Green Eggs!
I remember seeing them in my Local Fish Stores way back in the day, and I always enjoy watching them forage for food in a beautifully planted tank.
It’s gotta be those beautiful Shrimp!
These small hobbyist shrimp are all of a very similar body structure, and can actually interbreed.
The main difference between the variations in the color of the body. Here is a list of the different colors and grades of Neo-caridina shrimps, and there’s a color for every tank!
All of the different types hold their eggs in the rear and under their tail – well the females do at least.
When the shrimp are getting close to having their babies, they will go through a stage of bearing the eggs in which they’re referred to as “berried”.
A berried shrimp makes the eggs much more visually distinct, and once you have one that’s at this stage you can start to see the color of your eggs.
Usually, with cherry shrimp, in particular, you would expect to see a yellowish colored egg, sort of the same color as a baby chicken (but not as bright as marshmallow ones you buy at the supermarket).
Sometimes you will get a shrimp with Green eggs instead. These usually look like a regular egg in shape, but with a bit of a Green tint rather than a solid Green color.
As this is definitely not the norm, it can be a bit worrying to find on your little expecting shrimp mommy.
So why exactly are those eggs a different color?