Newbie questions about Cherry shrimp.

[dwaffer]

Hi,
I'm new to this forum and fairly new to keeping shrimp aswell.
This is an awesome site/forum and it has already greatly enriched my knowledge of shrimps. Thanks! :D

The questions are:

I changed a 10g tank over to shrimp only and got 8 cherries for it. Its planted with alot of climbing area. Seems like an awesome home. Anyway I lost two of the CS and now only have six. All six have developed a yellow saddle although one saddle is more greenish than yellow. I'm stuck I think. :lost:
Is it possible that I will get any babies suspecting on may have been with them but passed away. I'm trying to find some male CS up here in western canada but I've found none so far after weeks of searching. I may be able to go to greater lengths but thought I'd check here first.

Also I have one Amano in with the cherries. Is that dangerous?
Also I have alot of snails in thier home because I raise them for my dwarf puffers. Is there dangers there aswell?

[Pconnieae]

I don't think red cherry females can keep semen like guppy females do. But just wait and you'll see. How long have you lost your males?

I'm keeping my red cherry shrimps in the same tank that my Amanoes and my cherries breed with no problem.

I don't think snails are dangerous for shrimps. I have a lot of ramshorn snails in my tanks.

[dwaffer]

Thanks for the reply Pconnieae.
Its been a couple of weeks now with no males.
I heard somewhere that male shrimp deposit sperm sacks on the tails of females but I really dont know much about that or if thats relavent to cherry shrimp.
Thats good to know about the amanos. Thanks again.

Another thing I'm concerned about is eating. The just seem to scavenge off of the sponge filter and driftwood and java moss. I have tried raw and cooked spinich, raw and cooked zuchini, algae wafers but I havent been able to catch them take more than a taste. The snails really like it though. I'm wondering if the snails eating it stops the shrimp from eating. I do have alot of snails in there, probably a hundred but only a few large ones.
I have tried some sinking pellets and I powder some up. I think they eat the bits but dont go near the large pieces.
Any opinions anyone?
My shrimp seem healthy and most are very deep red nowdays.
Just curious is all if I should be concerned.

[fatboy]

Nice to see you here, Dwaffer!

I've had my cherry reds for about 10 days and they do seem to be growing. They never eat much, picking at bits here and there. The Amanos (Yamato is the common name here) eat much larger meals less often.

I've had a close look through a magnifying glass and when their front claws are moving quickly they always appear to be eating. Without the magnifying glass I can't see what they eat but with it I see small bits of food.

Are you sure the yellow saddle is not simply the stomach? I've seen a breeding pairs in the shop that sold me mine and the males also had a small saddle. It wasn't as yellow or as large, and the males were less red but not colourless.

[dwaffer]

Hey Fatboy!
Nice to see you here too! :D
Lots of cool smiles on this board! lol

Thanks for the info. It has confirmed my recent suspicions.
It seems that I may have a male cherry shrimp after all!
I couldnt find any over here in western canada and was about to get some shipped from singapore just to get a male!

Anyway I was confused. Now I find one shrimp with a greenish and fainter looking saddle. It seems slimer and It is swimming around the tank alot. It has much less colour than the others. I'm fairly certain this is a male cherry shrimp and from what you contact has told you it seems to be the case.
That makes me very happy! :D
Thanks!

[silane]

I have tried some sinking pellets and I powder some up. I think they eat the bits but dont go near the large pieces.
Any opinions anyone?


Welcome dwaffer and fatboy.

I find some timid shrimps (especially when a tank that has not too many shrimps) come out to look for food only when I off the light or the light is very dim. So you may want to feed them just before the light is off.

[dwaffer]

Thanks fruitpie
I will see how that works.

[Lotus]

It does sound like you have a male! I notice that my males tend to swim around the tank a lot more than females. I have read that they tend to do this when females are ready to be fertilized, but I don't have any proof of that.

The yellow patches are definitely the ovaries. If you see yellow eggs in a few days, don't be surprised. If the female isn't fertilized, she'll drop the eggs in a few days.

