Hi guys,

I moved a few tank inhabitants around and have noticed something interesting: I moved OEBT mixed grades in with Pumpkin cherries thinking the colour combo would look awesome ( I have to say, it does ?) : some of my blonde tigers that are clear or that displayed a pale blue while in a blue tiger- only tank, have now turned light orange as they forage together in the tanks and there are more pumpkin cherries than there are tigers for now. The shrimp are very healthy, my parameters are are stable and exactly where I want them to be. Shrimp populations are quite small. This is quite similar to what I have noticed in my other tanks : my large DAS females turn a pale hue of the coloured shrimp they hang out with : one in my tiger tank is quite an impressively light blue colour for a native, another DAS that hangs out with orange rilis sometimes goes orange-ish. I suspect it might be the desire to camouflage themselves in the group from predators? I have large Otocinclus groups...just speculation here. Does anyone have this happening in their tanks? At this stage I am unsure of whether the blonde tigers are staying orange, or reverting back to blonde/ light blue throughout the day...

I know that substrate colour can influence the colour of the Neocaradina group - when you use a light substrate the shrimp go paler possibly to blend in with the substrate and conversely if you use a darker substrate they become darker. However the Tigers have been surprising a lot of us by their ability to change colour from tank to tank. I think we have shown how Disciples Tigers have changed colour completely in several different buyers tanks, we think due to change in PH but now with your experience perhaps it is a camouflage effect to not stand out. They are a fascinating group of shrimp indeed!

Yeah I've had a similar experience! My light blue and blonde OEBT change colour a lot. The light blues can be a sort of dark blue-brown one week and then a much lighter blue the other. Blondes will go from dark amber to a... blonder colour? haha. Water parameters not really changing, but ph is higher (about 7.5). If anything the colour changes seem to sync up with their mood. When they are hungry and out foraging they will go lighter than when they are chilling on the mangrove root which is their favourite spot.