One of the main appeals of keeping Cherry Shrimps are due to their bold colors. Also known as Neocaridina Shrimps, this species come in red, yellow, blue, black and many other variations.
If your shrimps are looking transparent, then you can take a look at this troubleshooting article at Aquarium Blueprints to see what you can do.
Before we start, it is important to note that male shrimps naturally appear more transparent when compared to their female counterparts. While you can try removing males from your shrimp tank, your shrimp colony won’t be able to grow as a result due to the lack of reproduction.
You should also make sure that you aren’t mistaking a molted shell for a living, breathing shrimp as the discarded shells will look more transparent.
1. If you recently added Cherry Shrimps to your tank, then they will lose their color until they get more comfortable living in the surround environment.
To speed up this acclimation process, we recommend turning off the aquarium light for a day and providing them with plenty of hiding spots.
2. Aggressive tank mates may also be scaring your Cherry Shrimps, causing them to lose their colors due to high levels of stress.
Ideally, you should only keep a shrimp-only tank. In our experience, the only tank mates that work well with Cherry Shrimps are snails.
3. Having too much water flow in your tank could also add stress to your pet inverts.
If you see your shrimps constantly having to a hard time trying to swim and/or hold on against the current, then we recommend lowering the air flow from an air stone and/or water flow from a filter.
4. You can also try changing the color scheme if your aquarium.
Light-colored cherry shrimps tend to look better on dark substrate and dark background.
On the other hand, Dark-colored inverts should look better again light-colored objects.
5. You should think about changing the diets as well.
For best results, we recommend feeding Cherry Shrimps food that caters towards their needs. We have great success so far when it comes to using Shrimp King and Bacter AE products.
If you are only feeding your shrimps fish food, then make sure that it is color-enhancing. Anything that includes spirulina in the ingredients should help bring out the colors of your Cherry Shrimps.
6. If your Cherry Shrimp colony has been breeding in your fish tank, then the bold colors may be lost in the newer generations. This is because the natural colors of the Neocaridina species are usually brown or duller looking. The bold colors are a result of select breeding.
So, in order to get better colors for the newer generations, we recommend that you cull any shrimps that look more transparent than the others. By doing so, you will prevent the transparent genes from being passed to the new generation.
To cull, simply remove the shrimp from the tank. You can then put the removed shrimp in another tank, use it as a live food for your fish or do something else with it.
7. Last but not least, you should make sure that your water parameters are ideal for your pet inverts. Otherwise, your Cherry Shrimps won’t be able to display their bold colors.
In terms of temperature, the Neocaridina species can tolerate a wide range from 57°F to 86°F (or 14°C to 30°C).
When it comes to pH, you should keep the shrimps within a range of 6.5 to 7.5.
For GH, your tank water should be around 7 to 15.
As for KH, you should aim for 2 to 8.
