Identifying Cherry Shrimp Help

Hey everyone! I got 2 cherry shrimp from my LFS recently and I was aiming for a male and a female. I know I got a female but I don't know if the second one is a male. Its colorings are dark but I think it might be a higher grade cherry shrimp so I can't really tell. Could you guys please look at some pictures that I included? Thanks!



^^^ This picture includes both of the cherry shrimp. The one in question is the shrimp in the front and the one in the back is female.


^^^ Is this one a male or a female?


^^^This one is the female.

They were bought with mixed grades and ages so I'm not really sure if the shrimp in question is male or not. I can't really see the saddle. (if there is one)

 

You can see the saddle in middle picture, might be both female? To behest, the bottom pic is the one I would question as possible male, unless I'm not seeing it right. I usually go by the "saddle" on top which is an organ inside of them that helps produce eggs.

 

You can see the saddle in middle picture, might be both female? To behest, the bottom pic is the one I would question as possible male, unless I'm not seeing it right. I usually go by the "saddle" on top which is an organ inside of them that helps produce eggs.

Oh, I somehow can't see the saddle there, the pigment was too deep. But for the bottom picture, I'm hoping you are right that it is a male but looking at its size and second scale size it seems to be a female, but that's fine! But the problem is that I really want to start a small breeding project just to see if I could make shrimp breed since I'm a beginner shrimp keeper. I have them in around a 1-gallon jar with a heavily planted environment. (I'm adding more plants soon) Although it does not have a filter, I do frequent water changes. Could it be possible to fit 1 more shrimp (to make a total of 3) in a tank this size?

 

Oh, I somehow can't see the saddle there, the pigment was too deep. But for the bottom picture, I'm hoping you are right that it is a male but looking at its size and second scale size it seems to be a female, but that's fine! But the problem is that I really want to start a small breeding project just to see if I could make shrimp breed since I'm a beginner shrimp keeper. I have them in around a 1-gallon jar with a heavily planted environment. (I'm adding more plants soon) Although it does not have a filter, I do frequent water changes. Could it be possible to fit 1 more shrimp (to make a total of 3) in a tank this size?

The thing is, frequent water changes doesn't really fly well with shrimp since they need super stable water parameters at all times so they can properly molt, which is how they mate; right after they molt. Did you cycle their tank and make sure there is some biofilm to eat? I would reccomend something bigger with a sponge filter if you want to breed them. They will thrive best in a mature tank with plenty of hides/plants, and sponge filter is cheap and wont kill the shrimp babies. I guess you could get 1 more, but I would wait to see how these ones do for at least a few days, make sure they do good.

 

Looks like a good environment from picture, good substrate with lots of plants.

 

The thing is, frequent water changes doesn't really fly well with shrimp since they need super stable water parameters at all times so they can properly molt, which is how they mate; right after they molt. Did you cycle their tank and make sure there is some biofilm to eat? I would reccomend something bigger with a sponge filter if you want to breed them. They will thrive best in a mature tank with plenty of hides/plants, and sponge filter is cheap and wont kill the shrimp babies. I guess you could get 1 more, but I would wait to see how these ones do for at least a few days, make sure they do good.

I did cycle the tank and checked it with test strips and everything is stable. There's plenty of algae and biofilm too. I might be able to do a sponge filter if sponge filters work with those tiny pre-filter sponges to cover some filter intakes. Do you know if they work?

Thank you btw, and Happy Thanksgiving/Turkey Day!

 

I did cycle the tank and checked it with test strips and everything is stable. There's plenty of algae and biofilm too. I might be able to do a sponge filter if sponge filters work with those tiny pre-filter sponges to cover some filter intakes. Do you know if they work?

Thank you btw, and Happy Thanksgiving/Turkey Day!

Yes I use those sponges over intake for fry tanks and it works. And happy Thanksgiving to you too!! Hope you have a great evening and good luck with the pretty shrimps!!

 

Just going to pipe in with my limited personal experience. The more shrimp you buy, the higher your chances of getting both males and females.

I say this because I bought my first cherry shrimp on a whim for the simple reason, I thought they were cute. And despite me being totally ignorant they managed to live. Thing is, I got 5 and all 5 turned out to be female. It wasn't until I add another 10 that I got babies and fast forward a year or so and my colony now numbers in the 100 with babies constantly.

This turned me into a all out shrimpaholic and that red tank morphed into a new tank of blues. That tank I started with 11 and it is now a large, thriving colony.

Your shrimp are BEAUTIFUL!, wish my reds were so dark. One I can tell is for sure a female. The one in question might be a young female. Again, I'll never claim to be an expert, but I find my males are smaller, more steamline, and lighter in color. They are also far more active than my females. My females are content just to wonder around grazing, the males seem to swimming around more. Of course I could be wrong, I'll never swear to be a shrimp expert