How are my shrimp?

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Moony42

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Hello TFF!!!!

I have added shrimp to my 10 gallon. There are many different kinds of shrimp in the tank. Can you tell me which I should keep, and which I should move to another tank? This question is for essjay as she knows a lot about shrimp, but others can feel free to answer!


THE SIDE WHERE MY RED CHERRYS LIVE
th


THE SIDE WHERE MY YELLOW SHRIMP LIVE
th


THE SIDE WHERE MY [NICKNAMED] KOI SHRIMP LIVE [NEXT TO RED CHERRY SIDE]
th

LEOPARD SHRIMP SIDE
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Thanks for your time!!!! :):thanks::)
 
The first 3 all look like colour variants of cherry shrimp (not sure about the 4th). If that is the case they will cross breed and you will end up with a tank full of wild type shrimp. This is their natural colour and a boring, drab brownish colour.

Unless you are absolutely sure they are different species and cannot cross breed I would separate the colours.
 
I'm not a shrimp expert, I just have red cherry shrimps and have had amanos in the past. When I first got the cherry shrimps I had trouble keeping them alive, but then someone who was an expert gave me a lot of advice which I pass on :)


So many of the coloured cherry shrimps are all the same species, selectively bred to get those colours. Your red and yellow shrimps are both cherry shrimps, Neocaridina heteropoda, and will interbreed.

The third photo, red and white shrimp, could be another cherry shrimp with the common name red rili, or possibly a crystal red shrimp. Crystal reds (and crystal blacks) are Caridina cantonensis, a different species which needs soft acid and very clean water. I can't tell which it is from your photo I'm afraid as I have never kept crystals or rilis. In all the photos I have seen, the white part of rilis is semi see though while the white of crystal shrimps is opaque.
Depending which it is, it can either breed with the red and yellow shrimp (rili) or it needs different water parameters from cherry shrimps (crystal)

The last photo looks like a tiger shrimp, Caridina cantonensis, which again needs soft acidic water though is more tolerant than crystal shrimp. If the red and white shrimp is a crystal, they don't interbreed with tigers. (I wonder if they are actually different species but the taxonomists haven't separated them yet?)




As seangee said, the different colours of cherry shrimps will interbreed. Wild cherry shrimps are a brownish colour and the red was the first to be developed by selective breeding. The other colours are were produced later by more selective breeding. If the different colours breed, most of the offspring are the original wild colour. In your photos, the red and yellow are females currently carrying eggs (they are said to be berried because that's what the eggs look like)

Crystal shrimps and rili shrimps are variable in the amounts of red and white. Specialist breeders assign them to different grades depending how close they are the the "ideal" patterning.
 
I agree about the first two, it's just hard to tell about the third from the photo.
 
I agree, and also, I think your shrimp are so cool! :)
 
I agree with Essjay. Big mistake mixing all of those shrimp. You will end up with a bunch of brown ones. If you like the wild look then that’s fine.
 
The red and yellow shrimps in the photos are carrying eggs. If these eggs were fertilised in your tank, and you have males of the same species but different colours, the shrimplets that hatch will most likely be brown. But if they were already carrying eggs when you got them and were in a tank with only the same coloured shrimps, the shrimplets will be the same as the mother (because the father was the same colour)
I would separate the shrimps according to colour. And any females that produced eggs while in a mixed tank should be allowed to drop their babies in yet another tank so the 'mixed colour' babies are kept separate.
The exception is the tiger shrimps, they can only breed with each other so berried females can be kept in a tank with other tigers.
If the red and white shrimps turn out to be crystal red, the same applies. But if the red and white are rili shrimps, they are a form of cherry and should be treated the same as the plain red and yellow.
 
essjay has given excellent advice! Hope you have a number of tanks to move these to. Good luck! Shrimp are fun no matter what color they are.
 

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