# Does lighting matter to shrimp



## BBXB

Am wondering if different type of lighting affect shrimps color, breeding, and survival? I am comparing led to tube to CFL?


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## Fishfur

Maybe Randy or one of the other shrimp masters would have a better answer.. but I would doubt it has much effect beyond making colours appear different. 

Obviously, lighting affects how we perceive colour, but other than that I don't think it matters to the shrimp. 

I think a day/night cycle probably does matter, especially for reproduction, it does to most animals.


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## BBXB

Thanks fishfur, you have been very helpful. I have a timer on my tanks, so should be ok with the cycles.


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## randy

I don't have a definite answer, but

1. In the first edition of Breeders and Keepers, this was brought up multiple times. Some breeders believe there is a link, some not sure. I don't think anyone said No to the question. (i.e. that magazine is in the form of Q & A between Chris Lukhaup and some outstanding breeders/keepers).

2. I find that shrimps in my tanks above ground (i.e. not in the basement) do better than in the basements in terms of growing, other than the small amount of nature light I can't think of much difference.

So, be the judge, and share with us what you find out.


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## Zebrapl3co

It's a hard question to answer. I think every one has their own opinion. And that's it, just opinion. Was there a study done? probably not. But I do notice that some of the CRS looks brighter in tanks with better lighting. But was it the better lighting that makes the shrimp look nicer or did they actually grow brighter as a result of the light? It's hard to day. But one thing I do notice though, most of the picture perfect shrimps you see on the internet are from tanks with better lighting. So my preference would have been a T5 for my shrimp tanks. Although, I have to say, genetic and good selective breeding definately trump over better lighting.

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## Fishfur

Now some others have chimed in, I have second thoughts. First, I wonder how many of those really nice shrimp are kept in planted tanks ? Let's face it, if the tank is planted, with anything other than very low light types, it's going to need better light simply for the plants, and then the shrimp also benefit.

Any creature that lives where natural light is present is going to have some relationship with it. I know more about it in mammals than in inverts, or fish, unfortunately, but there must be some parallels, don't you think ? 

In most mammals the length of days or nights have a dramatic effect on breeding cycles. Typically it affects whether females will be in estrus, or receptive or not. So it affects hormone production, obviously. Even asleep or with eyes closed light penetrates the eyelids and affects the brain, and hormones. 

Most animals, wild or domestic, have reproductive cycles programmed to produce offspring at the most opportune time of year for whichever animal it is; spring and early summer being a common time for many young creatures to be born. Humans have learned to manipulate this by controlling lighting in closed barns, to cause animals to cycle when we want them to, instead of when nature would. So the majority of racehorses foal in late winter, as close to January as can be managed, since the registering body for their breed dates their age beginning from January of the year of birth. A foal born early will have an big advantage over a foal born later in the year. Hogs are kept producing year round.

I was not sure the intensity of light was as important as simple length of exposure, but if Randy sees better results in shrimp exposed to some natural daylight, then perhaps using bulbs most closely matched to daylight could make a difference. I have all my dwarf shrimp in tanks with plants, so they all get pretty bright light for at least 8 hours a day, and whatever daylight gets to their tanks as well.

I also wondered if UV might have some effect. But the glass in our windows blocks a huge amount of natural UV light, which is why you won't sunburn under glass. Some of it will get through, but not nearly as much as exists in sunlight, so I think it it must be visible light that affects hormone production the most.

Now I think about it, no real reason that type and length of lighting wouldn't affect shrimp reproduction too, though exactly how that might work I could not say.


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## Shrimp Daddy

Light helps sperm production in whales.


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## shrimpzoo

My opinion is:

Light effects environment & environments effects shrimp

and when I say environment I mean algae growth and what not.


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## BBXB

I will try to experiment if I can..


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## randy

Okay, this is the best I can find from the school I graduated from (Department of Aquaculture, Nation Taiwan Ocean University), and hopefully it will give us some more insight. This is a master degree research. Link is here.

The species used in this is actually cherry shrimps, it talks about the effects from different lighting and background. I won't spoil your fun, so read it if you are interested.

However, I still agree with Shrimpzoo's comment. When keeping shrimps, we are actually trying to maintain the environment for them, because not much more other than proper feeding can be done to the shrimps directly.


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## BBXB

Unfortunately I can't read Chinese and am out of luck. But will take your word for it.


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## randy

Sorry, didn't realize I can't link directly to the paper. The link was just to the main search page. I'll cut and paste here,

Name: The Effects of Background Lightness and Hue and Illumination period and wavelength on Presentation of Chromatophores of Atydae Shrimp (Neocaridina denticulata).


