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How To Get A Blue Amano Shrimp!

Amano shrimp keep on growing in popularity as both general algae eaters for main aquariums with fish in them or for smaller shrimp only tanks.

After seeing their initial spike in popularity a few months back, we have noticed a number of questions being asked from the community about caring for amano shrimp.

One of the more common questions that we have seen people asking about is based around blue amano shrimp.

This is usually due to many beginners to keeping amano shrimp never having seen a blue amano shrimp before but we have also seen more experienced aquarium keepers reaching out and asking about it too.

Due to this, we have decided to publish our own dedicated article going over why some amano shrimp turn blue as well as a number of other commonly asked questions that we have seen people from the community asking.

We have added a table of contents below to make it as easy as possible for people to navigate our article and get to the specific sections of the articles that they need.

Do Amano Shrimp Come In Colors?

Amano shrimp are usually a translucent grey but they can sometimes have slight shades of green, brown, and red on their bodies while also having solid dogs and dashes along the length of their body.

Due to their translucent body, their diet plays a roll in their color and this is why you are able to get blue amano shrimp.

If your amano shrimp eats enough green hair algae, then the digestive system of the shrimp will turn the algae a blue color and the translucent body of your amano shrimp gives the appearance of your shrimp turning blue.

This is totally normal and to be expected if you have a large amount of green hair algae in your tank.

We have also seen some people new to aquarium keeping asking about red amano shrimp but the majority of the “red amano shrimp” in the photographs we have seen are simply cherry shrimp.

The natural red, green or brown that can be on an amino shrimp is very subtle and most people will miss it unless you are specifically liking for it as it really is just a slight hint.

“Takashi Amano Shrimp” by swordw is licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Why Is My Amano Shrimp Blue?

Amano shrimp turn blue after eating a large amount of green hair algae.

Due to green hair algae being one of the most popular food sources for amano shrimp in some types of aquariums, it can be very common for amano shrimp to appear to have turned blue in the right dietary conditions.

The reason that most people amano shrimp don’t turn blue is due to the majority of an amino shrimps diet having to be made up of green hair algae for the blue effect to work.

Most people actively remove green string algae from their tanks so the majority of most amano shrimps diets are made up of other types of algae or discarded fish pellets.

Even if you do have green string algae in your aquarium, it can be rare for an amino shrimp to eat enough of it to have the blue effect on it due to there being so many different food sources available to the shrimp.

This is why it is so rare to see a blue amano shrimp in most tanks and why they usually get attention on social media when people manage to snap a photograph of one.

Can You Buy Blue Amano Shrimp?

Never buy a “blue amano shrimp”! We have seen some people trying to sell blue amano shrimp as if they are a unique morph of amano shrimp when they are not.

They are just normal amano shrimp and they will return to their normal color once they pass the green hair algae that they have ate.

Thankfully, this scam is starting to dye off now but it was very popular a few years back when the purple cherry shrimp morph was developed.

A number of people were feeding their amano shrimp nothing but green hair algae to make them appear blue and then listing them for sale as a unique morph.

You should always keep your guard up when it comes to buying rare colored animals for aquarium keeping as there are so many scams out there.

Thankfully though, at least if you have read this article, you will now know about this scam that a large number of people, unfortunately, fell for.

Can I Make My Normal Amano Shrimp Turn Blue?

It is easy to make a normal amano shrimp turn blue as you just have to feed it a large amount of green hair algae.

A number of people who keep shrimp only tanks will set their environments up in this way so that their amano shrimp will look blue while in the tank due to eating so much green hair algae.

We have seen people experimenting with feeding their shrimp other colors of hair algae too but to date, green hair algae is the only known type of algae that will make your amano shrimp look like it is a different color.

We would never recommend that you intentionally place green hair algae into your main aquarium though as it can be a pain to totally remove once it gets in there.

If you do want to try turning your amano shrimp blue then get yourself a cheap tank, prep the tank, put some of your amano shrimp in and try to get your hands on some green hair algae to eat.

This is probably the safest way to turn your amano shrimp blue yourself without putting your main aquarium at risk in anyway.

Conclusion

That brings our article going over keeping blue amano shrimp to an end. Although blue amano shrimp look unique, they are generally difficult to get in a regular aquarium that goes through regular maintenance. This is why the most consistent way to turn your amano shrimp blue is to put them in their own tank with the primary food source being green hair algae and then let them eat as much of it as they want.