# making cherry reds more red



## vha7777 (Mar 4, 2009)

I just got some cherry red shrimp and I was wondering how I can get them to be more red in color. many of them are very light in color, just a little bit of red on some, but I just assumed i got quite a few males and they are all quite small/young. thanks in advance


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## gibmaker (Jan 3, 2007)

Selective breeding. if you pull the the really red cherrys and put them in a tank of there own the offspring should be just as red


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## tex627 (Nov 2, 2008)

when i got my batch of cherries they had very little red to them but once they settled down, matured and started breeding, the females turned bright red. feeding them lots of plant matter will help also. i personally dont like the cherries too red because in a planted aquarium, having bright red shrimp swimming around doesnt look very natural.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Add more traces, and more intense lighting, lower the nitrates...  just kidding.

Selective breeding will work, but also keep in mind that young shrimp, fish and most other animals tend to develop more intense colors as they get older. So your shrimp won't start to get their adult red colors until they reach sexual maturity at about 2-3 months. 

Breeding animals color up much more than normal animals, so when they start to breed you will notice their colors are most intense.

You could also try feeding them food containing carotenoids and other red pigments as they grow up. This should help them be their most colorful when they reach adulthood.

One last thing: female cherry shrimp are the ones that are the most red. The males will be mostly clear with some red coloring, so don't expect too much from the males.


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## GlitcH (Aug 21, 2006)

From birth to juvies they can be nearly transparent, as they mature and start to reproduce they certainly do deepen in color. 
But they don't reach their deepest red until they reach their maximum length of about an inch. 
Which can be as much as 6-8 months after they first berry up. 
Once the body isn't growing anymore it seems their system puts more into thickening their shell, or perhaps they just don't molt as much anymore. 
This is the time when they get very deep red and start to look really impressive IMO.

Here is a shot of my cherries chowing down. The oldest is the one on top  
See how there is zero transparency to the shell at that size?


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## BrianO (Nov 15, 2008)

I have also read where the color of the background and substrate has a bearing on how red the females get. Tanks with dark gray substrate and/or lots of green plants will yield redder shrimp. I find there is some merit to this idea because when I first got my shrimp I put some shrimp in one tank and and several others in a densely planted tank. Many of the shrimp in the densely plants tank are strikingly red.


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## praxis5624 (Apr 22, 2006)

I have purchased RCS from many different sources and like most breeders here who would like to perfect RCS's colors, I selected ones with better color and housed them separately in hopes of improving the color. There will be some not less than perfect results and it is important to monitor and remove those to ensure your main goal stays on track.


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## vha7777 (Mar 4, 2009)

thanks for all the great info, I only got my shrimp in on wed and they are settling down and turning slightly darker in color almost every day! I wasn't planning on feeding them anything special (there are a few neons in the tank so I was just gonna let them eat the left over flake food and whatever they can get from all the plants in the tank) but should I give them something else? thanks again


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## wonword (Apr 10, 2008)

You could feed them some zuchinni or cucumbers and spinach.. Mine love all of these..


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## wonword (Apr 10, 2008)

Here are a few pics for pleasure. Mine arent SUPER red either but these are cool pics..


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## GlitcH (Aug 21, 2006)

vha7777 said:


> I wasn't planning on feeding them anything special (there are a few neons in the tank so I was just gonna let them eat the left over flake food and whatever they can get from all the plants in the tank) but should I give them something else? thanks again


If the tank is established and you don't have many shrimp I wouldn't feed them at all.
They'll have plenty to scavenge.


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## vha7777 (Mar 4, 2009)

gotcha - i'll reduce my feeding then


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## tex627 (Nov 2, 2008)

GlitcH said:


> If the tank is established and you don't have many shrimp I wouldn't feed them at all.
> They'll have plenty to scavenge.


feeding will depend on the population and the tank size


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## ropate (Mar 12, 2009)

i find that mine have coloured up in 2 days of settling into my tank. From virtually transparent and colourless from the LFS. I do have dark substrate and alot of grasses, and I've read that this helps.


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## redcherryshrimp (Oct 27, 2008)

substrate color, age, water quality, diet, and genes are all factors
The best way to selectively breed them is to look at the color when the lights are just turned on. The ones that are the reddest are the ones you want to selectively breed since they have the best genes for passing their colors.


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