Saddled, moulting & Mating - the breeding window.

[Foxpuppet]

Here's a question for the brains trust.

After a saddled female moults, how long is the window of time in which a successful mating can occur?

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[Shrimpelina]

Hmmm i always thought that as soon as a female has a decent saddle it was viable?  I didn't think moulting had anything to do with it...Moulting to my understanding, was more of a growth thing. Not necessarily related to mating.  Could be wrong, I often am LOL

[Foxpuppet]

As I understood it was the act of moulting for the saddled female that releases pheromones and causes the males to zoom around looking for her.

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[Foxpuppet]

i remember reading this years ago on planet inverts - "There are many unknowns as to the exact science behind the mating process. It is believed that shortly after molting the female is ready to mate. The way in which the male knows that the female is ready to mate is unknown. Perhaps she releases a chemical signal or some other type of notification that only shrimp can detect. It is known though that when a female molts the males in the tank will swim around the tank in a drunken manner looking to find the ready female. When you see a bunch of shrimp swimming around in the tank against the glass make sure to sex the shrimp first. If you look closely you may notice that they are all males. If that is the case then everything is ok, they are just looking to mate."

and this is from wikipedia. - 

Red cherry shrimp reach sexual maturity when they are around 4-6 months old. Breeding only requires a sexed pair of shrimp, stable water parameters, and a food source.^[5] Eggs may be observed developing in the female's ovaries as a green or yellow triangular "saddle" marking on her back. When she is ready to lay the eggs, which occurs after moulting, she releases pheromones into the water to signal her availability to males. The male shrimp in the tank will often become agitated, swimming very actively about as they search for the source of the pheromones. After a brief mating process, during which the male deposits sperm onto the female's body, the female lays her eggs and affixes them to her swimmerettes. The eggs are not fertilized within the female; they are fertilized as they pass from the ovaries to the outside of the body. Therefore, it is certain that any shrimp carrying eggs has mated. A female carrying eggs under her abdomen is said to be "berried".

 

and this from another site "First a female will find a comfortable hiding spot in the aquarium. Once she has become comfortable she will molt (molting is the shedding of the exoskeleton to enable growth of invertebrates). After molting the female will release a pheromone into the water indicating to the male shrimp her readiness to breed.

The pheromone in the water will sometimes cause the male shrimp to swim erratically in search of the female. Once the male finds the female he will mate with her. They will mate belly-to-belly, and the male will deposit sperm. This process does not last very long, and because the female is hiding most times it is rarely observed.

After the mating process has occurred the female will pass her eggs threw the sperm and deposit them in her pleopods (swimming legs) under her tail. The female shrimp will carry the eggs until they hatch, normally in 20-40 days. The female will often be observed fanning and cleaning the eggs. Once the eggs hatch, there is no longer any parental care of the young shrimp"

 

still doesn't answer my question though :)

 

Edited May 22, 2016 by Foxpuppet

[Foxpuppet]

can one of the mods move this to the general questions subforum?

[sacurt]

Found this on a site:

Basically the information prior was to locate the female when she has released the pheromones after moulting, signaled by the frenzied dance around the tank by the males. Then.....

"Place the male into the same breeder box and leave them to mate for about 20 - 30 minutes. The male should advance the female shrimp immediately and this would cause further frenzied swimming from both the shrimps in the breeder box. "

 

[Foxpuppet]

Found this on a site:

Basically the information prior was to locate the female when she has released the pheromones after moulting, signaled by the frenzied dance around the tank by the males. Then.....

"Place the male into the same breeder box and leave them to mate for about 20 - 30 minutes. The male should advance the female shrimp immediately and this would cause further frenzied swimming from both the shrimps in the breeder box. "

 

Yeah I just want to know how long that window is. I had a 2 saddled females arrive in the post and one of them moulted during acclimatizing. Then a second female also moulted after they were both places in the quarantine HOBB I use. I added a male from my tanks in there and the second female got Berried but the first one did not.

It would have been about 2-3 hours between first one moulting and male being added.