Red Paratya

[kizshrimp]

I've been meaning to start this thread for a while and I intend to keep it going for some time. A couple of us down here in Melbourne have known for a quite while about a coloured population of Paratya shrimps. A few had been collected but when the shrimp fever really hit me in 2009 I decided to collect a few and have a decent try with them. My big plans came to nothing, which of course is the same as most other's experience with this genus. 

 

Please note, these photos are 5 years old and I need to collect this form again before I can post any more. In the next couple of months that will happen, and my big plans will start over again. 

 

Red Paratya with typical specimens: 

 

close up crop: 

 

more specimens: 

 

berried female: 

 

In this population there are black shrimp, blue shrimp and red shrimp. Some blacks have a blue base colour and some have red. This is an interesting parallel, I think, with Neocaridina davidii. However, these Paratya change colour radically which is quite different from cherries I've seen at least. 

 

[Proto]

When you say your bug plans came to nothing what do you mean? They they just turn clear, only breed clear, all died, etc.

I've come across a number of people who've been breeding paratya with limited success who suggest tannins and their colour seem connected.

Edited December 9, 2014 by Proto

[kizshrimp]

My plans were, of course, to line breed some coloured shrimp. As you can see in the final pic, the females have very small eggs that lead to large numbers of planktonic larvae, and I was sadly not successful in raising a single one. I have some ideas for my next try and hopefully will achieve something. First I have to collect more stock. 

 

I always have some tannins in the water unless I'm keeping something like Tanganyikan Cichlids or marines in the tank - so I can't comment on a connection between tannins and colour. The problem with colour in these shrimp is that they all change. You can select coloured individuals from collection and house them together. Clear ones go in a different tank. Coloured shrimp can change colour or go clear and clear ones can become coloured. They seem completely unstable. In a different post in a different thread I commented that there's problems with the idea of line breeding this form and this is largely what I was referring to.

I'd love to get my hands on some different stock from a coloured population to observe their colour stability in an aquarium.  Especially a large-egged direct developing form (which I have never seen in Paratya) so that raising them is easier. 

[Proto]

Ah. So an initial observation. May be. But early to make that call though without breeding, after narrowing down the gene pool (line breeding) near really know what might turn up.

[Grubs]

Just offering encouragement @kizshrimp.   I've seen pictures of these red Paratya over the years but never seen one in the flesh.

[Jenbenwren]

Great to see some more info on another Aussie Native, thanks Kizshrimp. These guys look and sound like interesting shrimp to both see in their natural habitat and to keep as well.

I'm not to sure if I fully grasp the term 'planktonic larvae' though. Does it mean that, instead of hatching as little fully formed shrimplets that are just tiny versions of their parents, they hatch as something that looks different to the parents and go through several more changes until they look like little shrimp versions of their parents. I spent quite a few hours reading about 'planktonic larvae' on google, but I don't think I fully understand what it means.

[Proto]

Great to see some more info on another Aussie Native, thanks Kizshrimp. These guys look and sound like interesting shrimp to both see in their natural habitat and to keep as well.

I'm not to sure if I fully grasp the term 'planktonic larvae' though. Does it mean that, instead of hatching as little fully formed shrimplets that are just tiny versions of their parents, they hatch as something that looks different to the parents and go through several more changes until they look like little shrimp versions of their parents. I spent quite a few hours reading about 'planktonic larvae' on google, but I don't think I fully understand what it means.

 

 

Yes that is correct. They don't hatch as minature versions of the parents, they hatch as something else and eventually become minature shrimp (if they are lucky, little success seems to be had in aquariums, ponds have been more successful)

[Jenbenwren]

Thank you Proto :-)

[Tankeyone]

Hey Kiz, whereabouts are you located? I've picked up some Paratya from a local creek that have developed a green tinge recently, if you're local... ?

[Matuva]

Hey Kiz,

how are your reds doing?

[Baccus]

I have heard of limited success with larval forms of shrimp in pond situations. If you could set up a small pond with natural light, water plants, timbers and natural fallen leaves and no filteration you may be lucky enough to get some larval shrimp to mature to adulthood. Of course you may need to provide a relatively "safe" predator to control unwanted mosquito populations in the pond. To mind a couple of "safe" predators might be spotted blue eyes or threadfins depending on your location, but certianly something with a small mouth that wont hunt all your shrimp. A small fish that I know from experience is not shrimp safe is Sparkling gouramis. That or cover the pond with fly screen, which to my mind sort of defeats the purpose of having an open aired pond that allows natural eco-systems to evolve.

If you did set up such a pond and then only add shrimp that where showing strong colour then techniqually you would have limited the gene pool to that preferred adaptation. Even with a lot of generations of only coloured shrimp being left to breed in such a set up, probably wont "set" the desired colour but it should eventually limit the numbers of non-coloured emerging in your population.