Freshwater shrimp can be a fun and interesting addition to your fish tank. Along with their small size that can fit into most fish tanks, they also can provide a pop of color with their many different colors and patterns. One may see an opportunity to have many different colors of these amazing creatures in your tank, but some somethings should be considered.
You can mix different colors of shrimp. However, when mixing different colors of shrimp, there will be crossbreeding of the colors, this will eventually cause the color of your shrimp over several generations to change back to the natural color found in the wild without some type of intervention.
We will explore what wild-colored shrimp are, the negatives and benefits of mixing colors, and whether you should mix different colors of shrimp or not.
What Are Wild Colored Shrimp?
In nature you won’t find many colorful shrimps, this is because the bright colors such as the popular Red Cherry Shrimp would make it nearly impossible for the shrimp to blend into its surroundings in the wild and hide from potential predators.
Naturally, the colorful freshwater shrimp that we see in our fish store and tanks are selectively bred until that specific line exhibits the desired color, therefore a truly wild-colored shrimp would be brown. This color provides them the adequate camouflage for their surroundings.
The Negative Side
The major negative of mixing different colors of shrimp is that in most cases the shrimp that are mixed will be of the same species so that all the shrimp can survive in the same tank. For example, if you mix Red Cherry Shrimp and Blue Dream Shrimp, though they are of two different colors, they are or the same species.
This imposes the eventual case of interbreeding between colors. Over multiple generations of this interbreeding the shrimp will eventually lose their original colors and revert to the natural color of brown. Though some may enjoy the brown-colored shrimp, most who buy specific colors of shrimp do so with the desire to keep those colors for the long term.
Why Combining Colors May Be Beneficial
There are two main benefits to mixing the colors of shrimp.
First, when mixing colors, you are also crossing different sets of genes. Over time, when breeding with the same line shrimp can become less hardy and more prone to diseases, when crossbreeding between colors, you are also introducing a new pool of genes. This can result in a hardy line and make the offspring more resilient to disease.
The second benefit that can come from combining the colors of shrimp is the ability to have offspring with different colors than those of the parents through mutations. As with the previous example of mixing Red Cherry Shrimp and Blue Dream Shrimp, you will most likely have offspring with a light color red, or blue in the first generations, but you can also end up with random colors such as purple depending on the genes possessed by the parents, or by mutations.
Can You Combine Colors Without Getting Wild Colored Shrimp?
Now you might say I want the benefits provided by mixing different colors of shrimp but don’t want to have my shrimp revert to its natural colors over a couple of generations. This is possible with some deliberate intervention on your part. This would involve culling your shrimp. When your shrimp breed you will be required to take out any shrimp that don’t exhibit the desired traits, which in this case would be your desired color.
This process would have to be performed consistently every time your shrimp breed to allow your colony to continue with only the desired colors. If you are diligent in performing this step it will allow you to have the benefits of combining different colors, while greatly reducing the chance of having your shrimp colony go back to its natural color.
Should You Mix Different Colors Of Shrimp?
Now that we know that you can mix different colors of shrimp and analyze the main negatives and positives of combining colors, the next question is should you add different colors of shrimp to your tank?
If your goal is to have the shrimp in your tank stay a specific color for generations without much intervention, then the advisable answer would be to stick to one specific color of shrimp.
Otherwise, if you are willing to take the time to intervene by removing the undesired colors of shrimp, then the mixing of colors can provide the opportunity to have new colors of shrimp, along with a hardier and more disease-resistant line of shrimp.