My cherries like algae wafers, shrimp pellets and flake food. I usually feed mine in the evening, so I can watch them eat. Mine aren't shy, and all come out when it's dinner time :)

[dwaffer]

Thanks Lotus!
Its good to see ya here too! :)

The females have been displaying th ovaries,(saddle), for some time now and still no eggs. I keep watching though. So your saying the eggs will develop or mass under thier body for a few days unfertilised?

ITs kinda embaressing to have my dwarf puffers spawning again and I cant even tell the difference in gender of my cherry shrimp. :embarasse
Oh well, humility is at the bottom of every learning curve I hear. lol

Thanks for your reply. :D

[Robert]

Hi,
normally it is very easy to differentiate the genders of cherry shrimps because they show a very obvious sexual dimorphism. But if you have never seen a male cherry shrimp before, I guess it is not that easy to tell them apart from juvenile females.

Male cherry shrimps show no yellow ovaries, nothing yellow at all. Often they also show no strip on the back and the whole body looks different from females. They are slimmer and the body has a different shape. To help you I took today a picture of a typical male cherry shrimp, no super well colored one like in the gallery. So that is a normal adult male cherry shrimp:

http://www.shrimpnow.com/mygallery/files/1/cherry_male.jpg

You can see just the brown stomach and intestine in the body, no yellow ovaries. The colorations is not so solid and consists only of stripes (at least I never saw a solid red male before). The abdomen is slimmer and more straight, not curved like a females one. Males are also smaller, their maximum size is about 2cm. The antennules (the two pairs of small antennaes) are also longer, they are about 1.5times as long as the antennules of a female of the same size. Hopefully this will help you to tell apart the genders of your cherry shrimps.

I don't know if females release her eggs after some days, if the eggs are not fertilized. I never saw such thing. If she releases the eggs earlier than expected, then she is normally very stressed and something is wrong in her environment. There is no other reason to do this. But I can't imagine such a case, cherry shrimps can adopt too well to a wide range of conditions.

Best regards

Robert

PS I also updated the species description, so that you can find the description of these traits more easily later on.

[dwaffer]

Thats awesome Robert!
Thanks so much!
I was getting so confussed by missleading information from other sites.
I have 1 cherry shrimp that looks just like that pic of yours. I finnaly have piece of mind on that issue. Its been bugging me for over a month and I couldnt find any pics specifically identifying a male cherry shrimp or any more cherry shrimp obtainable to me. I'm 100% positive now I have a male! :D

This is the number one freshwater shrimp information site that I know of!
And the forum layout is just awesome! I look forward to watching it grow and I hope I learn enough to help others aswell!
Thanks again.

Dwaffer
(moderator at the dwarfpuffer forum) :embarasse

[gigahertz]

Now that we are talking about Cherry Red shrimps making babies :) I have a question.

I noticed that there are two different colors for the overies in a Cherry Red Shrimp. Most of my shrimps have yellow patches but a few have green overies.

What makes it even more strange is that the yellow overy shrimp will develop yellow eggs and the green overy shrimp will develop green eggs. What's up with that? :huh:

Here's a photo I took today of a female with green eggs.

http://www.fdlam.com/cherry%20baby%205.jpg

[amber2461]

Hey Dwaffer

I have DPs too but I cannot tell their difference, I am happy to hear that at least there is another person in BC that keeps them and then to have them spawn .... WOW!!!

Sorry for the way this thread is going but if you need more Males, I have quite a few to spare. PM me if you are interested.

Cheers

[dwaffer]

Hey amber!
Thanks. :D
Its actually the second generation for my DPs. :D

Hmm, green overies and eggs are confusing indeed.
I'm intrested in learning more aswell gigahertz.
Good post :cool:

[jojoecute]

Hey....
Some of my pregnant cherries shrimp with yellowish eggs....
Is diff from what your pregnant cherry....

[gigahertz]

Hey....
Some of my pregnant cherries shrimp with yellowish eggs....
Is diff from what your pregnant cherry....

That's what I was saying.....What's up with that?!! :D

I wonder what determines the color of the eggs ( environment or food source )or it's just an individual thing ( Some shrimps will have yellow overies and egss and other will have green ).

