# Red Amano?



## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

I think this has been covered before, but I can't remember what the outcome was.

One of my Amano's has suddenly changed to a red color. I've had them in the tank for nearly a year and they've all been a normal color, but this one has suddenly changed for some reason.










You can see the one in the plants/algae (ahem) on the left is a normal color, so I'm a little baffled as to why this one changed.

I recently started adding a color enhancing food on occasion, but I don't know if that would do it.

Or is it maybe just trying to look cool like the Cherry Reds? 

Any ideas?


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## Praxx42 (Mar 4, 2005)

Got any driftwood? I've a had a couple that have turned light brown, almost the color of your above, because they were living off algae growing on driftwood.

Now there *is* the "black" Amano, which is not an actual Amano, but bears a great physical resemblance to them but is a deep chocolate brown.


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## alexperez (Oct 8, 2004)

a Quote from petshrimp.com

"When shrimp are very sick and almost dying they change their colors...one of the more common sick colors is reddish"

I Hope that is not your case.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Uh-oh..... I do have a couple of large pieces of driftwoood with algae on them in the tank, so I hope that's the case rather than the latter.... :-s


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## omega (Apr 1, 2004)

IME, the color of death is PINK not red. If the pinkness is accompanied by a milky white body, then yeah, that shrimp is about to die soon. However, looking at your photo Jan, that shrimp's body is translucent/clear not cloudy. Only its shell is reddish. I'd bet that the shrimp is about to molt pretty soon. Take It Off! Take It Off! Take It Off! Woooo!

My fingers are crossed for you Jan that it's molting color.


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

I'll have to say I don't believe the color change to red/sickness thing (agree with Omega about pink and more solid like a cooked shrimp, not translucent). I'd think more about food, environment, etc. Just keep an eye on it and see if it acts any different.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Jan, I don't think you have any thing to worry about. My Amano's varies in color too, from the normal light coloration to the darker brown/red colors.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Thanks for the reassurance everyone.  

I hadn't thought of molting, and another one just did a few weeks ago, so maybe they all do it at similar times.

Another thing I'm wondering is why the other one in the pic is hanging out with this one all the time now? If I remember right, after a shed, they breed, right? 
Otherwise, if it is indeed dying, it makes me wonder about the social aspect of the shrimp.

I'll keep you posted.


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Who needs a 'red light district' when you can change colors :wink: :wink:


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

Regarding the site mentioned above, I have a few un-lady-like words about the owner. While it is true that sick/dying shrimp often do change in appearance, the converse is not necessarily true... Color change does NOT necessarily indicate a problem. Many people have posted photos of their shrimp on that site (while I used to go there), and that "wannabe God" was always like, "It looks sick. It's not the right color. I think it's going to die. In fact, I *know* it's going to die." Junk like that. He's even gone as far as saying that if a particular species is not such-and-such color, then it's an unhealthy specimen. Baloney.

I personally think color has a lot to do with diet and possibly even water pH/hardness/etc. It's entirely possible that the color-enhancing food is causing the redness. Since Amano shrimp don't "normally" exhibit the same degree of color-changing capabilities as rainbow shrimp or Malayan shrimp, I'm sure what you're seeing is due to the food. Just take the regular precautions - check the ingredients list on the label to make sure there's no copper salts in it. 

Maybe the other one is propositioning her for a little "action" and she's just really modest and blushing from embarrassment :biggrin: . 

-Naomi


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## Acsuth (Aug 16, 2005)

Hey --
I'm new to the site and was just looking through the shrimp threads. Last year, my big female amano turned the same color as the one in your photo. I knew something was wrong when she lost all her eggs...a few days after I noticed the color change, she molted and one of her eyes came off with her outer shell  She stayed red and lived another couple of weeks, but then I found her dead one morning....she wasn't that milky color either, even when I found her dead.
Just letting you know my experience, I hope the same thing doesn't happen to yours.

Amanda


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## Praxx42 (Mar 4, 2005)

Just a thought:

Is everyone dosing Iodine or feeding their shrimp with supplemental iodine-infused food? This could possibly take a lot of stress off your Amanos during molting.


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

I do dose iodide with water changes and feed occasional sea weed (Sea Veggies by Julian Sprung).


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## Sully (Nov 11, 2005)

Acsuth said:


> Last year, my big female amano turned the same color as the one in your photo. I knew something was wrong when she lost all her eggs...a few days after I noticed the color change, she molted and one of her eyes came off with her outer shell
> Amanda


That's sick!


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

I've had a "red" Amano shrimp for some time now. It is not blood red but rather the color of brownish cranberry juice and it has a distinctive beige line on the back. It's the biggest and most active shrimp in a non CO2 tank. It came that way and it has been well and alive well over 4 months now.

It maybe a different species or a variation of the original species because the "face" seems shorter than a regular Amano shrimp.

--Nikolay


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

I just saw that one of my Amanos is red. It has the markings of the Amano but the red color of a Cherry shrimp. At first I thought it was a Cherry intil I saw the markings. I also have Cherrys in this tank, I'm wondering any chance of them interbreeding :-k


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## ranmasatome (Aug 5, 2005)

No Chance AT ALL


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## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

Shrimp species will only interbreed if they are from the same genus.


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

I have several 'red' amano shrimp. From about a a batch of 50, 4-5 of
the females are 'red'. Its a significant color difference when you see
them side by side with a regular colored amano shrimp. I havent
noticed any problems with them molting or any coorelation between
them carrying eggs and their color - color stays the same regardless of
weather or not they're carrying eggs.


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Well if they all share a tank, I suspect we then can't consider dietary differences as reasons for the differences in color... Is there any chance that those 'red' Amanos are not actually "Amanos"?


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

ranmasatome said:


> No Chance AT ALL


HeHe... Didn't think so :smile:

PG... That's an interesting thought. I've only had 4 kinds of shrimp in this tank: Amano's, Cherry's, Crystal Red's and Green shrimp. I've never seen the red Amano until today.


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## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

trenac said:


> PG... That's an interesting thought. I've only had 4 kinds of shrimp in this tank: Amano's, Cherry's, Crystal Red's and Green shrimp. I've never seen the red Amano until today.


Maybe you never really noticed it untill you found out there is a color variation. Maybe they're shrimp hybrids with a dominant color trait?


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## Justikanz (Nov 4, 2005)

Interesting... Had not seen a cherry red Yamato before... Diet is usually the culprit... What colour enhancing food did you switched to?

Err, btw just curious ah, is the Yamato shrimp also known as the Amano shrimp in the States? I am just think it would be quite funnie if Amano understands English and reads that he is turning red and orange... haha... :lol: Oops... sorry... But then again, Yamato COULD be a name for another person...


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## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

Justikanz said:


> Err, btw just curious ah, is the Yamato shrimp also known as the Amano shrimp in the States? I am just think it would be quite funnie if Amano understands English and reads that he is turning red and orange... haha... :lol: Oops... sorry... But then again, Yamato COULD be a name for another person...


Yes, they are the same shrimp species. But I guess people in the US call them Amano shrimp while in the Asia they're referred to as Yamato shrimp?


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Justikanz said:


> Diet is usually the culprit... What colour enhancing food did you switched to?


It was New Life Spectrum color enhancing food that I added to the diet at the time.

I forgot all about that shrimp until this post was brought back up. I'm not sure what happened to it, since I haven't seen it for a long time. Either it turned back to the normal color (I _think_ I still have the original amount in there), or it died and I never found the carcass.


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## Justikanz (Nov 4, 2005)

I wonder if it will do wonders for cherries that refuses to look red...  But have to first check if the food is available in Singapore!


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