Selling Super Red Cherry Shrimp?

[Antoni]

Yes I think we are speaking about the same species. The difference in colouration is due to the conditions of the tank and the nutrition.
I have bought few cherries from a LFS and their colour was far from red. After about 2 weeks in the 'Hare Hill' tank which I have set up especially for shrimps, they have nice red colour.

This phenomenon is observed with fishes in the natural habitat as well.

I have been examine rudd, that lives in a clear water pond/rivers with abundant vegetation and dark bottom. They have intense colours, blood red fins, dark colouration of the body. In the same time in different habitat, with murky water, not much vegetation or light bottom, their colour is paler. This is more or less adaptation to the environment and protection from the predators. We are not talking about different species or grades of rudd.

In my opinion in the case with the RCS this is just a pure marketing trick. It is noting to do with the genetics.

 

[Bungy]

Im of the same opinion Antoni however I do believe that it is very easy to lose the colour strain with passing generations when in-breeding is taking place. It is imperative in my opinion to keep the gene pool healthy by adding different strains from time to time. Not all colonies of Cherries have the ability to produce a vibrant Red colour.

 

[Antoni]

Certainly! The inbreeding is weakening the gene and some mutations most certainly appear! Not to mention the immunity resistance and health state of the generations of close related parents.

 

[Bungy]

My "ferell" cherries are throwing up some interesting colour forms - im nurturing a batch of Orange shrimp at present and seem to be producing Orange consistantly now 3 generations later.

 

[hotweldfire]

I've seen Kesgrave selling "orange sakura" which may be a similar mutation to what you've got. The blue and black fire strains coming out of singapore at the moment are also interesting and I've been thinking of trying them. How do you find the stability? I've heard people complain that subsequent generations of these new variants lose colour quicker than the reds. This would make sense given it's a new mutation.

RE: environmental conditions and colour, absolutely. A stressed shrimp will lose colour. But you can't be held responsible for people keeping your shrimp in crap conditions. You grade when you have them and if they lose colour in someone else's tank then that's their fault.

The only exception is if you as a seller are deliberately feeding them foods that are designed to enhance colouration (i.e. with astaxanthin in it). This isn't necessarily out of order but some might see it as misleading.

 

[Bungy]

Stability wise, Im getting an Orange hue in all of the offspring, some a lot more than others so im just sifting through the best ones and putting the rest into my ferrel tank - this is the tank where all the poor coloured shrimp go to see what eventually gets thrown up...! Question for the geneticists....If I were to say try and produce a good Yellow strain but only had Yellow Males, would I get better results by pairing with a very Red female or a poor coloured female...?

 

[spyder]

You could try a backcross with the mother shrimp if possible. Works with angelfish genetics not too sure about shrimp though

 

[Bungy]

Difficult as I have approx 10 adult Red fems in with 10 adult Male yellows which would make it near impossible to know what mother the resulting offspring came from and I dont have the tank space to separate out any further.