Amano Changing Colors??

I've had 2 amano shrimp for probably 9 or so months, I can't remember when I got them exactly.

One died a few months ago, he was also gigantic.

So now it's just Jaques. Jaques has always been clear and has never shown any colors.

Today I noticed he has red on him! Dots underneath and lines -like tiger shrimp line- on his sides...why would he randomly be showing color all of a sudden??

Before and Now pics:

 

I don't know exactly, but I do know that some fish display color changes due to stress... so maybe he is stressed cause he does not have a buddy...

My advice: "get a new shrimp and see if the colors go away... and even if that doesn't work... your back to two shrimp again(YAY)! So try that then tell me how it goes!!!

HOPE THIS HELPS!!!

 

It may be stress like Apple429 suggested, but I would guess that it is one of two things.

I've read that they can change color right before molting so maybe he is just getting ready to molt.

Or maybe he was still young when you got him. Maybe he is just now an adult and he is beginning to show his true coloration. All of my amano shrimp have reddish-brown lines but they are oriented horizontally rather than vertically.

 

Again, stress or some change in water parameters can be causing this.

On a side note, my Amano shrimp change colors a lot, so if persists but the shrimp itself seems to be completely normal, I for one wouldn't worry.

 

Ive actually been trying to get more shrimp I have 6 on order, but for some reason they are not getting in!! Ive been trying for 3 weeks now!

I will test my parameters today, but they should not have changed and I do cleanings every friday.

the parameters are normal. Nothing could possibly be stressing him out. No one bothers with him and the water parameters haven't changed.

 

Again (just "poppin ideas out here), maybe, just maybe it could be of a mating ready fish (like how female Bettas get black vertical stipes when they see a male

Again, I am not familiar with shrimp yet, so these are just ideas...

My advice get a couple more shrimp, and see what happens!

Hope This Helps!!

 

still trying to get more shrimp, like I said I've been ordering them every week for 3 weeks now.. ugh so annoying! Today is freight day though so I'll call up to the LFS to see if they finally got them in or not!

I should also inform you guys, Jaques, the shrimp, I call him "tan Jaques" now haha. Anyways I just put shrimp (sinking) pellets in my tank, for my new pleco to try because my BN in my 30 diess for them, and Jaques FLEW towards it before it even landed on the gravel, and now he's hiding in a tree eating a whole pellet to himself!

haha he's so funny! He's in his bliss here now. And last week he had lettuce. So he's still eating well and from what I see his behaviour hasn't changed. Just his colors.

 

All of my amano shrimp have reddish-brown lines but they are oriented horizontally rather than vertically.

+1

P.S. All of my amano shrimp are named Jacques.....

 

so the shrimp finally came in! I got 6, one for my fry tank and the rest for my 20.
All the new ones have the spots that Jaques has! but not the lines. How weird that after all this time, he finally got his color?

 

When I got my amanos, someone told me that one sex has dots, the other has dashes (very basic sort of description) but I can't recall which has which.

 

Well I just ran to check my amanos and it seems that the females have horizontal dashes while the males have dots, although I guess the dots are technically really short dashes.

When they grow to their adult size, gender becomes extremely apparent, so don't worry about it.

 

mine has dots and dashes

 

The Amano in your pictures is definitely a male.

 

yeah I know. he immediately jumped the female I added

 

I don’t have a lot of experience with freshwater shrimp.

About 6 months or so ago, I adopted some pineapple swords that ended up introducing ich into my 55 gallon tank, things went wonky and I ended up losing my clown loaches. I’ve always had some hair algae in my tank and I don’t mind it if it’s not everywhere. Mostly a soft, slow growing green, but some gets a reddish-brown tint.

With the loss of my clowns, the extra algae and some store credit at Petco, I decided to get a couple of Amano shrimp to see how they’d do. The associate at the store, when hearing I was putting them in a 55 with plants and ample cover, caught two larger ones about an inch long and told me not to expect to see them again. This was first week in November. Both were typical color.

I saw one about three weeks later, nibbling algae in the hornwort. Normal color, seemed good. Hadn’t seen either one, was beginning to wonder if I’d lost them. Today while doing a water change, I spotted one nestled in the base of a Java fern, munching away, but it was a milk chocolate red-brown! And the stripe along the back is now almost yellow. Seems happy enough, but didn’t expect such a dramatic change. Do wish I could see both at the same time, but not going to worry too much about it.

Pictures aren’t very good, but I think you can get an idea of the coloring. Has this ever happened to anyone else here or should I be concerned?

 

I've had amano shrimp change color just like this before. I don't know why it happens, but it doesn't seem to hurt them. I've even had some change back after a while. It's interesting, but I wouldn't worry.

 

I've had amano shrimp change color just like this before. I don't know why it happens, but it doesn't seem to hurt them. I've even had some change back after a while. It's interesting, but I wouldn't worry.

Thank you! I just wasn’t expecting such a dramatic color change.

 

That’s crazy! It almost looks like a bamboo shrimp now! I’ve never seen this before. richiep

 

Trouble is bamboo wouldn't be nibbling on algae it looks to me to be a dark cherry and the racing stripe pronounced by its colour, it would be nice to get a better pic to positively id, I've got it on a computer now it looks like a green cherry

 

I have one just like this! Definitely not a cherry as she is the biggest shrimp in the tank and doesn't even back down from the betta trying to take her food

 

I have one just like this! Definitely not a cherry as she is the biggest shrimp in the tank and doesn't even back down from the betta trying to take her food

Thing is it can't be a bamboo if op was watching it nibble algae
What is yours Show us a picture

 

Honestly, its too hard to see the shrimp, as the pictures aren't the greatest. For comparison, here are a couple old pictures of my male and female Amanos. Both developed a reddish brown coloration. The white line along their backs can also be pretty pronounced, although you don't really see it clearly in the pics. It's nothing to be alarmed about. I also had another Amano that was even a deeper brown than them, but never took a picture.

 

Here are some more, but he’s not terribly cooperative and who knows when I’ll see him again. But I can honestly say he didn’t start out that color, unless he was pale from fright in the bag.

 

That is an amano for me two photos do it

 

Thing is it can't be a bamboo if op was watching it nibble algae
What is yours Show us a picture

Believe me, it was cramming it’s tiny little mouth as fast as it could.