What do you guys think? We need some experts' opinion here :)

[simcb]

That's what I was saying.....What's up with that?!! :D

I wonder what determines the color of the eggs ( environment or food source )or it's just an individual thing ( Some shrimps will have yellow overies and egss and other will have green ).

What do you guys think? We need some experts' opinion here :)
I notice 2 of my cherry had green eggs too. I even saw the green eggs developing eye spots. However after they drop the eggs, i didnt see any shrimplets that time(easy to spot as my tank is not heavily planted).... i suspect the green eggs are not fertilized?

Can anyone verify this?

[gigahertz]

I notice 2 of my cherry had green eggs too. I even saw the green eggs developing eye spots. However after they drop the eggs, i didnt see any shrimplets that time(easy to spot as my tank is not heavily planted).... i suspect the green eggs are not fertilized?

Can anyone verify this?

If you saw eyes then they are most likely fertilized. I think :undecided

[Walter]

I agree too that if you can see eyes developing, it is probably developed. Maybe it dropped the eggs due to stress? If not I cannot really understand why the female dropped the eggs. Anyone with females carrying green eggs that have successfully gave birth?

[Robert]

Hi,
I had some females with green eggs in the past too but never really thought about the egg coloration. For me it were just some slightly color variations. At the moment all my females have only yellow eggs and all eggs are fertilized because I never saw any female dropping eggs since I started again keeping cherries. So I can't really help you.

regards

Robert

[Salamastre]

Hello everyone. I need some help in sexing my shrimp.

I just got my first shrimp. Long story made short: Shrimp are unavailable for sale here at the moment because of some import restrictions, but after having a long conversation with the guy in charge of a fancy fish shop, I was given 3 shrimps born in one of his tanks, completely FREE.

The shrimp are about 12 milimetres long, still young I think. I am not sure if i am stuck with three males, or if one could be a female. None is as intensely colored as the ones in the species page. Do females develop more color with age?

One does look like the male picture in this thread, does anyone have pictures of females not as intensely colored as the ones on the species page?

I have no camera, but I made a drawing (you can see why i am not an illustrator). Do you think I may have a female?

Thanks a lot.

http://www.overcaffeinated.net/users/nepsis/camarones.gif


My first shrimp is almost completely transparent, with just a few thin brownish stripes on the top and bottom. The stripes are really thin.

My second shrimp has red stripes on the top and bottom, but the stripes do not meet in the middle of the body.

My third shrimp has thicker stripes that meet at the middle, and lots of tiny colored dots.

I would say the second looks very similar to the one male in the picture in this thread. Number three could be either a more colored male, or a not very colored female.

[Lotus]

The third one might be female. :)

When shrimp are stressed, new to a tank, or in poor water conditions, they tend to be a lot paler. Hopefully in a good tank with good food their color should improve. Usually, females will be a little fatter between the legs and the tail. If you see a yellow patch on the neck area, that's a sure sign it's a female. At 12mm, they might not be mature enough yet to really tell the difference.

[GunmetalBlue]

Hi Salamastre, I just happen to have a side by side comparison, due to a question asked on another site, so will just post it here too. Unfortunately the male is more in the background, so can't be clearly seen, but you'll have an idea.

There are other differences, along with the development of the "yellow saddle." As they mature, females develop carapaces that hang lower over their pleopod (swimmerettes) area, giving them a more rounded appearance (it helps accommodate and protect their eggs, when they have them), whereas the males *tend to be smaller, less colorful and are much slimmer, both through the chest area (a less "deep" body) and tail area, with a "racy" appearance. By the 2 - 3 month mark, the males and females are often obvious enough in difference that they can appear almost like two different species.

Male, left, in background; female, right, in foreground. These guys are about 2 months old.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/ZeroCatgravity/ZMisco%20Shrimp/RCS040B400W.jpg

-GB

[Salamastre]

Thanks a lot Lotus and GB :nice: .

The shrimp are too young to to see all the differences, but i can see from GB's picture that one of mine may be a female :thumbsup:.

I tought all females had to have the solid red look I see in ads for Cherry Reds.

With only three shrimp in my tank, and all the breeding I hope will take place, I am tempted to make a Cherry Redneck Shrimp joke, but I will abstain. :x