Colours Of Cherry Shrimp's Eggs

[wei0204]

I have few cherry shrimps are carrying eggs recently (my first experience). One big female is carrying yellow colour eggs while the other two smaller females are carrying green colour eggs. I have read somewhere saying that fertilised eggs are in yellow colour while those not fertilised are in green colour. Is that true?

 

[GoldLenny]

There still seems to be a lot of conflicting information on dwarf shrimp. Some say planted tanks are great. Others say planted tanks suck up the micronutrients that the shrimp feed on. Same with the color of eggs. I've also heard/read that a female will drop unfertilized eggs within a few days so if your shrimp is carrying the eggs for more than a few days, they are probably fertilized. They take several weeks to hatch and then the babies are so small you won't see them for a while longer. I've had my shrimp for about a month now and two of my females came in carrying eggs. I just saw my first baby... not even 1/4" long... today.

Here are three pretty good articles on them but they also have some conflicting info.
http/www.plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=19
http/www.petshrimp.com/redcherryshrimp.html
http/www.petshrimp.com/articles/redcherryshrimpmyth.html
http/www.petshrimp.com/articles/keepingshrimp.html

They seem to breed so easily that you will more than likely have success with breeding them even if you don't do everything perfect. Just read over those articles and follow the instructions for keeping your tank clean and healthy and the shrimp will do the rest.

 

[Liam]

They do have different coloured eggs, if they werent fertile the females will drop them, you will see them trying to kick them off after a day or two, If they are carrying them for more than three days the are fertile.

 

[wei0204]

I see, thank you...

 

[fatboy]

I've seen unfertile cherry red eggs that were bright yellow with no hint of green. They were kicked off in clumps after 2-4 days and so I got a good look at them against a green background of java moss.

No idea what causes green eggs. They're already green while still in the ovaries, if that's what the 'saddle' is. They stay green even when fertilised if the few times I've seen green-egged RCS are typical.