# Cherry and Sakura, will they hybrid?



## Gordonrichards

Hi, I'm going to be picking up some Sakura shrimp. Retarded question for the shimp people out there, but aren't they just plain old cherry shrimp that are super red?

I'm planning on letting them cross with my regular cherries, hopefully they get a little bit redder in a few generations.

Ideas? Let me know.

-Gordon Richards


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## NeonFlux

They are in the very same family, however Sakura shrimps are obviously more intense red, and I believe they get larger than your average adult Cherry shrimp. I actually just purchased some today, and will get them on Thursday. 

To me, I think the crossing idea is mm..okay....but I usually like to keep both lines separate to prevent cherry and sakura shrimp confusion, imo. 

Some cherry reds are already pretty red..but sakuras are true and high grade red..I'm thinking like SS red Cherry shrimp lol


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## Gordonrichards

Yeah. I know a shop in New York City that sells them in China Town.
$4.00 a pop.

I'm hoping to scoop out some females, hopefully berried. 
I think I'm going to be doing a cross between the Sakura and Cherries that I have.

Whenever I mange to find someone to purchase my Angel Fish.


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## NeonFlux

Well, I guess if you are going to try and cross them, and you succeed, I would call the hybrids "Sakura Cherry Shrimp", in my opinion, it's not official, but I just thought that name would be cool. 

"Sakura" is actually a Japanese word for cherry..so guess what? Call it Cherry Cherry Shrimp then? Lol, Or perhaps the name "Super Cherry Shrimp" would make sense.

You know what? I might cross mine too seeing you are quite serious about it n_n Now I might need another tank...temptation..


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## Gordonrichards

I figure why not. Next time I run in I'll try to pick up a mix of females and males from the guy. I have to remember to bring a breather bag or two.

-Gordon


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## tex627

sakuras are cherries. really dark red female cherries. almost in every single healthy colony theres at least a few nice red females. they take those females out and call them sakuras. its good to introduce new genes to your colony but sakuras are totally over hyped.


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## Gordonrichards

Picked up 6 "sakura" shrimps, I think I managed to grab at least two or three saddled females, I'll see. Not much of a selection as it seemed other people might have grabbed the good ones first.

More red then any of my original cherry shrimp. Hopefully will add some color to my existing colony.

-Gordon


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## Emily6

So i Google Imaged Sakura shrimp and loads of photos of Chinese food dishes came up- specifically of jarred or dried tiny red shrimp. I'm thinking there's more to the name than just select female cherry shrimp. Admittedly, they look just like the choice females in my herd of cherry shrimp. So I don't know what the deal is.

You could call your hybrid "cherry bombs."


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## Gordonrichards

Well I'll see what happens. They're in a 10 gallon tank with a breeding group of cherries at the moment. I'll see what happens in a few months. To me they're still cherry shrimp.

The Sakura though, do not seem to lose their red coloring, like my other cherries have. They're alway dark red. Really sexy trait I hope passes down the line.


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## giypsy

Gordon, do you know what makes Cherries loose their color? I have a 10g & a 5g. In the 5g I transferred the darkest bodied who also seem to have a more pronounced hump in the spine formation about six months ago. 

Plenty of babies in both tanks but individual shrimps are very small in both tanks as well as so pale they look more like ghost/glass. Thoughts?


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## DogFish2.0

As I understand "cherrys" and all the various more red versions are all just mophs of the same shrimp selectively breed. But, like all such "man made" animals they don't breed true. I'm sure if someone put the effort in they would find the color morphs follow Gergor Mendel's formula.


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## Gordonrichards

Talk about a blast from the past.

It depends on genetics.

Keep breeding the best of your best together.

Cull out the ones that are pale and the coloring should improve over time.

We're talking generations. You'll see a difference in the second and third generations.
You just have to keep culling to make a better looking line.

You could however purchase better looking shrimps, but you'll still have to cull.
All lines need to be culled. You will always face mutations, and some shrimp will come out looking questionable.
Those have to go.

What dogfish says though is not true. They do breed true. Its all a question of percentages.

I have a 20 gallon long with the original adults still hanging on strong. 33 long is filled with generation 2.
I never cull.

-Gordon


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## giypsy

At the rate these guys are multiplying, generations will not take all that long.
I have considered bringing in a few from someone else's strain
once a year anyway.
Thanks!


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## Gordonrichards

Once a year is right on the money. Every 4 generations you'll want some fresh blood in the mix. I have a Sakura colony. When you need some new blood let me know. I sell them at $2.00 each or would trade for super rare crypts :^)

-Gordon


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## NeonFlux

Hey Gordon, so did you end up mixing your cherries and sakuras? Lol I didn't. I actually did not go with the decision to mix my cherry and sakuras, by the way, if you were wondering haha... 

Ironically, my sakuras (from planetinvert's) did not end up being intense red over time at all.. I guess they sort of reverted back to cherries lol Probably because I don't cull some or give them more attention than my SRCS..


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## Gordonrichards

I personally never did. I took sakura culls out and put them into one of my old cherry tanks.

My Sakura throw some great looking females and some great looking males though a percentage of them are culls.
You can pretty much tell what the quality is when they are juvies though. I've never cared much about keeping high quality juvies though.

80% of Females for the most part are solid around 3 months.
Some of them get that thick red layering as they age showing a darker red under. Forget what they call it.

I would say out of every 100 shrimp I should probably be culling 5 of them.

My breeder group is f2 generation. Probably 200+ adults.

All the females are berried right now so I'll have a few thousand Sakura available in the future.
Hoping I can get myself an x-mas gift of 3 t5 light fixtures with the proceeds plus new tanks for crypts :^)

I'll take a full tank shot when I feed them tomorrow for you to see how they look.

-Gordon


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## johnny313

Gordonrichards said:


> Yeah. I know a shop in New York City that sells them in China Town.
> $4.00 a pop.


is it Win pets?


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## niptek

Sakura shrimps are awesome. I wouldn't mix with cherries that aren't looking too red unless you don't care about the gene fading out over time.


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## TarantulaGuy

Natural variation most likely. Why are some peoples hair blond and others brown? Genetic variation combined with environmental variation. Cherries will color up a bit as they get older too. Newborn cherries tend to be very pale, its easier for them to hide from predators when they're not brilliant red. They'll color up, but if you keep weaning out the *adult* super pale shrimp and keep only the brilliant red ones, over many generations you should see a shift in the color distribution to dark red. Basically, you'll have made your own Sakuras.


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## trit0n2003

Over time it will help increase your overall population's red intensity as long as you keep culling the lesser quality offspring. Also introducing new genes will help keep strong shrimp coming out.


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## Newt

So, I guess the same goes for Taiwan Fire Red shrimp as well ?


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