Do you have Cherry Shrimp?

I've had my shrimp for about 2/3 months, and the females have always had big visible saddles but I've never seen them reproduce. I've got about 10 currently, and I don't really know how to identify males other than "the one's without saddles" but I feel like there has to be some males in there with that many.

JackGulley said:

I've had my shrimp for about 2/3 months, and the females have always had big visible saddles but I've never seen them reproduce. I've got about 10 currently, and I don't really know how to identify males other than "the one's without saddles" but I feel like there has to be some males in there with that many.

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• Abdomen: Females generally have a wider, rounder abdomen than males, resembling a D shape from the side. This allows them to carry eggs securely. Males have a flatter, straighter abdomen with a more triangular shape.
• Saddle: Look for a yellow or brown "saddle" patch on the female's back, just behind the head. This holds unfertilized eggs until mating occurs.

Swim Legs (Pleopods):

• Length and Shape: Males typically have longer, more pointed pleopods, while females have shorter, rounder ones. However, this difference can be subtle and requires close observation.

Other Indicators:

• Size: Females are often slightly larger than males, but this isn't always reliable.
• Color: While not as accurate, females sometimes have deeper, richer colors compared to males. However, color variations can occur within both sexes and different shrimp grades.

I had a cherry shrimp die overnight I'm guessing from a molt gone bad. Is this white ring? I've done a water change and added a mineral block just to be sure.

MattW3344 said:

I had a cherry shrimp die overnight I'm guessing from a molt gone bad. Is this white ring? I've done a water change and added a mineral block just to be sure.

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Do you still have it ? If it is WROD. The shrimp will have a new exoskeleton stuck under the old one. By forcing the shrimp open on the splitting line you can verify this.

If it's a shrimp only tank:

Nitrates: Must remain under 10ppm - consider 20 ppm as already toxic. And in reality 0 ppm would be ideal.

In opposition to fishes, You cannot "water change" problems out. Depending on "how fit is your water source" Large water changes could dangerously alter the stability of your water parameters.

If you are using lots of botanical and other mineral additive. 10-15% water change every week, with water already mineralized and balanced, is already enough changes. Monitor mineral levels and adjust water changes frequency and size accordingly.

You need a GH, KH, PH, TDS and Calcium testing kit. If you fear that your source of water has some mineral deficiency you need to know it. and address the problem before changing the water.

If you are normally on the cheap water changes like me, regular testing and mineral supplements are marvelous.

If you are using plant fertilizer, Running the water regularly over activated carbon every month prevents buildup of non-chelated iron, copper, and manganese, that are toxic to shrimps and can result in stalled or incomplete molting and reduced growth and reproduction.

The more I read about them... The more I see how "easy" they are to keep in perfectly ideal conditions.

So far my shrimp are thriving. I couldn’t use my well water because of the presence of nitrates. Luckily I found a spring water for $1.25 gallon with spot on calcium levels, GH, KH and pH.

MaloK said:

Do you still have it ? If it is WROD. The shrimp will have a new exoskeleton stuck under the old one. By forcing the shrimp open on the splitting line you can verify this.

If it's a shrimp only tank:

Nitrates: Must remain under 10ppm - consider 20 ppm as already toxic. And in reality 0 ppm would be ideal.

In opposition to fishes, You cannot "water change" problems out. Depending on "how fit is your water source" Large water changes could dangerously alter the stability of your water parameters.

If you are using lots of botanical and other mineral additive. 10-15% water change every week, with water already mineralized and balanced, is already enough changes. Monitor mineral levels and adjust water changes frequency and size accordingly.

You need a GH, KH, PH, TDS and Calcium testing kit. If you fear that your source of water has some mineral deficiency you need to know it. and address the problem before changing the water.

If you are normally on the cheap water changes like me, regular testing and mineral supplements are marvelous.

If you are using plant fertilizer, Running the water regularly over activated carbon every month prevents buildup of non-chelated iron, copper, and manganese, that are toxic to shrimps and can result in stalled or incomplete molting and reduced growth and reproduction.

The more I read about them... The more I see how "easy" they are to keep in perfectly ideal conditions.

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I buried it, but before I did that I used the phone flashlight under it and noticed a clear/see-through outline around the body which I'm guessing was an exoskeleton. The tank it was in currently only has pond snails and now 14 cherry shrimp (new 90L project). It was left for a month with the snails before I added the shrimp. I'm aware of the Nitrates levels for shrimp as I tested the water daily before getting them. There have been multiple successful molts from the other shrimp. I spotted 6 molts in the last week alone.

MaloK said:

In opposition to fishes, You cannot "water change" problems out. Depending on "how fit is your water source" Large water changes could dangerously alter the stability of your water parameters.

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Thanks for clearing that up. I only ever do a 10L water change, 15L at a push on all my tanks. This is the first time I've ever kept Neocaridina but I've kept Amanos for over 4ish years now still with the original trio I bought.

MaloK said:

You need a GH, KH, PH, TDS and Calcium testing kit. If you fear that your source of water has some mineral deficiency you need to know it. and address the problem before changing the water.

Click to expand...

I have GH, KH, and PH as of now. Any recommendations for the other two?

MaloK said:

If you are using plant fertilizer, Running the water regularly over activated carbon every month prevents buildup of non-chelated iron, copper, and manganese, that are toxic to shrimps and can result in stalled or incomplete molting and reduced growth and reproduction.

