Bright green really good color for health plants. If they look health they are.
Some people snip the leaves like that, I never do, here is what I know. When the plant is growing its roots it will consume the lower leaves for energy. Fact that your cut a lot of leaf away means less fuel, but I am being nit picky, either ways works, I have cloned very small clipping which was 1-2inch I didn't think would survive since it was so small but it grow huge.
But you do what you feel comfortable with.
I use water for everything, EZ Cloner for cloning but now I am using that as a 2nd tote, just to see how EZCloner-DWC performs. Main is an ebb and flow table.