UV Deepens Red colour of Cherry Shrimp

[Richard Dowling]

Hi All,

This may already be common knowledge but I've made a bit of a discovery which has led me to question the grading of shrimp. I have pretty low grade Red Cherry Shrimp in terms of colouration. Every now and then I get a nice red one but generally they are dull and boring. As my aquarium is brimming with shrimp I decided to put a few in my Turtle Terrarium which is an 80 litre tank half filled with plants, rocks, sand, same temperature etc as my other aquarium. It has Uv lighting and a heat lamp. My Turtle has always completely ignored her fish tankmates so I tested her with shrimp. I found that after a month or so all of the shrimps are accounted for so she's not eating them, if anything I've found the shrimp grooming her skin whilst she sits there! I have found though that what were very boring red cherries are now super red!

I thought shrimp grades are based on genetics and selective breeding!? Have I just found a way of bypassing that with UV?

 

[Aqua360]

I've heard it mentioned on here by others, that the colour deepens as they try to blend in with their surroundings; if potential predators are nearby

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Turtle Terrarium which is an 80 litre tank half filled with plants, rocks, sand, same temperature etc as my other aquarium. It has Uv lighting and a heat lamp.

It might be the UV lamp. Decapod crustaceans (shrimps, crabs, lobsters etc) show brighter colours when kept in brighter light.

But my suspicion would be that the enhanced red colour is caused by diet, and your shrimps (in the turtle tank) are getting more of the carotenoid pigment astaxanthin in their diet, either from the turtle food, or from green algae in the tank.

cheers Darrel