Sexing cherry red shrimp

Keder · Post by **Keder** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 1:35 pm

At what age are we able to tell the males apart from the females? And is the saddle the only way to tell them apart? I'm having trouble sexing the younger shrimp; almost all of them look like males to me.

Cajunspice · Post by **Cajunspice** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 7:03 pm

in my experience, it will take about a month and a half in order to sex them. They usually develop their saddles at about .6 inch. Another way to sex them is the redness. Unless your cherries' parents are really red, the males usually lack red patterns on their body. Some of the babies that come out are already red, which i assume are red. Hope this helps, someone else might be more specific.

GunmetalBlue · Post by **GunmetalBlue** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 11:18 pm

Hi Keder, with some females, you'll be able to tell fairly early by their bright yellow saddle. Some may develop it a little later, so occasionally, what at first seem to be males can actually turn out to be females.

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 and tail area, with a "racy" appearance. By the 2 - 3 month mark, the males and females are obviously different in appearance, almost like two different species, in my opinion.

Male, left, in background; female, right, in foreground. These guys are about 2 or so months old.

-GB

Cajunspice · Post by **Cajunspice** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 11:49 pm

nice pics gunmetal. I wonder if all males are that clear... my experiment is to throw the almost clear shrimps up to the display tank and leave the ones with the most red in it. This way i might be able to produce really bright red lookin males =D its a hassel to catch all the almost clear ones.

JaVaGiRl · Post by **JaVaGiRl** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 8:59 am

My cherries are lacking in color. I recently ordered some, and out of the 26 of them, I have 2 bright red ones... Even my pregnant female is almost transparent in color.

gnatster · Post by **gnatster** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 11:32 am

Cajunspice wrote:nice pics gunmetal. I wonder if all males are that clear... my experiment is to throw the almost clear shrimps up to the display tank and leave the ones with the most red in it. This way i might be able to produce really bright red lookin males =D its a hassel to catch all the almost clear ones.

Males will vary in color. Some may be a deep red and some with very little red and of course all levels inbetween.