# Blue Pearl Shrimps?



## go9ma123 (Dec 22, 2007)

Hi.
I have got my 12 blue pearl shrimps this morning.
Took about 3 days...
This was frist time I've seen blue pearl.
When I opened bag, it looked like light brown color shrimps.
I know they were stressed and they need time to get their color back, but how long does it take to see some blue?
It has been tank for about 8 hours and I see no blue at all 
The person also has been deleted post as well and I wanted to see picture of shrimp one more time...
Any ways, all of 12 shrimps really look like brown shrimps 
Hope they get color back.


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## supersmirky (Oct 22, 2008)

Males are less colorful than the females. I don't really know much about these though. Here is a link to these guys for a little reading. They say they like zuchinni

http://www.theshrimpfarm.com/blue_pearl_shrimp.shtml


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## JohnPaul (Aug 28, 2006)

If they are adults or sub-adults and you see absolutely no hint of blue on them, then I hate to say it, you got scammed. Especially if you are seeing brown.

Blue Pearl shrimps, in my experience, range in color from white (about as white as snowball shrimp) to a rather deep blue. Most are what I would call an "ice blue" color; a whiteish look with a very light blue tint. As supersmirky mentioned, males are typically more pale and females a little darker on the blue. Many of them will also have some faint red spots (almost stripes) on the back half of the body as well.

For a few more pics of what they should look life, I refer you to Blue Pears at Arizona Inverts. For an example of one with a lot of red in it, I took a picture of my reddest one and posted it in the forums at the same sight: JP's BP with lots of Red.

If you wanted to post a picture or two of the shrimp you actually received, I'm sure those of us on the forums here could take a look and maybe let you know what we think.


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## oblongshrimp (Aug 8, 2006)

You can also see some pictures of blue pearls at my website The Shrimp Tank Blue pearls to seem to range in color though depending on the source. Some populations of blue pearls have a much stronger blue color then other populations. Environmental factors also play a role in how strong their color is. Do you have them on a dark substrate? (the color intensifies, or at least appears to on dark substrate). You may have gotten blue pearls as the seller said but the color quality of his population (or at least the ones he sent you) was poor.


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## Sunstar (Sep 17, 2008)

I so want those... damn, I've become a shrimpaholic.


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## JohnPaul (Aug 28, 2006)

oblongshrimp said:


> You can also see some pictures of blue pearls at my website The Shrimp Tank


Great picture there of your BP's, oblongshrimp!


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## oblongshrimp (Aug 8, 2006)

thanks . I am finally figuring out how to use my camera.


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## rod (Aug 10, 2005)

Do you know if they can be kept with cherry red shrimp or will they mix?


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## Sunstar (Sep 17, 2008)

if the're neocardina they'll mix.


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## oblongshrimp (Aug 8, 2006)

blue pearls will interbreed with cherries. Check out my compatibility chart. It doesn't have all the species but it has most of the common ones.


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## go9ma123 (Dec 22, 2007)

I do have africana ADA substrate.
The size of shrimps are adults to sub-adults.
Any ways 6 days been passed and I see 1-2 shrimps with very small blue color, but almost all the shrimps do have still brown color. 
When I saw the pictures of the sellers shrimps I can see the blue right away.
Probably seller wanted get rid of non blue colors of shrimps...


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## oblongshrimp (Aug 8, 2006)

hopefully you will get some nicer colors in future generations.


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## go9ma123 (Dec 22, 2007)

I now place them into other tank.
This tank do have darker substrate which is ADA amazonia.
I hope this will help me get blue color, but still didn't help.
So, I ordered some blue pearls few days ago from aquabid and I got the shipping today. 
I place them into the tank and these shrimps, I can tell them they are blue pearl shrimps.
90% of the shrimps I got, they had blue color.
Take a look at the pictures.
What are the first 2 shrimps? (One look like cherry and other look like brown or yellow mixed shrimp...)
Last 2 pictures are the shrimps I've got today.
As you can see, last 2 pictures, you see blue color.
Those are from other breeder.
If only few shrimps are like that, I won't really care, but 7-9 shrimps are like that...
The seller plantedtank pmed me says using darker will help with blue color, but I don't think it's because of substrate...
I do have other shrimps with africana substrate and they breed well and colors are great.
I also did see some people having brown and redish substrate and they had blue color. 
Seller was msjinkzd and he has delete the post of sell/trade...
I paid $40 bucks for these shrimps and now I feel little mad...
I don't know how he is keeping shrimps, but I think he has been keeping with other shrimps...
The seller also told me he caught whatever he can and sent them to me, but far as what I think, seller only picked non blue color from his tank... -_-


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## oblongshrimp (Aug 8, 2006)

The last pictures look much better. No idea on those first two pictures. If you can I would separate them from your new blue pearls so you do no pollute the gene pool.


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## JohnPaul (Aug 28, 2006)

oblongshrimp said:


> The last pictures look much better. No idea on those first two pictures. If you can I would separate them from your new blue pearls so you do no pollute the gene pool.


I concur, I would separate out the first batch from the second. Otherwise, you might start losing the blue color in the blue ones as well.


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## Sunstar (Sep 17, 2008)

the blue ones are pretty and I concur keep them away from the other ones.


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## go9ma123 (Dec 22, 2007)

For now, I will have to keep them here until other tank is fully cycled...
It really hurts when seller want to make profit and get rid of the shrimps that he doesn't want... 
I now going to be extra careful when buying shrimps.


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## CincyCichlids (Oct 14, 2005)

I would suggest emailing the seller and explaining what you found. Just be cautious on how you explain... if it's aggressive, they'll likely get very defensive quickly. This is still a pretty new hobby, and the seller may truly be misinformed. 

I want to say that I wasn't the seller haha, just playing the devil's advocate.

As far as Blue Pearls are concerned, I feel that sometimes their molting cycle or mood can change their color. I've had some brilliant females that suddenly turned a little brownish until they molted again, I don't know why, but they were breeding well and acted fine. But judging by your pictures, I seriously doubt the first two were blue pearls.


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## oblongshrimp (Aug 8, 2006)

Here are some pictures of mine. I got them from multiple sources and the quality varies as you can see. As soon as i get some more tanks cycled I plan to separate them out and see what I can get.


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## Sunstar (Sep 17, 2008)

I rather like the greenish ones.


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## go9ma123 (Dec 22, 2007)

Sunstar said:


> I rather like the greenish ones.


Blue Pearls are better~


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## Sunstar (Sep 17, 2008)

I wouldn't say I didn't like blue pearls...I just want More tanks.


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