Morph confirmation required. BM or RC

[Little]

Hi everyone.

I purchased some Bloody Mary shrimp a few weeks back from three vendors. I’m noticing a few shrimp that look quite different to the rest. The colouring is more patchy and I’m now wondering if one of the vendors shipped me standard Cherry Shrimp in error.

My concern is I read crossbreeding BM and RC eventually results in wild type / brown shrimp.

Can someone with a sharp eye confirm if both shrimp in these pictures are BM?

Thank you kindly

 

[Wookii]

True Bloody Mary shrimp differ from standard cherry shrimp in that it is their flesh rather than their exo-skeleton that contains the pigmentation.

That being said, Bloody Mary's, like all cherry shrimp as Neocaridina, not a different species, so you can get genetic throw backs. In my Bloody Mary colony, I've had occasional random blue and green offspring appear. You can also get some shrimp that come through reverting back to standard cherry shrimp form, and obviously with differences in the intensity of their colouration.

In your pictures, it is a little hard to tell - the upper picture has good solid colouration, but the lower one looks a little patchy and could be a throw back to standard cheery type. As I say its a little hard to tell with the low resolution

 

[Little]

Thanks for the reply Wookii
I’m new to all this. I did a fair bit of reading into the subject before settling on bloody mary’s, but find it hard to tell if the colour is from the shell or flesh (likewise with rostrum length).

I also get the feeling the patchy one is a red cherry and don’t know if I should remove it to try for a stronger BM line.

Also, only having one tank means I need to find someone to give these non true BM babies to, something I had not thought through. Perhaps I should just leave nature to do its thing.

 

[Wookii]

I also get the feeling the patchy one is a red cherry and don’t know if I should remove it to try for a stronger BM line.

Removal is the only way to maintain continuity of the features you want. Setting up a second small tank for you 'culls' might be worth doing, because they can also produce true Bloody Mary young for adding back into the main tank.

Perhaps I should just leave nature to do its thing.

That's always an option too - and what I do to be honest. I've never had a muted colour/brown/natural coloured shrimp appear.

 

[Little]

That's always an option too - and what I do to be honest. I've never had a muted colour/brown/natural coloured shrimp appear.

I’m going to follow in your footsteps then. Thanks for your input.

 

[Little]

Small update.

The two little patchy ones (likely the cherry throwbacks) spend much of their time swimming into the filter outlet and blasting themselves across the tank. The other 8 true looking Bloody Mary are happy chilling and grazing away.

I popped one of my airstones in the front as an experiment (I have an all in one and keep two airstones running in the filter section) and these two started surfing the bubbles. Again the other 8 just ignored it and seem to be doing fine.

I do not think it’s an oxygen issue as two air-stones and surface agitation from the filter in a 20 liter tank seems plenty and everyone else in the tank seems fine.

Seems these two have really weird behaviour.

I have some other male BM not freaking out so don’t think it’s mating hormones.

Perhaps a failed molt but it’s weird it’s both of the patchy ones.

 

[Jaseon]

Small update.

The two little patchy ones (likely the cherry throwbacks) spend much of their time swimming into the filter outlet and blasting themselves across the tank.

You should look into putting a sponger over it as that flow can kill shrimp.

I noticed that i was losing a few to no apparent reason so put a sponge over the outlet. They are quite fragile creatures.

 

[Little]

You should look into putting a sponger over it as that flow can kill shrimp.

I noticed that i was losing a few to no apparent reason so put a sponge over the outlet. They are quite fragile creatures.

Thanks for the advice