# Surprise in my Crystal Reds



## Ben Belton (Mar 14, 2004)

I received some Crystal Reds I ordered today. They are swimming around everywhere. I hope it is not a sign they are unhappy and trying to get out. 

Anyway, the seller I guess mistakenly put in a bumble bee shrimp in with them. It's really cool, so I guess it's not a bad thing, but will it breed with the Crystals and possibly mess up my colors? The only other tank I have to put it in has Cherries. Would it be better over there to keep my Crystal's genetics in better shape? I don't mind messing with the Cherry Shrimp genetics. They didn't cost so $$$$$$$$.

Ben


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## billionzz (Apr 9, 2005)

CRS can crossbreed with Bumblebee shrimp.

Bill


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

It's possible that you may have a Bee Shrimp..which is basically a Crystal Red shrimp too, but black. Long ago, bee shrimp were selected for this red striping coloration...hence the creation of the Crystal Red Shrimp.

My guess the seller threw in the Bee shrimp to help diversify the genetics. That means, if that black one mates with a red one you'll get half a brood of black striped, and half red. People breed this way, because the Black bee shrimp will have some genes that the Red striped one doesn't. Introducing the gene back into the strain improves genetic frequency, "toughness" in the future lines.

-John N.


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## dstephens (Nov 30, 2005)

Ben,

I heard yesterday that there has been a report of counterfeit CRS showing up in the U.S. market. There is some kind of special food that enables the breeder to convert Cherries to a deep red with crisp white, marbled stripes. It has caused a lot of confusiopn about authenticity among breeders in Japan and SE Asia. Anyway, congratulations and good luck.


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

It might be a black diamond/bee shrimp. Does it looks like the CRS but with black/dark brown instead?


-Pedro


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## Ben Belton (Mar 14, 2004)

ha ha... well it seems the person who sold the shrimp to me has been reading my post. He said it was a Bee Shrimp and he threw it in as a present. I like it. I figured he threw it in to tempt me into buying some Bee Shrimp. It would have worked too 



> My guess the seller threw in the Bee shrimp to help diversify the genetics. That means, if that black one mates with a red one you'll get half a brood of black striped, and half red. People breed this way, because the Black bee shrimp will have some genes that the Red striped one doesn't. Introducing the gene back into the strain improves genetic frequency, "toughness" in the future lines.


This is interesting. I had not heard this, but have not kept up with shrimp information either. Does anyone else have comments to make on this? I am interested because over the last few months my regular cherries have been looking crappy and I think the constant inbreeding has been rough on them. I ordered more of them the other day too to help deepen the gene pool. The bearded femals with testicles should have been a clue.



DSTEPHENS said:


> Anyway, congratulations and good luck.


Oh.. you know if I keep them going you'll get some. 
They seem to have settled down. They aren't swimming around as much and just looking for food. They were not cheap, but I have wanted them for awhile, so I hope they do well.

I figure I have good water quality, but can someone refresh me on what is best for these boogers?


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## dstephens (Nov 30, 2005)

Got ya................ I don't know what I been smoking today that made me think it would be funny to sabotage your good news. I just figured you would find a way to get even with me...... Pedro, just messing with Ben's head. Sorry if I threw you for a curve with the counterfeit CRS gig. Yes, the sri lankan shrimp are doing fantastic which actually surprises me and that is only because I had to put them in my 6 gallon cherry breeder tank and the cherries are like ants all over the place. They are beautiful shrimp. I love their eyes. Thank you again. Ben, hope your CRS turn out good. sending you an email. I'm out.


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