Shrimp color variation

I have a 20g tank that has been setup for awhile. The only shrimp that were in the tank were Blue Dream Neocaridina, until more recently (several weeks ago) I added a few Amano. Today I noticed that there was a shrimp in the tank that was an oddball. Looking around the tank more there was a baby shrimp with similar coloration as the bigger one. From my understanding as long as you keep the the same genius/species of shrimp, they would breed the same. And the blue dream shrimp have been breeding true for several generations now.

I have not seen a wild Neocaridina, but would one be similar enough to pass as an Amano? I was thinking that this may have been the cause though unsure. Or has anyone had previous experience with a strain of shrimp drastically changing coloration?

 

Your blue dreams may have had a cherry or rili relative a while back!

 

Oh, I didn’t think about past lineage traits coming back. Guess I figured they’d only show the blue dream traits at this point.

 

I kind of think that's adorable, but yeah, wild neos are clearish/brownish and sometimes have a stripe that runs down their backs. It would be hard but not impossible to mistake it for an amano I guess? But if you're looking closely it should be pretty obvious to compare them.

 

I didn’t really check the Amano shrimp that thoroughly when I got them since I wasn’t getting them for looks. That’s why I was thinking that maybe a wild one could be a possibility.

 

They will only breed true for so long without new blood going in they will loose colour

 

How often should new blood be added? These have been breeding for a couple generations for me. No idea how much the fish store mixes their stock up though, so couldn’t say for sure how long it’s really been the same blood.

 

How often should new blood be added? These have been breeding for a couple generations for me. No idea how much the fish store mixes their stock up though, so couldn’t say for sure how long it’s really been the same blood.

Having from mixed tanks at a lfs is a problem on its own, you dont know whats mixed and if you have a dozen red you could throw anything out until you start to sort them, I know its difficult in some parts of the world but if you can start by getting your first stock from a breeder that's a head start, then adding just a dozen every 18months 2years from another breeder keeps you stock strong but even then you should be culling 30% of each brood if you want to keep right on top of things, at the end of the day its down to you on how far you want to go, having multiple tanks with different grades and colours or whether your just happy with what comes from the stock you've got.
With a single tank when you see a throw back to brown get it out that will destroy the full colours in time, add a few new as you sell some, even if you see one high grade at you lfs buy it and add to your existing stock, its a new strain that helps with your breeding,
The one in your picture looks to be throwing a rili,

 

The lfs that I purchased them from does keep them separated. They have quality shrimp there, just not sure how often they add new to their stock. So the ones I have could possibly have been same line for some time now.
I did start some in a second tank, but probably not much separation from the two lines yet. And I’m not great at keeping up on the culling, I need to work on that.