns, detritus worms, and other microfauna thriving, I have come to the conclusion that I am ready for some Neos.

But!...I've got a question.

Initially I was intending on putting in Yellow Fires, but I was unable to resist the allure of Blue Dreams. While both are beautiful (and I know a great local supplier!), I can't decide which would look better in this setup. While I worry about the visibility of the Blue Dreams against the darker substrate (yellow would be a cleaner contrast), the tank itself has an almost yellowish hue from the lighting and the duckweed (bye-bye, contrast). While I was kind of wanting to avoid oranges and reds (nothing wrong with them, they're just not what I was envisioning for this tank), I'm curious if you guys have any insight on what might look nice.

Note: Tank on bottom is WITH full duckweed cover, tank on top is with duckweed partially removed (about 2/3 remaining)

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I hate duckweed. You need a flame thrrower to eliminate from a tank. Red cherry and blue dream may interbreed. I have both but not in the same tank.

Btw, If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

 

[gilltyascharged]

I hate duckweed. You need a flame thrrower to eliminate from a tank. Red cherry and blue dream may interbreed. I have both but not in the same tank.

Btw, If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

Ah, the struggles of duckweed...I keep it in the tank to help absorb excess nutrients (other than a light, a literal desktop lamp, I've been trying to keep the setup as low-tech as possible) but am able to remove portions and feed it to my African cichlid in another tank where he absolutely destroys it.
If I had my way in life, I would happily keep several colors in one tank. BUT...the sad truth is that the population will likely revert back to a wild-type coloring with interbreeding. My indecisiveness/"ooh, PRETTY" brain is attracted most to the blue and yellow shrimp, but realistically I'd need more than one setup to accommodate. I've kept RCS in a tank with a white substrate, and thought they looked stunning...I only lost them after I asked a friend to feed them over a week-long vacation and, like the ghost shrimp I had in another tank, they all "mysteriously disappeared."

 

[Aqua67]

I have 3 shrimp tanks. One is super tiger caridina only. One is just red shrimp, although it has regular cherry and Bloody Mary - both from very different lines. So far only red babies, after 2 years together. One is a skittles neo tank with blue, red, yellow and orange, and soon to be some green jade culls I’m supposed to be trading for tomorrow. I would love to have some neon green shrimp, which is why I bought some yellow and orange shrimp as the neon greens come from breeding those yellow and orange shrimp. See the shrimp genetics chart I’ve attached.

Personally, I love the wild type neocaridinas and I find shrimp genetics fascinating. I’m not breeding to sell. I spend a lot of time watching my shrimp. Here are a few pics from my skittles tank. I love taking pictures of my shrimp. I need to capture more pics of the wild types, they are so beautiful.

 

[Aqua67]

Sorry, to answer your question, I think the yellow shrimp would be a great choice. My skittles tank is also 2.5 gal and the yellow shrimp are so bright and easy to see. The dark blue dreams looks almost black in my tannin-filled water and they are hard to see. Here is a pic of my little skittles tank. I temporarily added a spare tiny HOB filter with some activated carbon (in addition to the sponge filter already in the tank) to the tank this morning just to help remove some of the tannins as I am finding it difficult to see the shrimp. I also think you might enjoy some Rilli shrimp in your aquarium as with their white bodies (on most of the varieties) it might be easier to spot those too.

 

[gilltyascharged]

I have 3 shrimp tanks. One is super tiger caridina only. One is just red shrimp, although it has regular cherry and Bloody Mary - both from very different lines. So far only red babies, after 2 years together. One is a skittles neo tank with blue, red, yellow and orange, and soon to be some green jade culls I’m supposed to be trading for tomorrow. I would love to have some neon green shrimp, which is why I bought some yellow and orange shrimp as the neon greens come from breeding those yellow and orange shrimp. See the shrimp genetics chart I’ve attached.

Personally, I love the wild type neocaridinas and I find shrimp genetics fascinating. I’m not breeding to sell. I spend a lot of time watching my shrimp. Here are a few pics from my skittles tank. I love taking pictures of my shrimp. I need to capture more pics of the wild types, they are so beautiful.
View attachment 338419

Beautiful shrimp! If I may, what variety (or mix) are the first two attachments?