Summary:
The marketing price of atydae shrimp(cherry shrimp, Neocaridina denticulata) is greatly influenced by its pigmentation, which is directly influenced by changes in chromatophores.In this thesis, effects of background lightness, hue, illumination period and wavelength on the pigmentation of chromatophores in atydae shrimp are investigated, which include:I. The effect of background lightness on the state of chromatophores and pigmentation of atydae shrimp under three types of backgrounds (black(B), gray(G), white(W) ) with white light illumination, and the change of chromatophores when changing the background color repeatedly.II. The effect of background hue on the state of chromatophores and pigmentation of atydae shrimp under four types of backgrounds (red(R) , yellow(Y), green(Gn), blue(Be)) with white light illumination.III. The effect of background hue on the state of chromatophores and pigmentation of atydae shrimp under three types of illumination period ((0 hour light and 24 hour dark (0L24D), 12 hour light and 12 hour dark (12L12D)).IV. The effect of background hue on the state of chromatophores and pigmentation of atydae shrimp under seven types of illumination source (fluorescence lamp (FL), LED white (LW), LED red (LR),LED yellow (LY), LED green (LG)LED blue (LB), LED violet (LV)).The experimental results indicate that:Lower background lightness is more advantageous to the pigmentation of atydae shrimp.Compare with other types of background hue, a better pigmentation could be obtained under the red background, followed by the yellow background, and then the blue and green backgrounds.The illumination period have no effects on chromatophores and the pigmentation of which in atydae shrimp.Different illumination source have no effects on chromatophores and the pigmentation of which in atydae shrimp.Based on above results, it is indicated that the pigmentation of atydae shrimp is mainly influenced by the background color below, wherein the background lightness mainly affects the pigmentation. Under different backgrounds with a same lightness, better pigmentation effect is achieved under a red background. In addition, the illumination conditions above have no effect on the pigmentation.Therefore, the price of atydae shrimp could be elevated if it is cultured in a black environment before selling. In the case that color other than black is used as background, a red background is preferably used. Furthemore, the pigmentation of atydae shrimp would not be affected during packaging and transportation even the illumination period or source changes.

For people who can read Chinese, this is the title of the paper so you can search from the link I provided. "不同背景明度與色相及光照週期與波長對玫瑰蝦色素細胞呈現之影響"


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## Mykuhl

Mhmm interesting study, thanks for translating it for us. Looks like I should put a black background on the tank that my painted fire reds are in.


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## colio

randy said:


> Okay, this is the best I can find from the school I graduated from (Department of Aquaculture, Nation Taiwan Ocean University), and hopefully it will give us some more insight. This is a master degree research. Link is here.
> 
> The species used in this is actually cherry shrimps, it talks about the effects from different lighting and background. I won't spoil your fun, so read it if you are interested.


spoil our fun! I cant't read it and would be interedted to know what they found.

i have found that my red cherry and crs both breed prolifically in my 10 gallon, which is just a tetra starter kit with 2 little bulbs. planted heavily (and wish fish), but nt high light. biut it has akways also gotten at least some natural light, amd i tend to turn the tank lights on late int the day. Also I have no other tank to compare to, so a sample of 1 is hardly convincing.


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## eatmysox

Take a look in the breeders and keepers magazine. Many of the worlds best breeders weigh in on that question. Personally I give my tank long blackouts of a couple days and always find an increase in breeding, could just be a fluke though 

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## mr_bako

*lighting*

I have experienced using UV A/B lighting for 4 hrs a day have increased the vividness in colorations of crystal red shrimps.  and the white seems brighter also.


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## randy

The study was just on the lighting and pigmentation, not breeding or growth. I read another one years ago about lighting period and growth but on food shrimps, not ornamental. The conclusion on that one is 11.5 hrs/day of light gives the best growth rate. 

This particular essay is just on the pigmentation, I do still believe lighting has some influence on shrimps and their environment.


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## randy

Mykuhl said:


> Mhmm interesting study, thanks for translating it for us. Looks like I should put a black background on the tank that my painted fire reds are in.


Oh, I didn't translate, it's an essay, the abstract comes in both Chinese and English.


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## Fishfur

We are a very fortunate forum to have Randy here, don't you think, fellow members ? 

Most of the shrimp I've kept are on black substrates, which I happen to like the look of, and I've always thought this has shown off their colours to good advantage, with the exception of a few Stone shrimp that are dark grey and thus vanish on a dark substrate. 

But using a red background would never have occurred to me, simply because it's not a colour I'd choose for interior decor. My tanks are in my living/dining area, not in a fish room, so my choices for their backgrounds or substrate colours are those that will look well with the colours already present.

But maybe a small tank on a shelf, at some point, I'd put in a red background, just to see how much effect it has. Be interesting to see what effect it has on those grey shrimp.


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## randy

Karen, you're embarrassing me ;-)

I think darker substrate bringing out colour is just nature. Almost all shrimps change colour to certain degree, they need to camouflage into their surrounding. In the wild the bottom of the rivers/lakes are mostly brown/grey/black so that's the colours of most wild form shrimps. When they feel threatened, they'd naturally try to get their colour darker to blend in.

However, these shrimps don't know they've been selectively bred to their current colours. So the darker the substrate, the more intense they try to adjust their colour to blend in. They probably don't know they are making themselves even easier to spot.


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## Fishfur

Credit where it's due Randy.. what else can I say. You are right I think on the colours showing well on dark substrates. Makes perfect sense. 

I have had some fan shrimp, Bamboos, that were very pale in colour when I first got them, but by the time they've been around a month or two, I find they all turn wood coloured, to the point they are almost invisible on the wood in the tank. Must be the same basic mechanism at work, I'd think.


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