Sexing + Breeding Cherry Shrimp

[pablothebetta]

I have recently spotted at least 7 young cherry shrimp in my tank which are about 1cm long. I must say, I'm thrilled that they're there to say the least I really hope they breed nicely when they're old enough. Therefore, I was wondering if you could help me out when it comes to sexing them - I'm sure I'll have a mix, but I would like to know, just out of interest, if there's a way of sexing shrimp at such an age.

They don't yet have much colour - some of them are just beginning to get it. I have noticed that some of them have a brown coloured line running down their backs while some don't - is this the difference between the males and females? Those that don't have the line seem to be a little smaller too, are these the males? Or, is it that the shrimp haven't developed fully yet?

May be able to get pics, but my camera isn't that great and the things are so small I'm not sure if I'll be able to get a decent shot of them

Also, what sort of age will the shrimp have to be until they can breed? Fully mature?

Many thanks

 

[Baccus]

About the only way I have been able to sex partly grown shrimp is once the females have a saddle inside them. I have some very dark red varieties of cherry shrimp so just going on the most red doesn't always work for me as the young females can take a while to fully develop their final red colour.

From memory for the first couple of weeks the new shrimplets will be shedding their shells nearly on a daily basis, thus allowing them to quickly grow, once they reach a certain size this shedding slows down and thier growth also slows. I would hazard a guess that within around 3 months the young should be old enough and big enough to start breeding.

Oh and I think I recall water temp being mentioned as another factor affecting how quickly the shrimp develop to hot and they grow quickly but more or less burn themselves out and too cool and it slows down their development.

 

[pablothebetta]

Thanks for the reply Baccus. I guess it'll just have to be a waiting game

 

[Baccus]

For ages I thought my shrimp where not breeding, but the shrimplets are so tiny they can hide right infront of you on a clear piece of glass. I now have almost plagues of cherry shrimp. Slowly but surely I am adding whole colonies to my other tanks. Hopefully in time by keeping the groups seperate I will eventually start seeing some new variations in colour emerge.

If you really are worried that the shrimplets aren't being born try putting a saddled female in a breeding net/ trap with some weed and a male. Leave them in the net until the female berries and then if you want you could remove the male. In roughly a month the female should drop her shrimplets and that way you should get to see how tiny they are and have a better idea of what to hunt for in the tank.

 

[Lettybetty]

would I be able to put a shrimp in a trap that has got eggs berry in a trap as I have got 4 red cherry and 7 orange shrimp, I have seen some babies that are very small but not that many so putting one in a trap would show me the size so I would no if the ones I have seen are older babies

 

[Baccus]

Yes you can put an already berried female into a breeding trap/ net I use a fine suspended net trap that the babies can't escape through. Just mke sure that you add a bit of weed to the trap for the feamle to cling to and feed off, also the baby shrimp when they are born will feed off micro foods on the weed. Also make sure that any sort of holding enclosure still gets suitable water flow through it via the filter.

 

[Lettybetty]

Thanks will try it, then I will be able it see the size of the babies