Cherry Shrimp Discoloration

Okay, so I have 5 cherry shrimp and they've all been doing just fine. However, I've noticed a few of them happen to have some sort of rusty looking discoloration on their backs. They don't show any signs of sickness, or abnormal behavior but I'm just concerned about the color on their backs.

On another note, would anyone be able to help me sex the shrimp pictured below? I couldn't get pictures of all 5 of the shrimp since they like to hide inside the driftwood but I managed to get pictures of the more active ones.

 

Is the discoloration in one spot right behind the head or is it spread all the way down the back? I can't tell from the pics. If it's just in that one spot, it could be females developing what they call a saddle which is perfectly normal.

 

Is the discoloration in one spot right behind the head or is it spread all the way down the back? I can't tell from the pics. If it's just in that one spot, it could be females developing what they call a saddle which is perfectly normal.

It's all down the back of the shrimp. If you look at the 3rd and 4th pictures you can see that the underside of the shrimp is a solid red, whereas the top of the shrimp (along the back) is a lighter red/rusty looking color.

Also, look at the 5th picture. The shrimp on the left is normally colored (fully red) whereas the shrimp on the right is the discolored looking one.

 

Have a look at this one and I've more just like yours I think it's a colour pigment, looking at yours ide agree with Dch48 all femals but not sure on pic 1

 

If you have both sexes , you should have some (males) who are not uniformly deep red but rather look almost clear with a reddish tint to them, or be a brownish color. If all your shrimp are solid bright red, you probably have all females. The shrimp on the right in pic 5 might be a male. All the others look like females with the bright color and rounded abdomen.

 

Have a look at this one and I've more just like yours I think it's a colour pigment, looking at yours ide agree with Dch48 all femals but not sure on pic 1

Thank you so much! I was starting to get worried that something was wrong with them. Now that you mention it, I do recall reading somewhere that RCS tend to have a brown pigment to them in the wild. Thanks for your help! Now time to get these little guys to start breeding!

 

Thank you so much! I was starting to get worried that something was wrong with them. Now that you mention it, I do recall reading somewhere that RCS tend to have a brown pigment to them in the wild. Thanks for your help! Now time to get these little guys to start breeding!

Technically, there are no RCS in the wild. The wild shrimp are brown and can even have a greenish tint.

 

If you have both sexes , you should have some (males) who are not uniformly deep red but rather look almost clear with a reddish tint to them, or be a brownish color. If all your shrimp are solid bright red, you probably have all females. The shrimp on the right in pic 5 might be a male. All the others look like females with the bright color and rounded abdomen.

None of my shrimp are clear like a lot of males I've seen. However, on a few of them I can't find any signs of a saddle. Guess I'll either wait a few weeks to see if I can further identify whether they're male or female OR go to the store tomorrow and get a few more of these little guys. I love keeping RCS, they're so much fun to watch them scurry around the tank and pick around for food.

Technically, there are no RCS in the wild. The wild shrimp are brown and can even have a greenish tint.

Well yeah technically. I meant more along the lines of wild Neocaridina

 

If you have both sexes , you should have some (males) who are not uniformly deep red but rather look almost clear with a reddish tint to them, or be a brownish color. If all your shrimp are solid bright red, you probably have all females. The shrimp on the right in pic 5 might be a male. All the others look like females with the bright color and rounded abdomen.

Not always, it depends on the particular shrimp colony. I've seen some colonies that are like you say (females more red, males more clear with red markings), but I've also seen colonies that are all solid bright red (usually called fire reds, bloody mary's or just cherry shrimp, depending on who's selling them), and then I've also seen colonies that are all more clear with red markings. I think it's just a matter of high grade/medium grade/low grade.