Red Claw sexing help please

[BiffMalawi]

My uneducated guess is that they are all male. They are all about 1 1/2"

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

[Guba]

Red claw sexing is easy. If you look at them from above, the females will have a tail that is wider than the males. By tail I mean everything behind the legs. Of course as the males get bigger the dominate one will get the big claws. However, at the moment I have 2 males in the same tank that have big claws. The tank is a 29 gal. They seem to stay at opposite ends. I love these shrimp!

[Mustafa]

The second one is a female for sure. She has the extended abdomen to accommodate eggs. Can't tell with the other shrimp. Immature males and females can look deceivingly similar.

[Guba]

Yep, the second one has bigger swimerettes (the paddles underneath). All the better for carrying eggs. She won't breed though until she molts. I have actually witnessed it . Just as described on this web site. It happened so quick I wasn't sure if what I saw was it. But it was.

[BiffMalawi]

Thanks for your help guys.

The pics aren't great and the first and third are the smallest of all so I am not surprised they are difficult to identify.

Are there any identifiable differences in sexual organs. I know with crayfish there are obvious differences that make sexing easy.

[Mustafa]

There are, but you need a microscope to tell with most shrimp we are concerned with (except some giant Macros). The first pleopod (swimmerets) of the males is shaped differently for mating purposes.