Need help telling between male and female cherry shrimp

gabs · Post by **gabs** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 3:14 am

I recently bought 3 more Cherry shrimps from my local lfs. I'm badly trying to have a male cherry shrimp since so far I have 8 female Cherries and I am cofused about another.
I read previous posts in order to try and identify the shrimp myself but still couldn't tell for sure whether it is a male or a female. The saddle 'ovaries' seem to be small so i thought it might me the heart or some other organ. Need your opinion please.

Post by **Mustafa** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 9:49 am

Looks like a pale female. There should be nothing there where the ovaries are...the first picture seems to show some egg development. The general body shape is also female. Is that a single egg in the last picture?

Anyway, the chances of you getting a male from the LFS are very slim. They usually only sell females. And some of the "males" you see are actually males of various other "wild type" Neocaridina that are shipped along with the red cherries. Hence, you hear reports of "sudden" brown shrimp appearing in people's red cherry tanks.

gabs · Post by **gabs** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 3:35 am

Thanks again Mustafa. Wish I had a male

Why is it that males are not commonly available? Is it becase of the faint red or just to restrict hobbyists from breeding this shrimp?

What looks like an egg in the first picture is a small Ramshorn snail.

bochr · Post by **bochr** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 5:08 am

When your LFS gets a new shipment of shrimps, check carefully to see if there is any eggcarrying females.
That's how i got my first males.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 5:28 am

Why is it that males are not commonly available?

Shrimp that don't have strong color are harder to catch, and harder to sell. Tell your LFS you want the thin bodied light colored ones and see if they well call you when they come in.

TKD · Post by **TKD** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 8:34 am

When your LFS gets a new shipment of shrimps, check carefully to see if there is any eggcarrying females.
That's how i got my first males.

That is how I got my males as well.

TKD

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 9:33 am

Why is it that males are not commonly available? Is it becase of the faint red or just to restrict hobbyists from breeding this shrimp?

Males are not available for both reasons. Hope you get a male and start breeding your shrimp soon

gabs · Post by **gabs** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 2:53 am

Thanks a million guys. I'll keep trying my best to obtain a male cherry or a pregnant female.

gabs · Post by **gabs** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 4:26 pm

Recently I asked the owner of a local fish store if he could possibly get some male Red cherry srimps for me.

Well, having had no luck with males so far and having 12 sex starved femles, I was really joyful when he told me he was going to get 3 males for me with his next consignment of fish from germany.

The shrimps did arrive! but again thery were all females

As I was slowly getting the new shrimps to acclimatize in their new tank, I noticed a very little little shrimp swimming through the plastic mesh that was included in the adult shrimp's plastic bag. Not one, there were 3 of them!

I relly hope these little shrimps are Cherry shrimps and that at least one of them grows into a male!

Here's a picture of one of the clandestine baby shrimps

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 4:40 pm

Hi gabs, I know you have been waiting a long time for a male, so I hope this is the answer to your wait. Just remember to keep the conditions stable and clean, and be sure to feed them enough food to grow

!