A few weeks ago an industry friend texted me that they had gotten a shipment of “black” amano shrimp. Never heard of black amanos, so I headed out to investigate. Sure enough, the tank had about a dozen black shrimp. Another customer had already taken all but those last dozen, so I scooped up the rest. Threw them into a little 10 gallon tank full of moss, and forgot about them until today.
Was testing camera settings with a Canon 250D close-up lens, and the trusty old Panasonic FZ-50, and thought I’d take some pix of those black shrimp. Imagine my surprise when I looked in the tank and saw that the shrimp were now blue! Initially I thought these “black” amanos were blue tiger shrimp, but after further research, I realize they’re not tigers. They really don’t have stripes. And the eyes are not the right colour.
Over the years there have been several other varieties of blue shrimp appearing on the market. Some that don’t breed true. Neocaridina heteropoda var “Blue”, var “Blueberry, “Fire Blue”, “Japan Blue”, “Blue Tuepfel”, Caridina cf babaulti “Blue”, and more.
These shrimp are actually Neocaridina sp. “Blue Crystal” (thx to Abraham for helping I.D. them).
They’re breeding like rabbits so I’ll find out soon if the colour is passed from one generation to the next!
They ordered Amano shrimp and the supplier sent these: Neocaridina sp. "Blue Crystal"
This one's a female.
Long rostrum with reddish-brown eyes. Intensely blue with a blue-green iridescence.
These snails are sharing the tank with the shrimp. They are one of my favourite little snails - Lymnaea species, a pond snail.
They have almost transparent flesh with bright white stars that seem to be floating. Reminds me of the little galaxy in MIB...
Snails and a horde of baby Blue Crystal shrimp attacking a koi stick. Most shrimp in this family start out translucent amber and colour up as they get older.
Dad and kids having a bite to eat. I think they've bitten off more than they can chew!
Still eating...
The babies look great and are actually showing a little variation in colour already.
This pic of a female blue turned out nice. That Canon lens really lives up to the hype! (Panasonic FZ-50, Minolta external flash, Canon 250D lens, shutter priority (1/1300), AF-Macro).
Close cropped to see the head detail. She's got amazing colours!
Fishopolis 