 

[gilltyascharged]

Sorry, to answer your question, I think the yellow shrimp would be a great choice. My skittles tank is also 2.5 gal and the yellow shrimp are so bright and easy to see. The dark blue dreams looks almost black in my tannin-filled water and they are hard to see. Here is a pic of my little skittles tank. I temporarily added a spare tiny HOB filter with some activated carbon (in addition to the sponge filter already in the tank) to the tank this morning just to help remove some of the tannins as I am finding it difficult to see the shrimp. I also think you might enjoy some Rilli shrimp in your aquarium as with their white bodies (on most of the varieties) it might be easier to spot those too.

Oh, interesting! I may see if the LFS in question has any rilis I like--I know he carries most varieties, but now I'm curious: what do you think would look good with the tannins and overall hue of the tank? While the blue rilis would likely look black and white, and yellow rilis just look washed-out to me, what else do you think would or wouldn't stand out that well? While I think the orange rilis look real nice, I'm wondering if a jade rili would also be too dark

 

[Aqua67]

Those 3 pics all came from my mutt tank. They were each acquired as adults and were not hatched out in my tank. I believe the first one came from a guy not far from me who also keeps a mutt tank. I traded him 15 mutts for a 150W heater I was not planning on ever using (I have other spares here that are easier for me to read and use). The first blue one and the last golden/wild one came from him. I would call that first one a Blue Rilli. I think the Blue Rillis are the only Rilli that has a colored mid section whereas the others Red Rillis, Orange Rillis, Green Rillis, Yellow Rillis, etc…all have the white centers. The other pretty blue shrimp was acquired from another shrimp keeper not far from my house. I paid her $15 for 6 blue dreams. She included one that was berried and a free shrimplet to boot. Her tank was strictly a blue dream tank. Right now I’m waiting to add some orange sakuras to the mutt tank, in hopes of seeing some neon greens in the tank one day. I’m also waiting for some Sky Blue Velvet Shrimp to come in also. I’m looking forward to interesting color mixes and beautiful wilds. But of all the wild colored shrimps, the super tigers are my absolute favorites. Attached are 2 super tigers, one with the normal colored body and orange eyes, the other with a blue based body and orange eyes (both caridina shrimp). Then I attached one more pic from my mutt tank of a wild type neo. I am shrimp crazy.

 

[gilltyascharged]

Those 3 pics all came from my mutt tank. They were each acquired as adults and were not hatched out in my tank. I believe the first one came from a guy not far from me who also keeps a mutt tank. I traded him 15 mutts for a 150W heater I was not planning on ever using (I have other spares here that are easier for me to read and use). The first blue one and the last golden/wild one came from him. I would call that first one a Blue Rilli. I think the Blue Rillis are the only Rilli that has a colored mid section whereas the others Red Rillis, Orange Rillis, Green Rillis, Yellow Rillis, etc…all have the white centers. The other pretty blue shrimp was acquired from another shrimp keeper not far from my house. I paid her $15 for 6 blue dreams. She included one that was berried and a free shrimplet to boot. Her tank was strictly a blue dream tank. Right now I’m waiting to add some orange sakuras to the mutt tank, in hopes of seeing some neon greens in the tank one day. I’m also waiting for some Sky Blue Velvet Shrimp to come in also. I’m looking forward to interesting color mixes and beautiful wilds. But of all the wild colored shrimps, the super tigers are my absolute favorites. Attached are 2 super tigers, one with the normal colored body and orange eyes, the other with a blue based body and orange eyes (both caridina shrimp). Then I attached one more pic from my mutt tank of a wild type neo. I am shrimp crazy.

Oooh, pretty! I would love to try Caridinas at some point, but figured it would be better to start out with Neos and then work my way up to ordering online. I'm flat broke--as the owner of the LFS told my mother, "she'd be better off doing crack. You'd definitely save some money."

But $15?! For 6??? Everywhere in my area is asking $5 per a shrimp

 

[gwand]

Oooh, pretty! I would love to try Caridinas at some point, but figured it would be better to start out with Neos and then work my way up to ordering online. I'm flat broke--as the owner of the LFS told my mother, "she'd be better off doing crack. You'd definitely save some money."

But $15?! For 6??? Everywhere in my area is asking $5 per a shrimp

Buy a breeding group and it will be your last purchase of neocaridina

 

[gilltyascharged]

Buy a breeding group and it will be your last purchase of neocaridina

Fingers crossed I can get a berried female--hopefully with her and a couple of males I can really get a nice colony started!