I bit the Bullet

[Baccus]

So I finally bit the bullet and made a determined effort to sort out my black cherry shrimp. A while ago I removed all the chocolate (really deep dark brown) and yesterday I hunted blues,  and any remaining chocolates from the tank.

Amazingly I found heaps of Black backed with blue underside Cherry's which I don't plan on putting back with the blacks since they are not full bodied black and also some stunning deep royal blue cherry's. Even tiny shrimplet blues where emerging out of the recesses of the tank as I removed every possible hidey hole during my hunt for shrimp.

So here are a couple of shots of the quality of the blues I did remove.

The big female wasn't wanting to co-operate for a photo shoot.

[WhySoCRS]

Very nice mate, beautiful colour, the blues really catch the eye don’t they.

Wish everything was going smooth for my tank & shrimp.


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[Baccus]

I think the deep dark blue is my favourite shrimp colour after Crystal Red and Black. But since experience has taught me that crystal shrimp don't love me as much as I love them I stick to the Cherry's and Natives.

I'm sure your tank will settle down, mostly it just takes time and having to wait between too many drastic changes to find the happy medium.

[WhySoCRS]

Could well be the path I head down the way I’m going.

The Blues are stunning aren’t they, I also like the Bloody Mary but the Blue Dreams go BANG!


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[Baccus]

An interesting development in the black cherry shrimp tank.

After removing everyone I could find that was not black black including the odd wild type that still occasionally cropped up I am now finding what remained of the black breeding colony is now producing dark red, lots more blues and some slight yellowish offspring.

The only thing added to the tank since the massive resort has been a clay log (have used it in tanks for years so I would say tank safe) and some tiny peacock gudgeons. The tank already housed a couple of whiptails, Pacific Blue Eyes and nerite snails so I am not certain the addition of a new potential predator would make the shrimp go crazy in the what colour to produce department.

Is it possible that in removing the blacks that had blue underneath I destabilised the black component of their genetic make up?

[ineke]

Hi Baccus long time since we talked. I have my original black colony from  2013 that came from Dean. I eventually just left them to themselves even keeping a lot outside - which here in SA is probably not recommended. Anyway my colony consistently throws - deep black with blue base, blues of varying shades, lovely chocolates , good bloody mary but also a few wild types but not many. As I have closed my shrimp room I don't have tanks to spare so they will be left together. I haven't added any new genetic lines since 2013 and I'm not having any issues with deformities. 

I did at one time put each colour into a separate tank and they bred about 95% true to colour in each tank however the blacks continued to give a variety .

When I first received my colony from Dean there were Blacks and Chocolates together -That's how he sent them and that's how i kept them. I did cull any lighter shrimp and a good many blues until I realised the blues were of interest. Unfortunately not many people seem to be able to get them to breed true100% - Blue Diamonds require a lot of culling and even then they generally give a wide variation in blue.

I have included some pictures of the original colony sorry about the quality but phones weren't very good for pictures back then. I don't have any blue or red pictures available but will try to get some of the current shrimp over the next few days -they are all in together in my big tank or outside in the pond

Edited June 25, 2018 by ineke

[Baccus]

Thank you for the imput Ineke. I too started with a mix of chocolate and black, nearly lost the lot thanks to an invasion of dragonfly caddis's and I ended up putting the few survivors into my 1000L pond. Months later I found chocolates in the pond and got interested in trying to get a good tank of them again.

I swear my black cherry shrimp tank is determined to do my head in...….Almost every shrimp in there now is either blue (and practically all the shrimplets are blue) or a very definant blue/black. And the 4ft where I put all the dark chocolates are now producing lots of blacks. I know its an odd thing to complain about, getting too many blues, but come on I really loved the glossy all black cherry's.

Oh and on a side note. In the dedicated Blue cherry tank I am getting deep blues, clear blues (diamonds?) and apparently for good measure blue rilli. And there is no way the shrimp can get between the tanks because no swapping around of plants has occurred and the tanks are a good 2-3m apart over a concrete floor.

[ineke]

Unfortunately unless we can get at the black shrimp and cull everything else constantly we will always end up with a few blues etc. I tried for sometime to get just blacks but I think it must stem back from when the blacks were first being bred here and nearly always kept with chocolates. Even back in my 2013 colony that i got from Dean there were blacks and chocolates together. The blues didn't start turning up straightaway but even with culling I ended up with all 4 colours. i know many people have the same issue when trying to breed the blue diamonds- blue from black -they have to cull hard and constantly and truthfully I don't think any or at least only a few have a large colony of blue diamonds that breed 100% true. 

You need to try and find a few blacks that don't show the deep blue - try putting them in a white container near a light source - you will see the blue/black colour more readily -if you are lucky enough to get a trio of true black without the blue base you might get started -good luck!