Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping => Invertebrates - Shrimps and Snails => Topic started by: Skittler on June 21, 2015, 01:24:56 PM
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Hello Shrimpers,
I've just been studying my surviving 5 "adult" Cherry Shrimp. There are 2 "Fire Red" and 3 "basic" Red Cherries. They are between 8mm and 12mm long. All seem to have yellow saddles, some more obvious than others. If I am right, and they are all female, do you think I should buy some males now, or is it best to wait and be sure?
Are there any other distinguishing features at this size?
Thanks in advance,
Skittler
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I think I'm right in saying that the yellow saddles are eggs, which move down to abdomen over a couple of weeks. You could always try leaving it that long to see if the females become properly berried. If they do become berried and have shrimplets, then you will get some males in the offspring.
However, there's no harm buying some males either. The breeder i get my shrimp from does recommend adding shrimps from different breeders from time to time, in order to freshen up the gene pool of your existing shrimp population.
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According to Planet Inverts, the male deposits sperm into the female before the eggs pass down from the saddle. The eggs are then fertilised as they pass down to the undercarriage by the previously deposited sperm.
What the article does not say is how long the deposited sperm remains viable. Are they like guppies which can store viable sperm for months or does the sperm need to be deposited very shortly before fertilsiation? If it is the latter, you need at least one male for the eggs to be fertilised.
I think buying a couple of males might be a good idea, just in case they aren't like guppies.
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Good idea Sue, I didn't think of that! Shrimps are really fascinating, aren't they? :)
Skittler, whatever you do, it's very exciting when you see the first shrimplets! :)
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Thank you ladies,
That's it then. Off to a new LFS tomorrow. I wonder what else I will come back with. I was thinking about two more otos for the 125L ...... as I never see all the original 5 ..... rarely can I see 4 ....... then last night all 5 were together near the filter! Beggar! These heavily planted tanks do make stock checking very difficult. I haven't seen 5 for at least 2 months. So, if the shrimps are good, and very red, who knows what will happen when the wallet emerges! :yikes:
Thanks again,
Skittler
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Hello Shrimpers,
I failed at the "new" LFS. They didn't have any suitable. However, my local MA will have 200 Fire Reds ready this w/e, so that will do.
I have now counted 17 babies. They are about 10 days old, and about 3mm long. Fascinating to watch them. The "adults" will "argue" over the food, just like the Amanos in the 125L, but tend to ignore the little ones. They do seem to be growing rapidly. So far the stocking over the filter inlet seems to be effective. (God bless Amazon - no embarrassing purchase - "you want what?" :yikes:)
Skittler
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If you have babies there is no immediate need for more shrimps. Even if you have no adult males and the babies are from eggs a female was carrying when you bought them, you won't have to wait long for one of the babies to grow up. There must be some males among them.
But it is recommended to add 'new blood' roughly every six months. Shrimps from a different shop are more likely to be from a different breeder. I have taken to buying just one new shrimp - and making sure it is a berried female. That way I get lots of new shrimps for the price of one ;D
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Thanks Sue,
On reflection, I think that you are right. The babies do seem to be growing quickly, and I suspect now, that there have been at least two separate "deliveries", as I have two different sizes. One group being noticeably bigger than the somewhat paler, smaller ones. Considering all the issues I had with bacterial bloom, hydra, etc., it does seem now that things are on the right track.
Maybe whatever I killed during those issues has created a tasty dinner for the babies!
Also, I have had female shrimps successfully moult on each of the last two nights. Both had been displaying a noticeable white band across the back, and looking somewhat "crusty". Both have been charging around the tank the next morning as if on a mission. Looking for a male perhaps?
Thanks again,
Skittler
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I don't know about cherry shrimp but with my Amano shrimp it is the males that do high speed crazy laps of the tank trying to find a females when they are ready to mate normally just after they have shed their eggs. I know it's the males as they are half the size of the females.
So the crazy shrimp rushing around your tank maybe males.
Anne
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Hello Anne,
Yes, Sue has said the same about the Amano's which she had. I have 6 in my 125L, both M & F, I think, but I have never seen that happen. I have never seen an exoskeleton in there, even though they have probably doubled in size since I bought them. I would imagine that the Oto's and Cory's would make short work of such a snack!
The two Cherries in the shrimpery had very definite saddles before moulting, but they are not so obvious now ........ perhaps with the lack of males they are not too sure .......
Skittler
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With all shrimp species, females seem to produce pheromones when they are about to release eggs and the males swim drunkenly all over the tank looking for her. Though I don't actually know what happens if a female is ready to release eggs with no adult male present. Presumably she still releases the eggs from her ovary and because they don't get fertilised in the absence of a male they are shed straight away.
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Hello Shrimpers,
As it's 2 months since the last post, I thought I ought to let you know what's happening. I am now down to 2 of the original 8 RCS, but the 25 or so babies are absolutely thriving. Of the remaining two "adults", one is probably a female, as she has a rounded "undercarriage". The other is much smaller, and has a flatter
"undercarriage", so is possibly a male. Neither of these two has had an obvious saddle for the last two months, and I have not seen any recent youngsters.
Just as Sue predicted, the largest baby, about 12 mm. long, now has a very clear yellow saddle, and is receiving some attention from some of the smaller ones. So I will watch her with interest. (I have yet to see a female carrying eggs in the "undercarriage", even though I have had at least two births).
Also, whilst about half the babies are "all red", the rest seem to be a mixture of red and white or clear. I have assumed that these are probably males? One of these is definitely striped at the moment, with a red head, middle, and tail. As a Stoke City fan, I find this very loyal!
Due to a minor algae outbreak on the glass, I added a Zebra Nerite snail yesterday - what a stunning animal - and he immediately went to work on the front glass! Bless him! He has already explored the limits of his new home, and is currently working his way along the top of the back glass, half in and half out of the water. There are some whitish deposits just above the waterline there, due, I think, to evaporation. I suppose it could be that he is enjoying some calcium - or, perhaps he is already planning his escape?
Keep on shrimping,
Skittler
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Male cherries are paler than females, or they could just be slow developing their full colour.
Two years on from my first cherry shrimp, I am finding a few very pale adults. Since there are now so many shrimp in the tank I've started culling the palest ones so their pale genes don't get through to the next generation.
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I must be misunderstanding you Sue; This makes no sense to me! If you kill off, sorry cull, the palest specimens, or the males, whilst preventing the "pale" genes being passed to future generations, you also prevent any other genes being passed.
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I want red male shrimps to breed with red female shrimps thus hopefully perpetuating the red colour. I would prefer not to have the pale shrimps passing on their pale genes creating more pale shrimps. This is how red cherry shrimps (and all the other colours of this species) were created from brown wild shrimps originally, by selective breeding.
Some of the adults in the tank (about half a dozen out of a total of several dozen shrimps) were pale straw coloured, and those are the ones I killed. I'm going to have to start doing something to keep the numbers under control as there are really too many shrimps in the tank, and no-one would buy these pale ones if I tried to sell them. If I can get all red shrimp I do stand a chance of selling them. Or even giving them away.