The more I read about them... The more I see how "easy" they are to keep in perfectly ideal conditions.

Click to expand...

I don't use plant fertilizers in that tank but had been considering, maybe not now. From what I saw and read it seemed an easy species to keep maybe I was wrong . I probably should have stuck with my original plan of getting Amanos.

I've been going through it with my shrimp tank and learning all this stuff at the shrimps' expense, unfortunately. I think I've finally got things stable. I have 2 cherry shrimp with berries (found a 2nd one!) and 1 ghost shrimp with berries. I'm still not satisfied with my numbers, but they're better and, most importantly, I stopped trying to water-change my way to healthy tank. Fish are easier, y'all- big fat filter and lots of water change and they are happy. Shrimp are finicky creatures. It is so rewarding to see them start to be comfortable, though, so that part is great!

MattW3344 said:

I buried it, but before I did that I used the phone flashlight under it and noticed a clear/see-through outline around the body which I'm guessing was an exoskeleton. The tank it was in currently only has pond snails and now 14 cherry shrimp (new 90L project). It was left for a month with the snails before I added the shrimp. I'm aware of the Nitrates levels for shrimp as I tested the water daily before getting them. There have been multiple successful molts from the other shrimp. I spotted 6 molts in the last week alone.

Thanks for clearing that up. I only ever do a 10L water change, 15L at a push on all my tanks. This is the first time I've ever kept Neocaridina but I've kept Amanos for over 4ish years now still with the original trio I bought.

I have GH, KH, and PH as of now. Any recommendations for the other two?

I don't use plant fertilizers in that tank but had been considering, maybe not now. From what I saw and read it seemed an easy species to keep maybe I was wrong . I probably should have stuck with my original plan of getting Amanos.

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At the moment if you have only that shrimp that died and the other are successfully molting... It can be old age.

An interesting fact about them is that with time they will show signs of maturity at some point. But never any of old age. So when you buy them full grown, you'll never know if it's a granny about to break her dentures... If the others go about one's business. I wouldn't worry about it. One thing I noticed (personal observation) is that Fire Reds and Bloody marys are more prone to it.

You can do large water changes. But your water parameters must match those desired, that should already be the one in the tank. and a slightly warmer temperature also, is excellent to prevent stress. (not only for shrimps).

As for the two other test I use the default Nutrafin calcium test and a cheap electronic TDS meter, rocket precision is not really required.

While Cherrys are maybe a little harder to keep than amanos. Once your setup stabilize. You will have a much more thrilling experience. Watching the kids grow and how the community builds is awesome. They are a lot less skittish and a lot more playful.

Evolve a solution to balance your water, the simplest way, Test your source and identify what has to be done to fix it. Do tests in buckets until you get your match. Once done it's only surveillance.

When I started my colony I lost 40% in 2 weeks, But with perseverance, those that survived had offspring that are thriving at the moment.

But still... With all my great experience in fish keeping, I made a noob error this week with alder cones...
and literally doped the tank to the point that the shrimps became sluggish and dumb...

Emergency Water change + activated carbon etc...

And still... I used 1/6 of the prescribed dose for a tank half that size... Darn. The water was so dark I thought my Led strip was defect.

Fishmanic said:

I figure the LFS probably has loads of cherry shrimp so I fear they won't take any excess cherry shrimp from my tanks.

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You can always trade shrimp for plants or other items you want, just check out those groups on social media. Just put your state in the title so you find people relatively close to you. I’m crazy about shrimp also and have 3 shrimp tanks.

Cherry shrimp grazing in the morning. The crayfish is hiding in the Cholla wood.

any idea how long they take to get sexually mature... my colony has been coming in at 1/2 to 3/4 sizes, as I buy them... ( about 1 dozen stocked so far ) not sure if all have made it, but I see quite a few...so I assume pretty immature... they seem to be doing well, but I'm not expecting berries fore quite a while...

Magnum Man said:

any idea how long they take to get sexually mature... my colony has been coming in at 1/2 to 3/4 sizes, so I assume pretty immature... they seem to be doing well, but I'm not expecting berries fore quite a while...

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Three to five months. Warmer water will accelerate the process, but leads to a shorten lifespan.

Their temperature range is from 68F to 82F.
Breeders are maintaining temps around 76F-78F.
While the ideal range would be around 72F-76F.

I have that tank cooler right now... it has a heater, so it's warmer than room temp. but the heater is set at 72 degrees currently...

Oh my, mine are coming along nicely… i finished routing a hard water line to the bulk of my aquariums today… previously my option was only RO water, today I can start blending it…my shrimp all started at 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch… today I saw what looked like close to a dozen ( that was my starter group, was a batch of 4, then a batch of 8 ) the ones I saw in my tank today, half of them were an inch long… I’m thinking that bacter AE is helping my starter culture get going…. it doesn't look like I've lost any...They are looking way better than I expected... I was pretty skeptical that the 1/2 inch shrimp would be ok, without any mature shrimp to learn from... the instincts must be strong...

that is the tank I have one pair of pretty immature High Fin Sun Set Platty's in as well, & I saw 3 baby's about an inch long as well... also assume the Bacter AE, is probably beneficial to fry as well