Rili Blue Shrimp

[kevingrods]

So I met this guy off craigs list to pick up some blue shrimp.  I paid 20 bucks for 10 of them.  I mean these things are small, i cant see the blue, to be honest i feel as if i didn't get much.
 
 I cant even see these guys in the tank.
 
This guy is the only game in town, so he controls the market.  Am i just jumping the gun her on happiness with the shrimp.  If i give a a couple months maybe I will be able to see them.

 

[Lillefishy]

It takes a while for young shrimp to get their colour, as they get older it darkens.
I have baby cherries & they're almost see through, but in a month or so they'll start looking like proper cherries

 

[ech0o]

haha yea dude, they don't start out beautiful, and they don't stay the size of ants, just feed them right and take care of them!!  get some spirulina the love that stuff, and it brings their colors out faster!  

 

[DerpPH]

My cherries also started out like that. But now they are very deep in red coloration. Well females are. Axtaxanthin powder would be a good supplement

 

[snazy]

They could be just stressed from the move. Other than that, female cherries get darker with age, but from my observations the ones that are going to be a better colour are always redder when younger and have more pronounced colour. Mine are a cross between red cherries and red rilis.  They produced one blue rili shrimp which was blue since it was a juvenile. 

 

[ech0o]

im getting my first batch of cherries next tuesday in the male,  blue pearls and orange pumpkins, pretty excited!!!

 

[kevingrods]

oh wow, yeh thanks everyone.  I just bought them a moss ball to play on.  So i hope if i put this in there they will go to this so i can see them grow.

 

[ech0o]

sprinkle spirulina powder into the tank also, you will grow them faster, and with more color

 

[fm1978]

Don't know much about the blues' I'm afraid, but I'd like to see some pics once they start to develop their colour.

Don't get your hopes up too high on the moss ball...I have 5 of them and 10 Fire Red Shrimp and they all just hide. I can only ever see 4 or 5 of them at a time.

 

[Lillefishy]

I have cherries & black crystals & they're always out & about especially when I put pellets in for the corys.
Once they settle in & feel comfortable you'll see more of them as long as you don't have fish that will munch them

 

[kevingrods]

Hey, So first off, i do like having shrimp in the tank.  As far as the blue rili's I have spent some time and I can not locate one of them.  I am not sure if they have a great hiding spot or what.  I am praying that my fish did not eat them because they were so small.  My two ghost shrimp has become huge.  They both molted and now they are big and strong.  I am wondering if they ate the baby shrimp.  My first suspesion is the indian glass head in the tank, hes never done anything like this but he is the first to blame on my missing shrimp.
 
When i first got the ghost, i did not find them for 4 days and now they are monsters.  I hope in a week or so I can find some of these blues.  I am moving my cray into a 30 gallon tank i am working on so a 20 gallon tank becomes avaliable.  Im strongly considering a shrimp only tank. 

 

[Ninjouzata]

I imagine you did but figured I'd ask anyways, did you check in your filter?

 

[ech0o]

shrimp only tanks are recommended for sure.  i had a ghost shrimp death last night in my dwarf puffer tank, i suspect they may finally have turned on the shrimps.... it seems he had 1 chunk bit out of him, but certainly wasn't fully eaten, so it could have been natural death.

20 gallons would be GREAT for a fully planted, medium light, mossy shrimp tank!!!

 

[kevingrods]

wow echoo, yeh  I was actually kinda of thinking, maybe its time to start growing some plants, been doing more research and i think i should atleast honor this 20 gallon tank with this idea.

 

[DerpPH]

Shrimps show color with moderate to heavy plantig and dark substrate. Good starter plants are staurogyne repens, java moss, java fern, anubias, crypts, echinodora sp., and dwarf sag.