Cherry Shrimp Breeding Behavior?

[ubergrrrl]

Hi, We have 3 cherry shrimp in our tank. Over the last week,a female has had a very definite yellow saddle on her back,This same female was going absolutly mental the other night (2 days ago) darting around the tank,she had danios swerving to avoid her! Everything else in the tank (danios,otto's,amano shrimp,vampire shrimp) were all fine and normal,so i dont think it was a water issue.

I havent seen her about since that night really (maybe once or twice yesterday,but cant be 100%) i usually see all three of them out and about together grazing for most of the day.

Just had a look,and i can see 2 red shrimp,but not the one who i think had the saddle,nor can i see a corpse

Do females go into hiding during breeding/eggs moving from saddle to belly? Is the dissaperance normal behavior?

Its a well planted tank,with many hidey holes in caves and bogwood so she could be in there,just hope she not passed away

can anyone ease my worries please?

 

[mattyeatsmatts]

Before the saddle on the back moves towards the back of her body to become eggs the female will molt, like any shrimp a molt is a risky situation and they are at their most vulnerable. She is most probably hiding untill her new exoskeleton becomes hard.

 

[ubergrrrl]

Ah Haaaaa! There WAS a cherry shrimp molt in the tank about the last time i saw her (possibly the morning after the rushing about)
Oooh i wonder if she has just gone to ground after a molt.

Do they have a different colouring after a molt? is it visably obvious they have moulted? I only ask because i have seen about 4 moults around the tank iver the last few weeks,but they all seem to be visable. (they are all alot larger than when we got them thou LOL) but they never look any different,or have a different shade of red so i never know who it is!

 

[Baccus]

The dont generally change colour after a moult but they will probably become darker as they continue to age.

Do you have a male cherry shrimp as well? He most probably will be rather bland with little red unless you have the fire red morph/ variety. While the female was going mental any males in the tank should also have gone crazy looking for the female ready to breed. Mostly my females are rather sedate but the males are almost always zooming all over the tank, probably because I have so many females so it makes their task a but harder tracking down the right female .

 

[ubergrrrl]

yeah,thats what i'd read that it would be the males going mental not the female,so i was a bit bemused what was going on! Im not 100% that i have a male as they seem to be just coming of age,i thought i had 2 males and a female,but looking again today,it seems that another one has a yellow saddle just appearing,so im not sure. pretty sure the last one is a boy,and he looks a different red to the others! they were all in the same tank at the lfs as cherry reds,i suppose you could say he is not as red as the other two so fingers crossed he is a boyshrimp!

Have found the missing lady this evening,cant get a good look at her if she still has her saddle or not,but her underbelly is a lot larger than it was but i cant see anything in there,she is being alot more elusive than she was a few days ago!

ho hum,time will tell,im off to peer at them some more with my torch! way better than the footie!!

 

[Baccus]

Because I am getting a few interesting colour morphs naturally occuring in my tanks I was having trouble sexing young male cherry shrimp, until I realised/ discovered this trick.

The males will usually have a narrower straighter back and not have the longer flaps on the sides of thier swimmer legs that the females have to protect the eggs.

Heres a couple of pics of mine, I tried to find a good picture of at least one of my males but I haven't usually bothered photographing them.

 

[ubergrrrl]

ah-haaa my mystery shrimp looks alot like the 1st one in your pics, i kept reading that males were "supposed" to be paler to clear and all of mine are red,so to see your male is red gives me hope!

This is my potential male,i havent got a picture of the female,i will try and get one tomorrow if she comes out to play!

 

[Baccus]

The two pictures I posted are of females, I was trying to show the extended side sections that cover where they hold the eggs, which you can clearly see in your picture.

Sorry for any confusion.

I did look through all my existing shrimp pictures but the males where generally facing the wrong way or blurred because I was mainly trying to photograph the females.