Telling how old a cherry shrimps is

kenneth_kpe · Post by **kenneth_kpe** » Tue May 16, 2006 4:46 pm

well recently i purchased a few cherry reds that were mostly female.. and a bit big IMO. out of the 8 that i initially purchased only 4 are left now, they started dying one by one, some of them died while still carryings eggs in their swimerettes. At the same time i also aquired another batch of cherries(from singapore) that were much smaller (around 1/4 size to 1/2) and i am yet to find a single dead shrimp from that batch...

This is leading me to believe that the shrimps i originally purchased were already old ? .... They were not showing signs of stress or anything.. Im trying to narrow down the possible causes for the deaths of the bigger shrimps.

Tank - 20 gal bare bottom, filled with moss and a few pieces of driftwood.
Feeding - everyday - really small amounts of flake or veggie wafer or a few crushed snails or a few pieces of frozen bloodworms.
Water change - every other day 10-20 percent plus substrate vacuum of accumulated wastes. (water is dechlorinated with anti-chlorine/chloramine before use)

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Tue May 16, 2006 5:02 pm

Older shrimp don't tolerate stress nearly as well as juvies. If you buy fully adult shrimp they often won't last more than a month. It is possible your's were old, but I'd bet they were just stressed and could not recover from it.

kenneth_kpe · Post by **kenneth_kpe** » Wed May 17, 2006 1:21 am

and i always thought the the adults should cope with stress more, yup im guessing they are having a hard time adjusting to the new environment.... I just hope the last few femals manage to release young shrimp before they proceed to shrimp heaven

im trying my best to keep the water clean and tip top

tapmxt1 · Post by **tapmxt1** » Wed May 17, 2006 7:40 am

Just like fish, adult cherry red shrimps may not be able to fully adapted to your water. And they will perish from your tank gradually.

You may be able to estimate the age of young cherry red shrimps (why need to estimate their age -- they are young) but not for adults. Based on my observation on my cherry red shrimps, newly born shrimp grows to
- about 1/4" in 10 days - 2 weeks
- 1/2"+ in about 4-5 weeks (start showing egg development on females)
- about 3/4"(mature & young) in 6-7 weeks

Females grow to almost 1" (have not paid attention to males) in less than 3 months (at their second pregnancy) and become dark-red or purple-red (3'rd pregnancy). After that, they do not show growth (or little).

So if you receive adult shrimps (3/4"--may be young; 1" -- hard to say), you have to rely on the seller to tell you their age.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Wed May 17, 2006 4:37 pm

That growth rate is for a pampered, well cared for shrimp, not a starved abused one. Hungry stressed shrimp grow much more slowly and obtain sexual maturity much later.

kenneth_kpe · Post by **kenneth_kpe** » Wed May 17, 2006 4:44 pm

i have a feeling that the shrimps that came from the first batch ( i do not know where they got it) were of poorer health and much older ( deep red)

the 2nd batch that i got thru a hobbyist fared better, I am yet to see one of the newer shrimps dead on the tank bottom and also they are red but not that big yet.