# RCS Marketing Insanity



## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

when I took a break from this hobby 2 years ago, people bred red cherry shrimp.
now you see; sakura, fire red, taiwan fire red, painted fire red - it's ridiculous 
they are basically all the same shrimp, simply culled for more and more redness.
I think RCS need their own red grading standard, like the letter grades on CRS.


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## J-P (Jan 5, 2010)

that would be a good idea 

But males and females are colored differently, would you focus on one vs the other?


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## Gordonrichards (Apr 28, 2009)

Prices are over rated currently. I see people charging between 5.00-7.00 each which is crazy, that is grade S+ crystal red shrimp pricing. Then again in New York City chances are people are paying $4.00 each for standard cherry shrimp anyway.

In the spring I'll have a bunch of sakura packages available, and will be charging around $2.00 each. I think that is a fair price, hopefully by offering some members on the forum the strain, they can continue providing it to others. I know I have some shrimps with your name on them spypet.

Grading is below:
A. Cherry
B. Sakura
C. Taiwan Fire Red blah blah blah.

What people don't say, is that the "Taiwan Fire Red" still throw ones you need to cull. Which is why I'm happy calling my shrimp Sakura, since their bodies are completely red. Just like Taiwan Fire Red. All shrimp tanks require culling, its a fact.

-Gordon


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

the prices have dropped considerably too... it used to be like 5 bucks a piece, then 1 buck, and now its 50 cents each.
well... many good things come from taiwan. i for one, have parents that emigrated from taiwan. and there is that petty argument of taiwan is part of china >.>
well anyways, stuff like king kong shrimp originated from taiwan and such. so it seems to make sense that they'd export breeds of shrimp that are fully colored via taiwan fire red, sakura, etc.
and yes... how'd a rcs grading chart work? a lot of people are using these guys as feeder shrimp, unlike the treasured crs. the "higher grades" of rcs look really nice though. although i think they've made too many names for the "higher grades" of rcs. taiwan fire red are a bit orangish, and sakura are like a fully blood red.


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

Gordonrichards said:


> I know I have some shrimps with your name on them spypet.


I'm cool - my shrimp tank ambitions change weekly,
so no need to save anything for me - sell away 
I'm actually leaning towards getting yellow neocaridina now,
since I have plenty of red in my now berried CRS already.

I just found all this red marketing amusing,
while monitoring sales from various sources.
I laughed while reading a sellers feedback
who complained his "Taiwan fire red" were
not as red as Sakura he'd bought before;
like there is a red quality control standard.


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## aquarliam (Dec 26, 2010)

You're telling me there's no difference between your cherries and these?


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## James0816 (Oct 9, 2008)

Fire Reds are just higher grade RCS from what I understand. I would have to imagine, much like any selective bred species, the females will still throw "less than desireable" babes.

Just like high grade CRS, they will throw lower grades as well.


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

James, that's what makes this marketing even more hilarious,
since you invariably get a shipment of shrimp adolescents,
it become a crap shoot which variant you may get that
you just paid a premium for.

Aqualiam, sure years of culling by thousands of hobbyists
was bound to redden the breed, just don't believe what
you see a lit up and photo shopped shrimp photo.

these ads should have the disclaimer;
_your results may vary_ 
but I guess that's true of any breeding project.


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## aquarliam (Dec 26, 2010)

spypet, those shrimp breed true, culling rate 5%. There are plenty of people buying them and completely satisfied. It's fine to be skeptical, but you shouldn't tell people what or what not to believe... Especially since I own shrimp that look very similar to these.


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

yup, you are right - seeing is believing.
i don't doubt such shrimp are out there,
only there is no system to grade them.
maybe they should be graded according 
to culling %rate from full redness lost


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## Gordonrichards (Apr 28, 2009)

So far my babies are coloring up nice.

My adults are better looking then in the Silane photo, more solid red lol.


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## fargokid (Sep 7, 2010)

it would be incredibly arbitrary to grade them based on color. There are no defining features like crs or cbs or tigers or??? They are all different variations of red.


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## Gordonrichards (Apr 28, 2009)

Yes, different variations. Some are more red then others.

I have three colonies.
Pale cherry shrimp. (Females don't ever become solid"
Cherry Hybrids "Tan/brown to black type depending on mood"
Sakura Shrimp

They might not have designs like "crs or cbs, but they can be graded based on how solid their color is.


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## aquarliam (Dec 26, 2010)

I know that one of the defining features of fire reds is full red coverage on legs.


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## m3177o (Jan 16, 2009)

these fire red are making the red cherry obsolete. i can imagine 2-3 years down the road, new hobbyist wont even know what the regular red cherries are. lol. im jk. im sure these guys will be around for a while as long as people like us are keeping the hobby alive.


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## mfgann (Nov 10, 2010)

Are the fire reds like the higher grade CRS, meaning are they much more sensative to water conditions than the regular RCS?

My first batch of RCS I got from aquabid were very pale, the second I got from a forum member turned out really nicely colored. Now I have a lot of culling to do to get a good colony going. Thats the frustrating part. 

Would adding some sakuras to the colony redden up the whole batch over time? I'm trying to decide whether to make a second colony or whether to just add better genetics in.

Thanks.


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## aquarliam (Dec 26, 2010)

No, they're not harder to keep, they're only as sensitive as cherries.

And if you get sakuras, just eliminate your cherries, don't put buttercream frosting on a dirt cake.

Adding sakuras to a regular or pale cherry tank will just make your sakura babies less attractive.


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## Gordonrichards (Apr 28, 2009)

The Sakura I have are full red. Some have red legs, some have partial red coloring on the legs, others don't have red on the legs. I'll be starting my first rounds of selective breeding eventually on them, and will have two groups. You can upgrade the coloring of your cherries by getting better colored stock. That is all Sakura are, just a red shrimp.
-Gordon


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## LVKSPlantlady (Oct 4, 2009)

Im wondering about problems with inbreeding... seems like if you only get 25 shrimp form one source at the rate they breed they would become extremely inbreed rather quickly... no matter how red they are or are not... I'm going to start a new thread about this, please comment there...


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

most inbreed for 6 generations then start looking for new genealogy,
others who are more resourceful keep adding new genetics every cull.


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