Sexing Shrimp

[pablothebetta]

I've got 3 cherry shrimp, though I'd like to know what gender they are. I've only been able to photograph two of them, the other being in hiding. I wondered why they haven't bred, simply because I have heard they are prolific breeders.

My bright red one, who I call 'Hummer'

One of the other shrimp

Sorry the pics aren't the best, they were taken on a mobile phone as I don't have a decent other camera

Many Thanks

 

[BLACK DOG]

I was told by my LFS the male Cherry's are the red ones and the almost clear ones are the femails, the other way is to look for the egges under the shell at the rear end.

 

[MisssMarie]

Red ones are females, clear/light are boys. My red ones are berried

 

[pablothebetta]

How can you tell if shrimp are carrying eggs? What do the eggs actually look like when the shrimp are carrying them?

Sorry if they seem silly questiosn, these cherries were only bought a few months ago and I haven't kept shrimp beforehand, so I don't know a whole lot about them

EDIT: Just taken a look at a page on planet inverts which has some pictures comparing genders. My shrimp look just like the image of the females, though no obvious 'saddle' that I can see.
Not sure about the shrimp I call 'hummer' either though, they are so red I can't tell whether they have a 'saddle' or not.

 

[Baccus]

In your second picture of your shrimp you can just see the yellowish saddle inside the shell just where her back starts. The first one I would say is also a female due to the red of it. When they are berried the eggs can be either green or yellow and are carried in the rear swimmer legs under the shrimp.

Below a berried female

The females with the yellow you can see behind the head have their saddles

Another berried female

Below a male

Also males tend to be smaller than females and slimmer looking as they don't have the longer sides to their shell that the females do for protecting the eggs.

Hope these pics help.

 

[pablothebetta]

Those pics helped enormously, thankyou baccus, and of course all other contributors too.

I think my other shrimp could be a male, but if so, would I be unusual for them to not have bred? I bought them around 3 months ago and have never seen any 'berried' shrimp.

Thanks

 

[Baccus]

Glad the pics helped , I would think it is odd that you have had them for 3 months and not seen the female berried. I strongly suspect that both of the shrimp that you posted are females. Where the shrimp fully coloured up and large when you purchased them?. I find that my cherry shrimp get darker with age, and this is a factor when you consider that cherry shrimp (becuase of thier speedy growth and quick breeding cycle) tend to only have a relatively short life span, generally 1-2 years. I was lucky when I first got my cherry shrimp in that the place selling them only had semi mature ones so they wheren't fully coloured and I had to wait for them to fully colour up but at the same time I knew for sure they where young and not likely to drop dead from old age before I had had a chance to multiply their numbers.

 

[pablothebetta]

With the exception of 'hummer', I do think they have coloured up more since I bought them. I'm not sure about the other - I spotted them breifly last night, but wasn't able to have a clear view. I do have a feeling he may be a male though, as he is smaller than the identified female and I don't believe he is as bright either. I shall have to hope he pops out soon!
Thankyou for all your help.